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.