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Lompoc teacher overdoses at school, loses his job

April 12, 2024

By KAREN VELIE

Lompoc police officers arrested a substitute teacher at Lompoc High School in March after he overdosed in a school bathroom during the school day. [KSBY]

On the afternoon of March 14, a caller reported finding an unresponsive teacher in a bathroom. Officers arrived to discover Matthew O’Hanlon of Solvang suffering from an apparent overdose.

Officers also discovered O’Hanlon, 44, in possession of suspected methamphetamine and fentanyl. Officers arrested the substitute teacher on charges of being under the influence and in possession of a controlled substance

Later that day, the school district accepted O’Hanlon’s resignation.

 


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School blew a perfect teaching moment by getting rid of the guy. A lot of these students have drug problems and having a teacher that understands their challenges could have gone a long way.


-47

No, Mr. ‘Heroin’ O’Hanlon possesses no professional capacity, wisdom or the necessary mental state to counsel students about their “drug problems”. In all likelihood he would just exacerbate their problems, contribute to their delinquency, and cause more suffering. Lompoc High School accomplished an absolutely perfect teaching moment by immediately getting rid of the unprofessional, sketchy, unwell, possibly dangerous, drug abusing teacher. The students were exposed to a perfect example of how an adult should not conduct oneself in the workplace. The school demonstrated leadership by example in maintaining standards when they fired a loser.


14

Funny I was thinking the same thing, but the teachable moment would have been to parade the kids by him passed out and choking on his own vomit. Precious moment lost.


5

We know if a parent had accidentally sent their child to school with a Tylenol or aspirin they’d likely be charged and maybe have CPS called, but we know teachers are a protected class. This teacher will likely just move on to another district and continue.


7

That doesn’t sound likely. Did you hear this on Fox?


-16

Nope. He won’t be “moving on” to other CA schools at this point; O’Hanlon isn’t even a credentialed teacher. He’s been issued six “emergency” 30 day substitute teaching permits since 2016. California teachers’ credential info is public and can be seen at the CA Commission on Teacher Credentialing website. Thankfully, O’Hanlon’s days as a sub are over.


6

Let’s hope so, maybe it’s only tenured teachers that almost cant be fired no matter what they do.


1

You get what you pay for… It is quite obvious the denizens here cannot afford quality…


Just lie to them. Tell those prospective teachers you can fix anything. Tell them they will have “eternal life”. Tell them the future is replete with miracles, vice heartache, which is what they are most likely to endure.


I don’t use heroin, but when one considers what we are a part of, it is unsurprising that some folks engage it.


Oh, and make sure you nail him to a cross. The guiltiest are the ones throwing stones…


I was told that this is complex, so is garbage.


-24

There are programs.


-16

We have quite a few here. I worked at a halfway house with quite a few heroin addicts, it was heartbreaking, and there was not much you could do. Had a motorcycle accident in 2013 where I was in the hospital for 3 1/2 weeks on dilaudid, morphine, and oxycodone. I even cut the oxy’s in half and supplemented with Tylonel as addiction did not seem like a good time. I still had withdrawals, albeit very minor and easily managed.


I was having a rough night when I wrote this, so to those who were offended, my apologies…


4

I hope the DA office charges him with bringing dangerous drugs to a school.


32

Hopefully all the kids in school that day learned a valuable lesson. Do drugs, lose your job and your reputation


30

Do TOO MANY drugs, GET CAUGHT, lose your job and your reputation.


-11

Kids are our most important resource. It’s time to do whatever it takes to weed out bad teachers, cut the admin fat, cut DEI , and make teaching as sought after a profession as fire fighting or other careers where there is more competition for the jobs.


43

How exactly do you plan on weeding out bad teachers if you’re going to cut resources to the administrators whose job it is to weed those bad teachers out? And when you say cut diversity, equity, and inclusion it doesn’t take much of a leap to assume that you think more white people would reduce drug use among teachers


-25

The California teachers union is the strongest in the nation, if this person wasn’t a substitute teacher, he’d be on administrative paid leave while going to taxpayer funded rehab!!!

Read a LA Times article about pedophiles, drunks, drug users etc. that sometimes take years before they get fired, if at all;(


3

Never hear anyone mention weeding out the assault rifles that get into the wrong hands that mow down so many of our most important resources every year.


-15

This exemplifies just how serious the drug problem has become.


48

Yeah. This one guy. At this one school.


-21

Simply incredible!


32

I know! The Central Coast never disappoints!


-9