Pubdate: Sat, 11 Aug 2007
Source: Daily News Journal  (Murfreesboro, TN)
Copyright: 2007 The Daily News Journal
Contact: 
http://dnj.midsouthnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=CUSTOMERSERVICE03
Website: http://dnj.midsouthnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1709
Author: Scott Broden

ARRESTED TEACHERS RETURN TO CLASS

SUB: Drug Tests For Gill; Shelton Can't Own Gun

Two Smyrna teachers arrested in the spring for separate  off-campus
incidents are back in the classroom, their  court cases behind them
and back pay restored to one.

But Stewarts Creek Middle School technology teacher  Adlai "Jay" Gill
will be required to take court-ordered  drug screens for the next two
months. And Julie A.  Shelton, a science teacher at Smyrna High, can't
own a  gun for a while or speak to her neighbor.

Gill, the brother of Rutherford County Schools Director  Harry Gill,
agreed to a diversion on misdemeanor drug  possession charges in late
July. Diversions give those  accused of a crime a chance to avoid a
trial and have  charges expunged if they abide by conditions set by
the  court during a period of time.

Gill, 54, was charged with possession of marijuana and  drug
paraphernalia on March 18 during spring break.  Smyrna police
responded to a disturbance call at the  home of a Smyrna resident and
found Gill inside his  truck in the driveway with a lit marijuana
cigarette,  police said.

Terms of the diversion include $1,064 in fines, two  months of drug
screening and an 11-month 29-day  suspended sentence, according to
records at Smyrna  General Sessions Court.

Gill took a medical leave of absence the rest of  2006-07 and used his
sick-day benefits for income,  district spokesman James Evans said.
Details about the  leave of absence must remain private because of
federal  law, Evans said.

In the days after his brother's arrest, Director Gill's  office
released a statement saying, "as with any other  employee, there are a
wide range of options including  reprimand, suspension, termination
and/or required  participation through the employee assistance program."

Friday, Evans said Director Gill did not officially  reprimand his
brother.

"There was no reprimand because it was not related to  his job," Evans
stated.

At least one parent is upset to learn about Gill  returning to a
campus with middle school students.

"I don't want him teaching our children," Bobbine  Sanders said. "He's
not a role model. That's a very  impressionable time for our children.
He can smoke all  the marijuana he wants, but I don't want him
teaching  my children."

Meanwhile, Shelton, 49, was charged with aggravated  assault with a
firearm. Sheriff's deputies arrested her  on April 11 for allegedly
aiming a firearm at her  neighbor M.A. Smitty, an Eagleville councilman.

Director Harry Gill suspended Shelton the next day  without pay,
citing the nature of the charge.

"The reason for the suspension and the charge against  you is conduct
unbecoming a member of the teaching  profession in that you have been
charged with a  felony," Gill states in an April 12-dated letter to
Shelton.

Shelton's suspension, however, ended, and the district  gave her back
pay because she's no longer being  prosecuted on felony charges, Evans
said.

Shelton agreed on July 23 to a retired sentence for 18  months in
which she is not to have any verbal or  physical confrontation with
the victim and is not to  own or possess a firearm during the time,
according to  General Sessions Court records in Murfreesboro.
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