On Thursday, August 24th, 49-year-old teacher, Clifford Harper was reported to the police for “possibly under the influence of an alcoholic beverage with students in his classroom”.

According to the CVUSD website, Harper is an Intro to Technology teacher and a STEM teacher, working for this school system for more than 10 years. This makes him a loyal and regular teacher in our school system. There have been no previous records or suspicions on Harper, so the news makes people think twice about who our teachers really are as well if they should even teach at all. Studies earlier this year state that 4.7% of people in the education system, whether that be teachers, substitute teachers, or office staff, are heavy alcohol abusers, which is a large jump from studies in 2008, stating that only 3.8% of teachers abuse alcohol.

Fellow staff members and coworkers of Harper suspected him to be intoxicated and, therefore called the Chino Hills Police to inform them of the situation and to look into it as well. Officers later arrived at Townsend at around 11:30 AM, resulting in the arrest of teacher Clifford Harper. After the arrest, police took Harper to the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga, where he waits due to investigations that are still ongoing. With Harper being removed from teaching, the school and district reported Harper to be on administrative leave while the officials are currently working on his case and trial. He faces the charges of public intoxication and child endangerment.