ECHOLS COUNTY, GA (WALB) -
An Echols County teacher is out of work Thursday after police say she was caught with marijuana on school property.
The high school Spanish teacher was busted during a routine drug search at the school.
26-year-old Krystal Maldonado-Alers was caught with marijuana and a smoking pipe on school property Friday morning during a routine drug search at the school.
"We try to set an example for the students, not just through the student body in the community but the staff and the faculty that works here and for someone to violate that trust in front of students is very disappointing," said Superintendent Tim Ragan.
The superintendent says in the decade the school system has had the K-9 drug searches no student has ever been arrested for drug possession, let alone a teacher.
But it wasn't even the drug sniffing dogs that found the pot.
The Sheriff says as soon as she heard about the drug search she ran out to her car, grabbed a smoking pipe and threw it over a fence.
As the school was on lock down, Alers left her students unattended and the principal watched the whole thing. He told law enforcement and when deputies searched her car, they found the marijuana.
"This was very unexpected and very rare. This was a first year teacher at the school system and I guess she didn't realize that we do these periodic searches," said Sheriff Randy Courson.
"We're not going to tolerate drugs on our campus. It's illegal, it's immoral and we're not going to have it on campus. And we want the school and the community to know that it won't be tolerated in Echols County schools," said Ragan.
Alers submitted her resignation Tuesday and the School Board approved it.
Alers was charged with possession of marijuana and possession of a drug related object.
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