[View the story "Is it appropriate to put a school official on paid leave after a marijuana possession arrest?" on Storify ]Is it appropriate to put a school official on paid leave after a marijuana possession arrest? Kingston High School Vice Principal Andrew Sheber has been placed on paid leave in the aftermath of being charged with marijuana possession, according to school district Superintendent Paul Padalino. Storified by Ivan Lajara · Tue, Jun 05 2012 16:53:28
Kingston High School Vice Principal Andrew Sheber placed on paid leave in wake of arrest for pot possessionThe Kingston Daily Freeman is your source for all Hudson Valley 24-hour breaking news, local news, sports, entertainment and more. View d...
beth 1 hour agoI'm sorry for your predicament, Mr Sheber... but.... we adults are aware of the laws and the consequence... when you take your friends up the Mt to the jam, you need to make sure they don't "leave their stuff" in your car.... If it were merely a stop sign violation, that would be the only ticket you received that day... Set the example for the kids... say NO to the same drugs you tell them to say no to... in your house, in your car, in your possession~ Surely there was some reason the cop did more than ticket you for rolling through the stop sign... perhaps there was enough to stick up the car.... or it was in some other way obvious to the trooper.... A simple test will prove you did not partake, however, your fears of the damage to your career are likely real... as they would be for any of us hit with a possession charge.... Your leave ought to be unpaid too, as the rest of the common employee's would be~
J9697 1 hour agoThis is BS, Kingston School District should worry more about education and less about what this guy smokes or doesn't smoke in his free time... What a joke and distraction from real issues!
ulsterdad 1 hour agoIf for no other reason other than his position at the high school, what happens here will be watched very carefully. The high school students sign conduct guideline every year with all offenses and outcomes listed. This is and should be no different. Yes it had nothing to do with school and was on his own time. However, by not cooperating at naming who's it was, is not helping him. I can just hear it now if this was a student and the school staff was sitting with the student and parents telling them how important it is for them to say names and how much trouble they are currently in.What about the students respect for him now. If there is no punishment at all, it would come across to the students in the district that there are double standards based on who you are.I am not stating he should lose his job, however, following the same conduct guidelines set forth for all students need to be followed here also
Derek Balling 1 hour agoEven if it was his... it's friggin' POT people. Who cares?
George Denise 29 minutes agoAre we innocent until proven guilty? It seems people are judging the situation before the court of law does. Is this fair to Mr. Sheber? He does a lot of great things for Kingston High and the community can only hope he remains in his position.
George Denise 55 minutes agoAre we innocent until proven guilty? It seems people are judging the situation before the court of law does. Is this fair to Mr. Sheber? He does a lot of great things for Kingston High and the community can only hope he remains in his position.
kgnny 1 hour agoI have heard that this man does a wonderful job at KHS. While I do not condone illegal actions, we need to keep those that are helping the students. I don't think that anyone else would lose their job if the same arrest occurred.
1 hour agoWould this man be on probation if this were alcohol? Would he fear his job/career? I do not know the details of this event so I will not pass judgement.
MartinMcPhillips 38 minutes agoO.K. From Padalino's letter: "As you may be aware, a District staff member was ticketed for marijuana possession over the weekend. In accordance with the terms of their contract that we legally must comply with, that individual has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the legal outcome of this case."That implies that, under the school district's contract with the principals or principals union, administrative leave is required or automatic. Is that correct? And if that's a contractual matter, then what happens if Sheber is found guilty? That could also be contractual, and so it could be possible to know Sheber's fate or his approximate fate pending the outcome of the charge.
geo615 43 minutes agoI do not want my tax dollars supporting a pot head period! Fire him just like we would fire a policeman,fireman,or any other public employee that are supposed to be held to a higher standard...no pun intended.
MartinMcPhillips 44 minutes agoSince this is becoming a controversial story, maybe the Freeman should get hold of the police report or otherwise find out what actually happened.For instance, how and why did the trooper recover the pot? Was it sitting in plain sight? Did the trooper smell smoke? Did the trooper use the excuse of the traffic stop to search the car?Was Sheber pulled over because he simply failed to come to a full stop, as he implies, or because he blatantly ran the stop sign?Was there a sobriety test at the scene?Did the trooper record his impression of Sheber's behavior?Were there other charges? It seems obvious that if he was pulled over for an insufficient stop that he would get a ticket for that, but that's not mentioned in this or the earlier news story. Anything else not mentioned?
Intellectualist 1 hour agoPaid leave while the mental midgets figure it out. Adults use reason and discretion. They also make determinations based on things like age and relevance to job performance. If this individual gets punished by the school to support the idiocy of law enforcement, the message will be loud and clear. Bye-bye free skiing cops. Bye-bye respect for the judgements of these self described "adults".
Thoughts2 1 hour agoPaid leave - frustrating. I understand that you can't take away his salary, since his case hasn't been adjudicated yet, and that his paid leave is for the "convenience of the people" in removing an alleged offender from the school environment. As a member of "the people", though, it hurts to pay someone to stay home, and depending on how this works out, to be potentially paying him for having caused the offense. I suppose there is no better solution than this, unless it's to recover the funds paid while on leave if he is ultimately judged to have been "at fault".
beth 1 hour agowho?? the parents of kids who would rather their kids not be exposed AT SCHOOL.... duh!
Umm no. These are supposed to be people kids look up to. Some example.Michelle Norton
Having been a student of Mr. Sheber for years I feel this is appropriate. He's an incredible man, and a great teacher. He genuinely cares about the students and the school. I hope that the administration keeps that in mind. He's a wonderful educator. Emily Cahill
Even if it was his.. it's POT people, why do we even care about this?Derek Balling
Somehow I think Emily meant to say "inappropriate". I'll bet that Mr. Sheber is hoping that Governor Cuomo's drug law changes were already in effect.Todd Bender
I think that some actions need to be taken for the time being- and I feel that this is an appropriate response to the situation, in the end I feel that this should be the full extent to punishment. Emily Cahill
Innocent until Proven Guilty, if he passes a drug test, he's innocent.Greg Harkin
NO... he ought get UNPAID leave.... you know.. the same kind of treatment your average employee of any average job gets once they have a possessions charge pending....Beth Clinch
I think work should stay out of peoples personal lives ! Mike Kin
And its not a criminal offense Mike Kin
They NEED to give him a urine test like Mr. Harkins says : INNOCENT TILL PROVEN GUILTY..Steve Arnold
Who cares if people smoke pot? If he wasnt hurting anyone it doesnt matter to me.D.j. Naccarato
Its pot really.its not like he got caught smoking it n driving or giving it to a student its not crack or heroin ...Amanda Gorham
Ha. I like how it was cut off and it says pot pos.Kellen Hauck
legalize drugs and this wouldn't be an issue .he is an adult who should be free to make decisions in his personal life without others judging him at work on matters other than his performance as an educator. what if he were seen possessing alcohol would the same action be taken against him ? Mtn Jam busts shouldn't count anyway.Pat Duffy
I agree!! It's only pot!!! This doesn't make him a bad person!! Raymond Minew
Well, not to be a contrarian kevn, but George Washington had wooden teeth.D.j. Naccarato
I agree with Kevin, it's so silly. He's a good teacher which many student will tell you. Let it go. Emily Cahill
Rule of law. He is innocent until proven guilty, that's why he deserves paid administrative leave. Rule of law marijuana is illegalKellie McGuire
That's why he's on administrative leaveKellie McGuire
everyone got there panties in an bunch over this. its just bud its not like he hurtin anyone. if he smokes weed who give a shit. its called free will let him do what he want. only stuck up over protective people would make such a big deal over pot. grow up peopleGlenn Jones
