TEACHER WILL NOT FACE POT CHARGES

FORT WORTH - A popular Paschal High School science teacher who police say
had marijuana plants and 12 small bags of the substance in his house and
garage could return to the classroom next week after the case against him
was dismissed.

Philip Blake Sills, 45, has been on paid leave since his Nov. 16 felony
arrest by Fort Worth police.

According to the arrest report, officers entered Sills' unlocked garage
while chasing a truancy suspect who they thought might have gone inside.

After finding "large green leafy plants hanging from the rafters," police
obtained a search warrant and found more marijuana in the garage and house,
the report said. The marijuana the officers found totaled about a pound.

The officers reported that while they were completing their search, Sills,
who has been with the school district for 19 years, showed up at the house
and told them, "I'm a science teacher and this is a botany experiment."

When one of the officers asked Sills why it smelled "like burnt marijuana
in the house," Sills answered, "Well, I've been growing the marijuana in
the garage for approximately eight months so I could save myself some money
instead of buying it off the street," the report said.

Tarrant County prosecutors dismissed the charge last week after it was
determined that police lacked probable cause to enter Sills' garage.

Sills did not return repeated phone messages left at his home Wednesday
seeking comment.

Sills' defense attorney, Samuel Smith, declined to comment Wednesday.

Prosecutor Ben Leonard said dismissing the charge was the right thing to do.

"The police were trying to do their jobs," Leonard said. "My problem with
the search was officers entered his garage, and it was clearly not a place
that was open to the public. And they had no probable cause to think Mr.
Sills was doing anything illegal."

"To find contraband material without a warrant, you always have to have a
right to be where you are," Leonard said.

From all indications, Sills is a dedicated teacher, Leonard said.

"If I had any hint that this marijuana in his garage was making its way to
kids or anyone else for that matter, I certainly would have had a different
attitude," Leonard said.

"I would imagine his farming days are over with," Leonard said of Sills. "I
think we got his attention."

The dismissal was "not due to factual innocence," Leonard wrote on the
court order dismissing the case.

School district records show that Superintendent Joe Ross and the
district's Case Review Committee are expected to make a recommendation on
Sills' employment Monday.

"I anticipate them advising me to return Mr. Sills to work," said Bobby
Whiteside of the district's Office of Special Investigations.

Sills could be back to work at Paschal as soon as Tuesday. Neither state
law nor district policy allows termination of an employee who has been
arrested but not convicted of a crime, school officials said.

District records show that on Tuesday, Sills met with Whiteside and signed
a voluntary agreement that he would submit to random drug testing at the
district's expense through Dec. 31.

The district does not ordinarily perform drug tests on teachers, Whiteside
said, but he asked Sills to comply "to protect the district's interests."

Sharon Meng, the Paschal High principal, said she would welcome Sills back
to the school, where he teaches advanced placement environmental systems
and honors biology.

"He is outstanding," Meng said. "He really knows what he is talking about.
The kids love him and have a great deal of respect for him."

Meng said Sills is known for always being available for students and going
the extra mile with "meaningful" lab work, study trips and field work.

She said she had no concerns about his return to the school.

"Blake would never do anything irresponsible at school and certainly not
around children," she said. "I have been here five years, and I have never
heard him say anything or do anything inappropriate to a child."

Valerie Robertson, the district's director of communications, said Sills'
father, Billy Sills, was a longtime Fort Worth history teacher who
collected historical photos and documents for the district. The district's
archives are named in his honor.

Billy Sills, who Robertson said died in 2003, was also the district's first
director of social studies in 1963.