Central Regional Student Who Laced Teacher's Coffee Still Suspended

by Patricia A. Miller

The Central Regional Board of Education will meet in closed session next Monday to discuss the status of the student who laced his teacher’s coffee with Visine last month, Superintendent Triantafillos Parlapanides said.

The board will make a final decision on the student’s future at Central Regional at the June 15 board meeting, he said.

“Until the student is given his due process, he will remain on suspension,” Parlapanides said.

The 16-year-old boy was suspended immediately after the April 28 incident.

The student put the drops in Kelly Grosse’s coffee around 8:30 a.m. on April 28. Berkeley police responded to the school on a report of a faculty member who became ill after ingesting an unknown substance, Police Chief Karin T. DiMichele has said.

Kelly Grosse is the wife of Berkeley Township Councilman L. Thomas Grosse Jr., a Toms River police detective, Central Regional Superintendent Triantafillos Parlapanides said.

The Berkeley Township Police School Security Officer and Berkeley detectives responded and began an investigation to determine the cause of Grosse’s illness. She was taken to Community Medical Center for treatment, the chief said.

The boy was arrested and charged with aggravated assault. He was released to his parents’ custody pending Juvenile Court proceedings, DiMichele has said.