Police 1, Parents 0: No charges for Woodland principal's sharing of inhaler

1/30/2015

A little dated but due to it's relevance and idiotic reaction from the parents, it's worth a read...

January 20, 2015 11:30 pm  •  By Lauren Kronebusch

A Woodland police investigation has cleared Middle School Principal Cari Thomson of wrongdoing after she loaned her prescription inhaler to a seventh-grade student who was having an asthma attack.

Her action may have saved the boy’s life, Woodland Police Chief Phillip Crochet said Tuesday.

“By the letter of the law,” Thomson may have acted illegally by sharing a prescription medication, Crochet said. “But the prosecutor is seeing this as common sense” to help the student.

City of Woodland Prosecuting Attorney Fred Johnson declined to pursue criminal charges, Crochet said. Johnson was unavailable for comment Tuesday.

Thomson, who is on leave while under district investigation for other complaints brought by teachers and parents, did not return calls for comment..

In the police report, the student’s father, Jason Birrer, told Woodland Police Officer Brent Murray “he was sure (Thomson) was trying to help his son” but he was worried that Thomson’s inhaler may have been too strong for his son.

“It was just the fact that she gave him the inhaler without even contacting us (that bothered me),” he said in a phone interview Saturday. He said he didn’t think the incident harmed the boy.

Birrer said former middle school physical education teacher Cheryl Nesbitt was the first to tell him what happened. “I thought (my son) had his inhaler that day, and afterwards he told me he forgot it.”

According to the police report, former middle school English teacher Holly Royle witnessed Thomson in early December giving her inhaler to the student, a severe asthmatic. Royle waited nearly a month to write up a witness statement, dated Jan. 2, and gave it to Nesbitt, who brought it to the Birrer family for signature before bringing it to police. Royle said she did not know the family.

Courtesy photo

Woodland Middle School Principal Cari Thomson.

Nesbitt reported the inhaler incident to police on Jan. 5 — two weeks after she and Royle were terminated Dec. 17. They claim they were fired in retaliation for bringing concerns about Thomson’s lack of leadership and breaches of professional conduct to her and Superintendent Michael Green.

Nesbitt brought the Birrers pizza when she had them sign Royle’s statement. Birrer rejects criticisms circulating around town that the pizza was like a bribe.

“She gave me some very good information, and I believe Cheryl Nesbitt did the right thing,” Birrer said.

Nesbitt said she would have approached police even without the family’s signature and brought the pizza to thank the family for its time.

“There was no coaxing,” Nesbitt said. “I didn’t need (the parents’) approval. I was there just to tell them what happened.”

Royle said she didn’t report the incident until early January, when she was advised to do so by teacher’s union representative Roy Maier. She said in an interview that she feared harassment by Thomson. In addition, Royle said, she was not sure of the law or whether Thomson had consulted the student’s family before loaning the inhaler.

“I didn’t report it (right away) because the work environment I’m in,” Royle said. Thomson “would have blamed me and harassed me. Who knows what she would have done? It’s one of the things that I brushed off at the end of the day. She’s very erratic in her behavior.”

School officials told police they tried to contact the student’s parents “multiple” times before Thomson gave the student her asthma inhaler. (The school nurse was unavailable at the time.)

Birrer disputes that and noted that his wife was at home when his son had the asthma attack. He also said school staff did not tell him later that day that his son was given another person’s inhaler. In addition, he said, the district did not try to contact his mother even though it has her contact information.

Thomson admitted to the superintendent that what she had done was illegal, according to the police report. Superintendent Green, according to the report, told Thomson that “it was a good thing she violated policy” because her action may have saved the student’s life.

source