KHS employee resigns in wake of drug arrest

KINGSTON, N.Y. >> The Board of Education has accepted the resignation of Kingston High School transition coordinator Andrew Michael, who was arrested June 14 and charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance.

The resignation was accepted, without comment, during a board meeting Wednesday evening.

Following the meeting, Kingston school district Superintendent Paul Padalino said a resolution to dismiss Michael would have been considered by the board had he not resigned.

“There would have been a resolution on it before the court” case concludes, Padalino said.

Michael, 38, was charged after Kingston police were notified that two teenagers had found him slumped over in a vehicle on Montrepose Avenue in the city. The vehicle was owned by his father, James Michael, a member of the school board.

In June, Andrew Michael told the Freeman the drug in his possession was cocaine and that he “thought it was all used up” before police arrived. He had finished work at the high school at 3 p.m. June 14 and was arrested at 4 p.m.

A parent said her daughter and a friend called police after seeing Michael slumped over while the car was idling in a gravel clearing on Montrepose Avenue, near the intersection with West Pierpont Street.

Andrew Michael could not be reached after Wednesday’s board meeting, and his father declined to comment on the case except to say no court decision had been reached.

Andrew Michael had been employed with the district for a year as a transition coordinator, a position established to help high school seniors become ready for college.

Padalino said the impact of Michael’s arrest on his work with students was difficult to assess because the incident occurred just two days before summer vacation.

The superintendent noted, though, that “we didn’t have any adverse affects, any comments from building administration or teachers or students that were impacted negatively.”