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Posted on Wed, Nov. 11, 2009

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District: No signs teacher sold drugs to students

BY DION LEFLER

The Wichita Eagle

A Wichita school district teacher charged with trafficking drugs in Oklahoma is not believed to have sold drugs to his students, officials said Tuesday.

The teacher, Clell Aven Posey, 61, posted $50,000 bond and was released about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, said a dispatcher in the Kay County (Okla.) Sheriff's Office.

Posey, a 32-year veteran teacher in the district, is facing charges of delivery of marijuana and possession of cocaine with intent to distribute.

Sgt. John Mitchell of the Blackwell (Okla.) Police Department said the cocaine was divided into small packets and ready for sale.

Questioned by police, Posey admitted that he sold drugs, Mitchell said.

"He said that he had been selling for several years," Mitchell said. "He said he had not dealt with any of his students."

USD 259 spokeswoman Susan Arensman said no parents or students had come forward with any issues, before or after Posey's arrest.

"He only interacted with about 15 kids because of the nature of the school where he taught," Arensman said.

Posey is a social studies teacher at Arkansas Avenue Gateway Alternative School , a program for students in the sixth through 12th grades who have been expelled or are on long-term suspension from regular schools because of behavioral or disciplinary problems.

Pending the outcome of his case, Posey remains on paid suspension.

Sedgwick County District Court records show one past complaint against Posey — a three-count traffic citation in 2006 for speeding, following too closely and unsafe turning/failure to signal while driving on I-135.

Records indicate he pleaded guilty on one charge and no contest on the others and paid about $220 in fines.

Posey's case marks the second time in five years that a Wichita teacher has been charged with trafficking drugs.

In 2004, West High School English teacher Vidya Kennedy was arrested in Texas on federal charges of importing about 177 pounds of marijuana from Mexico.

She pleaded guilty in 2005 to importing the drug and intent to distribute and was sentenced to five months in prison, a $5,000 fine and three years of supervised release, court records show.

The Wichita school district does not keep readily accessible records on how many teachers have been disciplined for involvement with drugs.

State Education Department records show that since 2000, two teachers in the state have had their credentials revoked for drug offenses.

Wichita school district policy requires all new hires to take a pre-employment drug test, Arensman said.

Current employees can be ordered by administrators to take a drug test if there is sufficient reason to suspect that drug or alcohol abuse is affecting their job performance, Arensman said.

Drug use alone is not automatically a firing offense, Arensman said.

Depending on the circumstances, a person who tests positive could be allowed to take unpaid leave to undergo treatment, she said.

Reach Dion Lefler at 316-268-6527.