TEACHER TO GET JOB BACK AFTER COURT ORDER UPHELD

AFTON -- A longtime elementary school teacher once charged with
marijuana cultivation will return to her job this fall, her attorney
said Wednesday. The Oklahoma Supreme Court on Monday declined to
reverse a previous court order directing the Afton School Board to
rehire fifth-grade teacher Carolyn Weaver.

"Mrs. Weaver is pleased with her final exoneration," Tulsa attorney
Richard O'Carroll said. "She will be seeking her attorney fees and
costs in this matter, and she is looking forward to resuming her
19-year career at Afton this fall."

Weaver and her husband, Joe, were arrested in August 2000 and charged
with cultivating an almost 8-foot-tall marijuana plant found growing
behind their home on Grand Lake.

Joe Weaver, who was principal at Watts at the time, pleaded no contest
in March 2001 to a felony charge of cultivating marijuana and a
misdemeanor count of marijuana possession.

He was allowed to retire from Watts and given a five-year deferred
sentence on the criminal charges.

Prosecutors also accused Carolyn Weaver of growing marijuana, but
criminal charges against her were dismissed in October 2000.

She voluntarily submitted to a drug test after her arrest, and the
results were negative. Even though the charges were dismissed, she was
still fired by the Afton School Board a month later on grounds of
"moral turpitude, neglect of duty and incompetence."

A district judge upheld the school's dismissal, but in April the
Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals ordered Weaver reinstated.

The school district appealed, but on Monday that appeal was
unanimously rejected without comment by the Oklahoma Supreme Court.