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Crime & Safety

Underland Discusses Board Absences, Drug Charges

School board member says she has not decided if she will resign.

School board member Sherri Underland has missed seven of the board's 15 meetings this year, and six of seven since it became public this spring that she had been charged with possession of marijuana.

Underland tells Patch those most recent absences are due to health issues for herself and her son. And, she says, she hasn't decided whether she will be resigning from the board.

“I had surgery at the end of May which kept me out for a few weeks. Of course the board was aware of this,” she wrote in an e-mail. “My son was the passenger in a horrific multi-car accident in late July. He is now under doctor's supervision. He broke bones in his back.

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“It has been a tough few months for us.”

Underland, elected in 2009, was charged with marijuana possession along with her husband at the end of March.

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Police were investigating her 19-year-old son and that probe led to the issuance of a search warrant of her residence. And, according to published reports, during a search police found drug paraphernalia and marijuana in her son’s room as well as a pill bottle containing marijuana in Underland’s bedroom.

In an e-mail statement to Patch this weekend, Underland wrote about the circumstances of that incident.

“My husband had found and removed a small amount of marijuana from my son’s bedroom and hid it in the dresser in our bedroom.  He had planned on discussing this with me at a later time.  I was at a school board meeting the same night the police came to our house,” she wrote.

Underland went on to say the case became “sensationalized” only because of her public position.

“If I was not in a political position we would have been able to deal with this personal issue in a private manner as any family should,” she said. “My son has been to rehab, he has been to court and he has received consequences for his actions.

“It has been made to seem as though the drugs were mine because they were in my bedroom.  I am sure we are not the first parents to confiscate items from their children.”

Earlier this month, Underland, 42, was accepted into the Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program. ARD is a pretrial program for first-time, nonviolent offenders, in which their record is cleared following a probationary period.

“We felt that the best course of action for us was to take ARD, which is not a plea of any sort,” she wrote. “We chose not to have a trial due to the expense and strain it would have taken on our family.”

School board President Heather Nicholas, speaking to Underland's recent absences, said she is not concerned about her attendance “since they were due to a documented medical issue.”

District records do indicate that of Underland's seven absences, six were explained by either calls or e-mails for sickness or doctor's notes.

policy regarding board member attendance at meetings reflects state code and says board members can be removed from office if they “neglect or refuse to attend two successive regular meetings, unless detained by sickness, or prevented by necessary absence from the district.”

The board's code of ethics includes: “that I must never neglect my personal obligation to the community.”

Underland began her written statement Sunday by saying, “I am very proud to be able to give my personal time to the community and serve on the school board. Unfortunately, my son recently got into some trouble as many of our children do.”

Asked if she is considering resigning, Underland wrote, “At this time I have not made a decision as there are many things that must be taken into consideration.  When I do, I will convey my decision through the school board president.”

Underland also wrote that during her absence she has been “very aware of all the issues” being dealt with by the board.

“We communicate on all matters,” she wrote.

Attempts to get comment from some other school board members about Underland's attendance record were unsuccessful.

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