Police: Substitute teacher arrested after letting 7th grader use vape pen

EUSTIS, Fla. (WESH) – A substitute teacher is facing child abuse charges after police say she let a seventh grader take a hit off her vape pen.

Last week, a seventh grader at Eustis Middle School said a substitute teacher named Jennifer heard him and a friend talk about wanting to try vaping, and she said, “I have one” and pulled out her vape pen, according to a Eustis police report.

The seventh grader said she then asked if he wanted a hit and told him not to report it.

Eustis police said the substitute, Jennifer Hale, is facing child abuse charges.

“Teachers. It’s scary now,” said Jennifer Hunter, who has an eighth grader at Eustis Middle School.

As a mom she’s had her worries about what other kids are doing at school.

“I never thought that a substitute teacher would give my child that or someone else’s child any of that stuff, just other students,” she said.

According to the police report, when the principal confronted Hale about what happened, she admitted to it and was escorted off campus and told not to return.

“You can’t do this. You just can’t do it. I mean, this should be common sense,” said Eustis Police Chief Craig Capri. “She has a responsibility to that classroom to protect kids, not abuse them.”

Capri said the reason she gave for doing it was surprising.

“We contacted her. She immediately, post-Miranda, confessed to doing it,” Capri said. “Her response was she just wanted to fit in. I don’t get it. What is there to fit in? You’re there to teach a class, not to fit in.”

Hunter said she feels the same.

“They don’t need to fit in with the kids at all,” she said. “They need to be more parent-like than fitting in with the kids.”

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