PRINCIPAL STASHES DRUGS
Elementary student brings weed to school, principal fails to call police
TRENTON » A Trenton Public Schools student allegedly brought drugs to Franklin Elementary on Tuesday, but police did not begin investigating until Wednesday afternoon due to the school principal’s alleged failure to report the incident to the superintendent.
“Our investigation is just beginning,” Trenton Police Lt. Stephen Varn said about 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in an interview with The Trentonian. “We did send officers out there and they are checking on some recovery of property.”
Varn said the officers on Wednesday recovered a weapon and a substance believed to be marijuana at Franklin Elementary, which is located at the corner of William and Liberty streets. He added that the officers were “in the middle of their investigation right now” and that he expected to have more information to release on Thursday.
A Trenton Police SUV was parked on the premises of Franklin Elementary right outside of the front entrance Wednesday afternoon and an officer was observed entering the building.
Several parents escorted their children out of the school late Wednesday afternoon as police remained on scene conducting their active investigation.
A parent first alerted The Trentonian about the drug discovery around 2 p.m. Wednesday.
Schoolteachers on Tuesday allegedly found drugs on a student and reported the matter to Franklin Elementary Principal Nicole Bethea, who allegedly stashed the illegal substance in her office on Tuesday without informing the superintendent or contacting police, sources with intimate knowledge of the situation told The Trentonian.
Bethea could potentially face administrative and criminal charges for how she allegedly responded to the incident.
The New Jersey state law for failure to make lawful disposition states: “Any person who knowingly obtains or possesses a controlled dangerous substance … and who fails to voluntarily deliver the substance to the nearest law enforcement officer is guilty of a disorderly persons offense.”
A student allegedly brought marijuana to school on Tuesday, and sources say new Superintendent of Schools Dr. Fredrick H. McDowell Jr. did not learn of the incident until Wednesday. Apparently the superintendent did not learn of the incident until after The Trentonian on Wednesday afternoon began asking district officials and law-enforcement officials about the alleged incident.
Under New Jersey Administrative Code, “A school employee who seizes or discovers alcohol, other drug, or an item believed to be a controlled dangerous substance, including anabolic steroids, or drug paraphernalia, shall immediately notify and turn over to the principal or designee the alcohol, other drug, or item. The principal or designee shall immediately notify the chief school administrator or his or her designee who in turn shall notify the appropriate county prosecutor or other law enforcement official designated by the county prosecutor to receive such information.”
The Trenton Board of Education has a district policy on substance abuse affirming that any educational staff member must properly report any matters concerning the alleged discovery of drugs on a student’s possession.
Ali Robinson-Rogers, a new Trenton Public Schools spokeswoman,
told The Trentonian that the district is “cooperating with law-enforcement authorities” but declined further comment. “We are unable to comment on any student or any personnel issues whenever there is an active investigation happening,” she said.
A message left for Bethea at Franklin Elementary School was not immediately returned.
Ernest Landante, a spokesman for the New Jersey Department of Children and Families, would not say whether Child Protection and Permanency, formerly the Division of Youth and Family Services or DYFS, responded to Franklin Elementary this week on a report of a student being in alleged possession of drugs.
“State and federal confidentiality laws prohibit us from commenting on or confirming allegations or individual investigations, or even confirming whether or not we are involved with a child or family,” he said Wednesday in an email.
The Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office has reviewed cases similar to this in the past.
In April, The Trentonian reported that the director of Bo Robinson halfway house in Trenton was fired after he allegedly threw drugs in the trash that he seized. The matter was referred to the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office, which ultimately declined criminal prosecution on the charge of not handling the disposition of controlled dangerous substances properly. “He lost his job so we thought it was fine for them to just deal with it that way,” First Assistant Prosecutor Doris Galuchie said at the time. “It just didn’t seem like it would be appropriate to charge because the charge is generally for a user, not someone who’s disposing of it, albeit in an inappropriate manner.” Trenton schools has been documented to have reporting issues of criminal incidents this past year. In May, a teacher’s aide kicked an 8-year-old boy in the cafeteria at Gregory Elementary School. The boy’s mother said Trenton school officials never contacted the proper authorities and she had to press charges on her own. Then in June, a school security guard at Jefferson Elementary School allegedly grabbed a 9-year-old male student by the neck and punched him in the chest. Like the May case, the mother of the victim said the district did nothing to help her with seeking justice for her son. Both the security guard and the teacher’s aide were ultimately charged with child endangerment after the mothers contacted police about the attacks. Trenton elementary school students bringing drugs to school has also garnered international attention.
A 5-year-old charter school student allegedly brought heroin to his International Academy of Trenton kindergarten class on Sept. 12, 2016, and allegedly was later found to have a bag of crack cocaine in a baggie in his possession in his folder at the school on Oct. 24, 2016.