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	The Ypsilanti Courier A Heritage Newspaper Weekly Publication

Assistant principal charged in theft of students' medication

Burlingame faces five felony counts after allegedly stealing drugs from school

By Kathleen Conat, Special Writer

PUBLISHED: March 24, 2005

Former West Middle School assistant principal Marcus Burlingame was arraigned last week on five counts of felony larceny from a building. Each count carries a penalty of four years in prison and/or a $5,000 fine. He appeared before Judge J. Cedric Simpson and was released on a $10,000 personal bond.

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Burlingame was an assistant principal at West Middle when he was accused of stealing the drug Adderall from a locked area. The medication was dispensed to students diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder.

Burlingame admitted to taking less than 20 of the pills, to which he said he was addicted. He said he had developed the addiction after being diagnosed with ADD three years prior and being placed on the drug by his physician.

Burlingame has been with the district for seven years, having started as a teacher at the high school. He was placed on paid leave Dec. 1 and in January resigned his administrative position, while reserving the right to return to the district as a tenured teacher.

To that end, Burlingame appeared before the Ypsilanti board of education in February when the board was considering whether or not to proceed with a tenure hearing. The district brought three tenure charges against Burlingame, two of unprofessional conduct and one of misrepresentation. During the meeting, Burlingame stated he was rehabilitated and ready to be reinstated in the teachers' union with seniority and return to the classroom.

At that time, YPSD attorney Raymond Davis of Thrun Law Firm, P.C., said approximately 200 pills went missing at the school prior to Burlingame being relieved of his duties. No pills have gone unaccounted for since that time.

Despite an impassioned plea for reinstatement by board trustee Diane Kerr, the board voted 5-1 to proceed to tenure hearing. Burlingame had been Kerr's campaign manager in her failed run for state representative in 2004.

Burlingame, who will appear in court March 31 for a preliminary hearing, is represented by local attorney David Goldstein, who could not be reached for comment.

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