Bronx Assistant Principal Arrested on Drug Charges
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A popular assistant principal at a Bronx junior high school was arrested on drug-possession charges on a Harlem street corner Tuesday afternoon, a few hours after the last class bell tolled, the police said. The assistant principal, Earl Meyers, 46, who works at Junior High School 149 at 360 East 145th Street in Mott Haven, has been transferred out of the school to another administrative position pending the outcome of his case. After his arrest, he was released from police custody after being issued a summons to appear in court next month on a misdemeanor drug-possession charge, said Detective Mark Patterson, a police spokesman. Mr. Meyers was arrested at 4:25 P.M. on the corner of St. Nicholas Avenue and 139th Street in Harlem. The arrest came after police officers questioned him and a passenger in his car about why they were sitting in a vehicle that was parked in front of a fire hydrant, the detective said. “He had a small amount of a substance alleged to be cocaine,” the detective said. “He’ll have to return to court in 30 days or so.” The other person in the car, James Bailey, 39, of 435 West 125th Street, was also issued a summons for cocaine possession, Detective Patterson said. A spokesman for the Board of Education, Josh Plaut, said Mr. Meyers would be working in an administrative position in District 7 in the Bronx pending the outcome of his court case. “In all likelihood, we’ll seek termination if he’s found guilty,” Mr. Plaut said. He added that state law bars the schools chancellor from suspending Mr. Meyers without pay because he has been charged only with a misdemeanor. “If this were a felony possession, then he could have been suspended without pay,” Mr. Plaut said. The Board of Education currently has in-house disciplinary cases related to drug use pending against 23 of the 80,000 teachers, principals and supervisors it employs, Mr. Plaut said. Students at the junior high, a three-story, yellow-brick building bedecked with signs reading “Drug-Free School Zone,” expressed support for Mr. Meyers yesterday. They said he related to them well because he had grown up in a nearby housing project. “He’s not one of the people who comes from Long Island,” said 14-year-old Latasha Dozer. “He’s not a hypocrite. I say it was a conspiracy.” Ketsy Velasquez, another 14-year-old student, said Mr. Meyers often broke up disputes between students. “If you had a problem, he’d straighten everything out,” Ms. Velasquez said. “He acted as a mediator.” “When I had to visit my father in jail, he helped me out,” she said. The president of the school’s Parent-Teacher Association, Myriam Quinones, also came to the assistant principal’s defense. “He’s a good principal,” she said. “For me it was a setup. They didn’t catch him with hardly nothing. It was just a misdemeanor.” Mr. Meyers was not at home yesterday afternoon at his apartment in southwest Yonkers. But neighbors said he had always been pleasant to them. “He’s a very nice person,” said Jose Soler, himself a New York City schoolteacher. “Anytime I run into him he asks, how you are doing, how’s your son.” Source : query.nytimes.com |