Marshfield High School votes to keep teacher on staff after he pleaded guilty to multiple counts of anabolic steroid possession.
The Coos Bay School Board refused to fire a high school teacher who was convicted for the possession of illegal anabolic steroids. The Board voted 5-1 in favor of keeping Marshfield High School teacher Jesse Ainsworth on staff against the District recommendations.
Ainsworth pleaded guilty to three counts of possession of a Schedule III controlled substance (anabolic steroids) on July 23, 2019. The teacher was sentenced to 18 months of diversion probation.
The Marshfield High School teacher confessed to using Testosterone Enanthate, Anavar and Dianabol.
The Coos Bay Police initiated an investigation into Ainsworth after a student found a suspicious bag on the Marshfield High School campus on March 18, 2019. The bag contained several vials of an injectable liquid along with numerous pills. The Oregon State Police Crime Lab identified the substances as testosterone enanthate, oxandrolone (Anavar), and methandienone (Dianabol).
The Coos Bay Police linked the anabolic steroids to Ainsworth because it contained the packaging materials addressed to Ainsworth from outside the country. In addition, the bag contained Western Union receipts for the purchase of the steroid products.
Ainsworth admitted that the steroids belonged to him. However, he denied bringing the steroids on campus. The MHS Woodshop/Construction program teacher claimed that the steroids were stolen from his truck while it was parked off-campus. He had no explanation for how the steroids eventually ended up on campus.
Adrian DeLeon, the chair of the Coos Bay School Board, accepted Ainsworth’s testimony at face value. The School Board apparently determined that it was not a violation of the school policy for a teacher to merely possess anabolic steroids in violation of federal law. The only violation to school policy would have occurred if the teacher brought the steroids on to the school campus.
“The school board determined that there was not sufficient evidence to promote a termination,” said DeLeon. “Mr. Ainsworth had pleaded guilty to three charges of possession of a controlled substance, to our knowledge that did not occur on school campus which would have been a violation to our policies.”
DeLeon and the School Board overwhelmingly voted to keep Ainsworth on staff against all recommendations and expectations.