HARLEM TEACHER IS CHARGED WITH SELLING DRUGS FROM CAR

A special education teacher who gave out cookies to students and kept exotic pets in her Harlem classroom was charged yesterday with possessing and selling drugs from a parked car in Manhattan.

The teacher, Veda Kaleya, 51, and a friend, Oleg Zhadanov, 30, were arrested Thursday night on 54th Street between Ninth and 10th Avenues after they sold cocaine to a man who earlier got into their car, according to prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney's office.

The man was also arrested and charged with possession of cocaine, which was found in a bag in his pocket, said Gloria Montealegre, a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office. Ms. Montealegre said she did not have the man's name. Police officers saw the man get into the backseat of the car when it stopped at 29th Street and 10th Avenue, she said. The man then handed over some cash, and Ms. Kaleya, who was in the passenger seat, handed him a bag, Ms. Montealegre said.

Earlier in the night, the officers had seen Mr. Zhadanov and Ms. Kaleya driving along Seventh Avenue and making several stops near 20th Street, she said.

After the man left the car at 29th Street, police officers followed the car up to 54th Street, where they made the arrests.

The police said Ms. Kaleya's handbag contained 86 bags of cocaine, 12 bags of heroin, and various quantities of opium, crystal methamphetamine, Ecstasy, Quaaludes, Valium and 100 other pills, according to a criminal complaint.

Because the amount of drugs exceeded two ounces, Ms. Kaleya and Mr. Zhadanov, if convicted, could face maximum sentences of up to life in prison. Ms. Kaleya was arraigned last night and charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance in the second and third degrees, and criminal sale of a controlled substance in the third degree. Her bail was set at $100,000. Officials said Mr. Zhadanov, who lives on West 56th Street in Manhattan, was to be arraigned on the same charges late last night.

Ms. Kaleya had an unblemished 25-year teaching record, according to Pam McDonnell, a spokeswoman for the Board of Education.

Ms. Kaleya joined Public School 146 in East Harlem in 1993, and teaches fourth grade. She lives alone in a penthouse apartment overlooking Gramercy Park, people in her building said.

A spokeswoman for the district attorney said she did not know whether Ms. Kaleya or Mr. Zhadanov had a criminal record.

Board of Education officials expressed surprise at the arrest.

"It's very hard to believe," Ms. McDonnell said. "I'm looking at this woman's record, where she has clearly stepped up the ladder in terms of teaching." She added that there were no complaints against Ms. Kaleya.

"I'm sure she will not be with children until this is resolved," Ms. McDonnell said.

In the neighborhood around Ms. Kaleya's school on East 106th Street yesterday, students and a faculty member expressed anger upon hearing of the arrest.

If the charges are true, "It's awful and unethical," said Nolan Paird, a social worker employed at the school for the summer.

"It's very unfair to the children that they don't have someone better teaching them, who could be a better role model."

A group of schoolchildren who knew Ms. Kaleya described two sides to her.

She had a quick temper and often shouted, for little reason, they recalled.

A. J. Ruiz, 14, said, "Sometimes she was mean, she would yell in my ear."

But Ms. Kaleya often delighted them with the unusual menagerie she kept in her classroom, as well as her streaks of generosity, they said.

The children described tanks of brightly colored fish, as well as an array of lizards whose tanks and cages adorned her classroom.

They also said that she was known for giving out cookies, and that recently, she had baked gingerbread cookies with her class and built a gingerbread house, decorated with jelly beans.

And she would also reward good behavior by giving out money.