Pubdate: Sat, 16 Apr 2005
Source: Fresno Bee, The (CA)
Copyright: 2005 The Fresno Bee
Contact:  http://www.fresnobee.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/161
Author: Anne Dudley Ellis
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?135 (Drug Education)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?225 (Students - United States)

FRESNO TEACHER SAYS HE IS SORRY

Sub Is Charged With Giving Students Pot

Chris Bochin, the substitute teacher charged with smoking marijuana
with students during class, sent a letter of apology to Fresno High
School and wants the community to know he deeply regrets the incident.

Fresno High Principal Bob Reyes said Bochin's "well-written" letter
was addressed to the class where he had smoked marijuana.

Reyes will read the letter to the class, he said. "I think it's
important for the kids to know there is a lesson here. You can make a
mistake and you can learn from the mistake.

"I was really pleased with what the young man had put into the letter
and the lesson that he learned."

Bochin, 22, said five years of using marijuana made him "mentally
powerless" and his life "unmanageable," he wrote in a separate letter
to The Bee. He wrote that he "set the worst possible example" to
students: "It was the worst thing I've ever done, but in a way, the
resultant shame and embarrassment I felt might just save my life in
the long run."

Bochin was arrested March 9 at Fresno High after smoking marijuana
with five students in a ninth-grade Earth science class. Bochin had
sent two students to his car to retrieve marijuana and a pipe.

The smell of pot alerted others, as did cell phone text messages from
students in the class to students in other classes.

Bochin pleaded not guilty to felony charges of furnishing marijuana to
minors and misdemeanor charges of contributing to the delinquency of
minors. He is participating in an outpatient drug rehabilitation
program after completing an inpatient program, said Jim Elia, his attorney.

A preliminary hearing is set for May 5. Bochin's primary reason for
writing the letters was to apologize, not to try to influence a more
favorable outcome in court, Elia said. Bochin could not be reached for
comment.

Fresno High suspended the five students who smoked with Bochin for
five days, said district spokeswoman Susan Bedi. The district does not
have to expel a student for drugs if it is the first offense, Bedi
said.

In his letter to The Bee, Bochin said smoking with the students was an
"irrational decision." He apologized to Fresno High parents and
students and said, "My own ineptness and my addiction prevented me
from doing the job I had been hired to do. I was entrusted with young
minds, given the opportunity to teach and to lead by example; but when
things got tough, I violated that trust, teaching them a horrible
lesson and proving myself the worst possible example."

He wrote that it was his responsibility to tell students marijuana is
dangerous and illegal.

"Instead, I selfishly shared my own problem with the
students."

In an interview Friday, Elia said neither he nor Bochin can explain
why he smoked marijuana with students in class.

"It's totally irrational," Elia said. "He's never done anything like
that before."

Elia said Bochin was not under the influence of drugs when the
incident unfolded, although he had smoked marijuana the previous night
and was unsure what "lingering" effects that had.

Bochin had been a substitute for Fresno Unified since October but had
not worked at Fresno High until the day of the incident. Fresno
Unified immediately pulled Bochin off its substitute teacher list and
alerted other districts and the state's teacher credential office
about what Bochin had done.

Bochin graduated from Bullard High School in 2000 with a 4.3
grade-point average and received a degree from Loyola Marymount
University, Elia said.
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