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. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek