GARDINER, Maine — A random search for drugs at a Maine high school has resulted in charges against a math teacher.
Gardiner Police Chief James Toman says the random search of Gardiner Area High School on Sept. 13 was conducted by officers from his department, and dogs and officers from the Maine State Police. He says during the search of a parking lot, the dogs sniffed drugs in three vehicles.
Police charged 44-year-old Tyson Greifzu of Fayette with sale and use of drug paraphernalia and unlawful possession of drugs. Toman did not specify what those drugs were. Two 16-year-old boys were also charged.
Superintendent Patricia Hopkins told the Kennebec Journal a staff member has been placed on paid administrative leave
Greifzu has been summoned to appear in Augusta District Court on Nov. 7.
oops. That’s bad role modeling. Sale on school grounds by an educator. Wow.
“Sale on school grounds by an educator.”
The only charge for drug paraphernalia available to LEO in Maine is a catch-all “use or sale” charge. It doesn’t mean that the individual was selling anything.
Homer below me here is right. If you get cought with pills, weed or whatever the charge is always called “sale and use of drug paraphernalia” plus when I was in high school we had a science teacher that would sneek outside with kids and smoke weed with them. A janitor would sometimes too! lol
Educated but STUPID…….oxymoron
You defined a typical liberal
These moronic attempts to politicize everything is pathetic. Read a book.
They are too busy zinging ignorant one liners to actually open a book.
Bad, bad teacher.
No retirement for you.
If their union would allow random drug testing of teachers you’d find a lot more than one positive for drugs.
And where would that get you if they just smoked weed at home?
Apparently you aren’t aware how long pot stays in urine. Pretty telling when they make you pee in a cup!
i took a drug test when i was in virginia before i worked at walmart. i smoked heavily in the days leading up to it, but drank a jug of cranberry juice and nothing came up
Eh, you just got lucky, then. Nothing chemically in the juice that would render the THC in your fat cells, blood stream or urine inert.
Most people try to “flush” their system out with lots of water or whatever for longs periods prior to a test. A week or more, sometimes. THC is not water soluble, that’s why it stay in fat cells. So, flushing like that does absolutely nothing, except make you overly hydrated. You can maybe pass by diluting (drinking lots of water a few hours leading up to the test), so when you urinate its more or less water. Of course, they test for this, by checking the specific gravity of the sample, Creatine levels as well as some other things. You dilute or adulterate the sample (add anything to it) and generally they will fail you for tampering or they MIGHT order a retest. Its a whole lot more complicate than this, there is a lot of science-y know-how involved and the BDN comments are really no place to elaborate. Best bet is to just not risk failing one to begin with. Trying to cheat a test is a risky, and possible illegal affair. There is no sure way to pass, except to not use.
You got lucky. I wouldn’t try that technique again.
when i quit and came north and almost a year later found a better paying and FULL TINE job I expected to get drug tested but I didn’t. I now make almost $400 a week. Granted I don’t smoke everyday and I haven’t for almost a month but yeah.
theres a lot more to be worried about in the world besides who smokin pot. i think the world needs to try it out and relax :) hehe
i agree ashley…pot is a plant. i can see if someones doing meth. i don’t drink or smoke when i work…i’m probably one of the few people who do.
Now a lot of the students will want to take his math class lol
The New Math.
What was the probable cause for the dog patrol?
No need for probable cause for dog patrol…dog patrol IS probable cause. Sound backwards? because it is, unless you live in a fascist state like the US.
The older I get, the more I dislike the iron fists that govern the educational system.
When I was in high school, once or twice a year the cops and k-9 units would come to the school and do the same. This is not unheard of.
Doesn’t make it right
Sorry, but no reasonable expectation of privacy here. Bad choice to use it, but stupid to bring it to work at a public school.
Sure, why would a child not be expected to be treated like a criminal.
So you would feel the same about metal detectors at school entrances? (I mean, the kid has done nothing wrong, correct…who cares if they prevent a kid from entering with a weapon).
Yes. Treating kids like criminals is not the way to go.
Or some nail clippers. Big threat, there.
How many kids actually get caught bringing weapons to school? How have the detectors helped reduce violent crime in schools? Was violent school crime enough of a country wide problem to justify the expenditures required to have detectors and police? Has drug use or bullying or school violence diminished at all because of all these new “protective” measures?
“Metal” detector’s are easily rendered useless if someone uses a non-metal weapon. You think they are not weapons inside the school? A chair, a fire extinguisher, a broom handle, a padlock in a sock, etc etc etc. How does a metal detector really help at all with anything other than people sleeping better at night? You really think a kid with intent to mass murder is going to be concerned about a detector beeping? You really think someone wont use a wooden club if they really wanted to? I doubt it. Guns are becoming more and more synthetic as time goes on, as well. Before you know it we’ll have to have X-Ray machines everywhere. Hey, they should be ok, you never know where someone might hide a polymer gun, better safe than sorry!
I work in schools and see nothing wrong with it. Parents should want the schools as drug free as possible. The ones worried should be the parents of the druggies. They can cry how “unfair” it is.
Yea why let the little things like rights get in the way.
same here. luckily couple of classmates had relatives on the police force and the whole school had a heads up.
Apparently NOT the whole school!
Yeah, NICE solid actions on the part of the police there…pitiful.
Never happened when I was in school in the 60s, 70s and 80s.
non needed on public property ….maybe they needed to walk the dog to take a tinkle and well well well lookie here what was sniffed
Ahhh – so the car was acting suspicious. I get it! Be careful at Homecoming and Parent’s Weekend – and when you walk on the sidewalks downtown and especially at the library. I hear that is where the next public property sweep is happening. I wonder if there were any loaded guns in those cars that no one could smell, or maybe that wonder drug bath salts?
The school is public property paid for with tax dollars. No different from going through metal detectors at the Federal building.
Wrong. Going through metal detectors of your own free will is VERY different from leaving vegetative matter in your car. Many cars in Maine are left unlocked. Someone could have put the bad stuff there. I also believe it is discriminatory to be searching for just one illegal thing, they should have to be searching for ALL bad things, or it is arbitrary and capricious.
You do realize that “vegetative matter” is ILLEGAL under federal law, right?
I taught for 40 years and no one ever put dope in any car at my school unless they were going to get paid for it, I’m sure.. This gent knew that the police could come at any time to check for drugs, inside and outside. It’s not a secret at all. I’m sure this wasn’t the first time it had been done. If he has a drug problem , then he may be represented by the union. If he ‘s selling drugs, he’s toast.As far as boilerplate language, as a chief negociator for more than 35 years, I never saw any of this language at all.
Let’s have drug dogs at the post office, roads, and all government property. Everyone’s a suspect. Freedom isn’t free.
There’s a fundamental difference between using a road and being held responsible for the education of hundreds (if not thousands) of students. One is a service laid out by the government, paid for by the taxpayers, used by the taxpayers. The other is a tax-supported salary with a major societal responsibility attached.
I’m an outspoken Libertarian. I don’t care at all if this teacher wants to smoke weed at home (as long as he’s sober at school)– be my guest! But his decision to bring the drugs onto school property shows a lack of judgement and character. You mention freedom, huh? Well, in this scenario, it’s the freedom of the STUDENTS to get the very best education that I care about. Not the freedom to keep drugs in your vehicle on school grounds. Which freedom is more important to you? Think about it!
Maybe he was dealing at school, to students, and someone got upset and narked on him. Is that how you spell nark? Either way, I agree with you. No teacher who is stupid enough to bring drugs to school has any business teaching kids.
Someone paid the price for your freedom. I like your idea about the drug dogs at public places, kind of like radar guns in parked police cars. Since illegal drug possession is a crime , the freedom thing goes out the window. Check out how many ” free people ” are in our jails .
Evidently school kids are paying the price with their freedom. The fourth amendment has been whittled down to a nub by the last forty years of drug laws. Drug dogs on every corner and metal detectors at the post office might make us seem more safe, but it won’t make us more free.
Probably cause is not needed in schools. THAT is school law. Reasonable suspicion is all that is ever required to search a student.
His union will advise him to voluntarily enter rehab, and he’ll be back on the job in 3 – 6 months. Sad, but true!
I bet your wrong
I hope you’re right, but I’ve seen it before, when a group of 3 or 4 were caught. The only one who was fired was the teacher’s aid, who was not a union member.
Actually their right….It’s boiler plate language in just about every teachers union contract. Very sad, but also very true!
Bull. There is no teachers’ contract clause that requires schools rehire a teacher who committed criminal acts especially on school property or anywhere else.
Sorry Tyke but you are mistaken on this one. There is boiler plate language in almost every teachers contract requiring the schools to provide counseling and rehabilitation for employees who commit violations involving drugs and alcohol. Like I said before. Very sad, but also very true.
Hey…It’s for the children.
I know you said “almost”. Can you provide any evidence? A quick search turned up this contract from 2010. Doesn’t support your claim.
http://www.msad56.org/forms/teachers_contract_07_10.pdf
and Scarborough’s current contract also contradicts you…http://www.scarborough.k12.me.us/Board/Documents/teacher_contract.pdf It makes no mention of required counseling or rehab.
Paid administrative leave?! Really?! He should not be paid for bringing drugs to school, whether they were leaft in his car or not!
I’m sure it won’t be paid for long, however he should be considered innocent until proven guilty too!!
I doubt this was a random dog patrol.
Maybe that is why I could never get calculus…I wasn’t high enough!!!
This is part of what is wrong with the whole system today. The people who traditionally have been regarded as role models are not always the best role models, as in this instance.
…and then A LOT of the best role models smoked pot and no one was the wiser.
I bet a lot of teachers and role models drink themselves to sleep every night.
Maybe, but this is still different that bringing your stash with you to work, even if you leave it in the car.
Yuh, I had several hard core alcoholics for teachers/professors.
Random drug search on public property, huh? Why not parked on the side of the street or at the public park? I don’t want kids using drugs either, but this is a clear violation of the fourth amendment. There should not be an American reading this that is not outraged over this very clear violation of privacy!
There is no violation of the 4th amendment here, and students(and staff) have ZERO expectation of privacy in a school. I work in a school and am fully aware that, at any time, an administrator can come in my office, look around, check out my computer, etc.
Can that administrator force you to empty your pockets?
Yes, and search lockers, cars in parking lot, book bags etc.
In the school is one thing (to a point), but in your car regardless of its location in the United States, is another. Just because they, “Say so” does not make it right.
School and school grounds are not private, and anyone on those grounds have no expectation to privacy. A drug sniffing dog can detect the sent from outside the car. That gives probable cause for a search inside as well.
I agree with you, but they will chew you up alive in here over your view. But this is smelling like a place in 1933, like just the beginning. Free Americans should be left alone.
Maybe, we should put forth more effort into helping our fellow Americans when there is an abuse of power such as this. Remember, someday they may come for you & where will your help be?
Well, when Americans don’t even understand the Constitution or bother to read it or study it, they don’t have a clue how its being whittled away. Bush chipped away at it and it continues now under President Obama. Before long we will have to pee in a computerized cup at home every morning and will have some type of breathalyzer device in the car, and of course the micro chips under the skin and code bar tattoos are just around the corner. In some states you can no longer smile for your license photo because it messes up facial recognition software/devices.
Actually it was Reagan that started the alleged War on Drugs, creating a massive corporate welfare apparatus for pharmaceutical companies that has been costing big money and packing our corporate prisons with non-violent offenders for decades.
exactly
Actually, it was Nixon who coined the term “War on Drugs,” in 1972. I remember hearing it on the radio for the first time back then. Reagan may have been the one to turn the “War on Drugs” into new markets for police (seizure of assets), military equipment makers, pharma and prison industries. It was both a reaction to increasing narco-violence and the reassertion of neo-victorianism as the socially conservative right regained strength in the 80s.
Didn’t you hear? We’re not a democracy anymore. Were a socialist country now and we are losing more rights every day. Just this week, Obama abolished free speech wherever secret service agents are present. That means its now illegal to protest any politician that has secret service protection.
Socialism…. Have you actually ever read any Marx? Or are you one of those people who know nothing about it but dread it so? It actually makes lots of sense, if done properly. Before you go telling me about the horrors of China and Russia, let me remind you that the day of Columbine Clinton ordered more bombs to be dropped on Serbian Innocents then any other during that engagement. No country is innocent. What is wrong with everyone being equal? Socialism isn’t about less rights at all. Id say for a “republic” or “democracy” we are losing more and more rights as citizens, while the “elite” (your politician) get the Red Carpet. Go check out some Co-Op business and community gardens. Both those are great examples of things that bring people together and strengthen communities and families. They both are representative of Socialism. No-one truly has much more then anyone else. Because of this, they all must rely on each-other. The basic rule of money and things is that the more you have, the more you can get, exponentially. This creates problems in balance. We are seeing a reaction to this in the slowing Occupy Movement. This country is rather ill, but it has nothing to do with socialism. It has to do with Capitalism. Stop being scared by the TV and the Red Menace. Apparently, you didn’t know that we havn’t been a democracy for a long time. Sometime around when our Actor/TV salesmen president sold the reins to Wallstreet and big business.
Here is a start, for you: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_socialism
SOCIALISM
When the means of producing and distributing goods is owned collectively or by a
centralized government that often plans and controls the economy.
and
The stage in Marxist-Leninist theory intermediate between capitalism and
communism, in which collective ownership of the economy under the dictatorship
of the proletariat has not yet been successfully achieved.
You must be one who feels like they’re entitled to others’ money simply because you’re breathing. GET A JOB!!!
Nah…… Id rather work my whole life to make someone else rich, while clinging to “The Dream” the whole time, then retire with nothing, live for a few years and die miserable leaving my family in debt all because I live in a place where the working class is exploited and thrown into a rut it is impossible to escape from.
Apparently, you didn’t read anything I wrote. What is wrong with collective market ownership? What is wrong with the people who are involved with a company owning equal shares of it? Doesn’t that create incentive to work together for the common as well as personal good? We all have to sacrifice a little for those who have none. I suppose you probably believe in God, right? How does capitalism fit in with God’s teachings? Doesnt God or Jesus say something about how we’ll be judged by how we treat the least among us? Do you support Unions? You do know Unions are representative of Socialism, right?
You might think hard work gets you places in this country, but tell that to all the broken men who have worked hard their whole lives and have little to show for it. Or the families where both parents work full time just to pay the bills. Imagine all the people who do work hard but can barely afford to go out once a month because they didn’t go to college. Or the college graduate who now has 50 grand in loans to repay. Or the average American family whos debt is somewhere around 8-1ok. Or the people who loose their homes because the bank keeps jacking the payments up. I bet all these people believe “if only I try”. I bet all these people work hard. And yet, look where they are.
Something needs to change. Not everyone feels entitled, chief. Not everyone feels that being a peasant is good, either. Least of all a Dead Peasant (thats what Walmart calls their employees who die). But most people do feel something different needs to happen.
And if they found guns you’d all be praising the police. What a joke you pro-pot people are, and we wonder why we can’t turn things around in this country.
and if they found Jesus on a peanut butter sandwich in his car the church would be crying for his release… therefore the church is to blame. Makes about as much sense as your post.
Random drug testing should be illegal. They should only test for drugs if there’s behavior that correlates to being on drugs.
So what behavior would point to the teacher or student who does not use drugs but sells them?
What about random searches of ones person, say… at the airport? Commercial truck drivers? Pilots? Air traffic controllers? Do we need to drop back to a totally reactive society and allow tragedies to happen? I’m not saying a teacher on drugs is a tragedy, but one might question this after spending those long minutes watching a recent HS graduate try to figure out change at a cash register.
Teachers should be judged on the quality of their work, not their personal lives. I don’t care what anybody does at home as long as they do their job well.
Not funny, but it is.
The Teachers union and ACLU will come to the rescue to return this fine example of a teacher back to the classroom.
So if the searched turned up a cache of “assault rifles” would you be outraged at the search and seizure? I doubt it, I think most of the contempt here is borne of peoples apologist attitude to drugs and drug laws.
If a teacher is too stupid to keep their drugs off campus, they should be deemed too stupid to teach children. Laws are laws folks, you don’t like them get them repealed, don’t expect leniency.
I wonder if a student heard about this search with the drug dogs and disposed of this by putting it in someone elses car.
we are required by law to send our children to school,so let me get this straight,by obeying the law we give up our constitutional rights? i don’t think drugs belong in school but where will it end? teachers have a choice,students do not.their rights must be protected even if we do not agree with the results..police should have a warrant in hand for a specific reason.