High school employee faces drug charge

Father is Board of Education member

A Kingston High School employee whose father sits on the Board of Education has been charged with drug possession after being found slumped over in a vehicle, according to the employee and city police.

Andrew V. Michael, 38, of 15 Hinsdale St., Kingston, was arrested Thursday afternoon and charged with misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance, police said. Michael said in a phone interview with the Freeman that the drug was cocaine.

Michael, son of Kingston Board of Education member James Michael, said he is a full-time “transition coordinator” at the high school, a job in which he helps students transition from high school to college. He formerly was a teaching assistant in the Kingston school district.

Kingston police were notified about 3:45 p.m. Thursday by a woman whose daughter and a friend walked past the vehicle on Montrepose Avenue in the city and saw a person slumped over inside. Michael was taken into custody about 4 p.m.

The vehicle, a Nissan Rogue, is registered to James Michael, police said. The elder Michael declined to comment Monday.

Andrew Michael said he thought the cocaine was gone before police arrived.

“I thought it was all used up at that point,” he said.

Michael said the incident happened shortly after he left work, about 3 p.m. Asked if it had occurred to him that he might get caught, Michael said: “Yeah, of course. But I have a problem that I’m addressing.”

Asked to comment, Kingston school district Superintendent Paul Padalino issued a statement that read: “Mr. Michael

“Mr. Michael has been with the district for one year. His status will be determined after he meets with me to discuss the charges against him.”

has been with the district for one year. He is a transition coordinator and his case load varies. His status will be determined after he meets with me to discuss the charges against him.”

Padalino did not say when that meeting might occur. The school year ends this week.

Michael is scheduled to appear in City Court on June 26 to answer the criminal charge.

Shannon Ramirez, the woman who notified police, said her daughter and a friend came across Michael near the intersection of Montrepose Avenue and West Pierpont Street.

“My daughter thought he was sleeping,” she said. “The other girl was a little more concerned that it was something medical, something more like an emergency.”

Ramirez said the car was running when the girls called her, and she commended them for being alert.

“What they saw was that the seat belt was on, the car was running, and his head and body were slumped to the side,” she said.

“Kids can be very easily distracted by a device or music or each other,” Ramirez said. “So I was very impressed with ... particularly her best friend’s ability to assess the situation and then to make a determination.”