Police: Substitute teacher encouraged students to smoke pot

Police in New Hampshire have charged a former substitute teacher who they say encouraged middle school students to smoke pot and gave one student a vaping device.

Twenty-year-old Elisha Mahar, of Rochester, was arrested Thursday and charged with four misdemeanor counts of endangering the welfare of a child. It wasn’t immediately known if she had a lawyer, and a phone number for her couldn’t be found.

Authorities say a school resource officer at Somersworth Middle School spoke with Somersworth police on Oct. 13 after he learned Mahar had invited students to smoke and had given a student a vaping device while she was a substitute teacher.

Interim Superintendent Connie Brown says the school district is cooperating fully with police.

A hearing is scheduled for December 26.