Background: Lincoln Elementary School in New London, Wis. (Google Maps). Inset: Laurie Laubenstein (Waupaca County Sheriff”s Office).
A kindergarten teacher in Wisconsin is on administrative leave after someone at the elementary school where she works said she found “white powder” in her classroom’s bathroom.
Laurie Laubenstein, 58, was released from the Waupaca County Jail after being arrested for possession of cocaine on Thursday. According to a criminal complaint reviewed by Law&Crime, Laubenstein came to law enforcement’s attention after an anonymous tipster alerted a school resource officer at Lincoln Elementary School in New London to “a change in the teacher’s behavior.”
Police said the tipster told the school resource officer that she found powder on the counter of the bathroom in Laubenstein’s classroom and bloody tissues in the garbage.
According to the complaint, the tipster told police that Laubenstein had begun “behaving differently,” saying the kindergarten teacher was “scatterbrained” and “easily losing focus.” She told the officer that she shared her concerns with the school principal, but that she felt she was not being taken seriously. Another unnamed individual who told the tipster she had seen the same behavior and bloody tissues after Laubenstein used a private bathroom said she also told the principal.
Police said the principal told the second individual that he spoke to Laubenstein and that “the children were not at risk.”
After the purported conversation between Laubenstein and the school principal, the tipster told the officer that she found more powder on Laubenstein’s desk chair and on the bathroom counter. The officer went into the bathroom and saw some powder on the counter. He then ran an on-site drug test, which tested negative for cocaine, but the officer believed the swipe was “compromised.” He collected more of the powder from the bathroom, and another test yielded a positive result for cocaine.
On Feb. 12, police showed up at the school’s parking lot with a K-9 “sniff” unit at the request of the school resource officer. The K-9 alerted to the presence of cocaine in Laubenstein’s Buick Envision SUV. After the alert, Laubenstein was asked to come out to the parking lot while she was inside the school.
Police said Laubenstein had cocaine in her purse and in her coat pocket. Nothing was found in her SUV.
Laubenstein was brought to the New London Police Department station and read her rights. She agreed to speak with investigators and told them that she was dealing with a family-related incident that she could not get “out of her head.” When asked about how long she had been using cocaine, Laubenstein told police that she saw a friend using it in August.
Police said Laubenstein admitted to buying $200 worth of cocaine earlier in the week. After initially saying she did not use cocaine “all the time,” she admitted to using cocaine in the bathroom of the teachers’ lounge and off the changing table in the bathroom of her kindergarten classroom. She also told police that “cocaine never did anything for her so she didn’t understand why she continued using it.”
The school resource officer said students also used the bathroom and were tall enough to reach the changing table. One of her students was confirmed to still be wearing diapers.
Laubenstein told police that “she has never left cocaine in the bathroom and always cleans up after herself.” Local ABC affiliate WBAY reported that the teacher was placed on administrative leave.
Laubenstein was arrested for possession of cocaine and was released from jail. She is due in court on March 17.
