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The Thomas S. Wootton community is "shocked" at the news that a former Wootton teacher has been charged with giving drugs to students, according to Wootton principal Michael Doran.

"She was probably one of the more popular teachers," Doran said, "and so it was just a complete shock to the faculty as well as the students."

Theresa Cunningham Duarte, 44, of Rockville, was arrested Aug. 25 and charged with two counts of distribution of a controlled dangerous substance and two counts of contributing to conditions of a child.

Detectives with the county police's Family Crimes Division were contacted by Child Protective Services and told that Duarte had distributed cocaine to Wootton students from her home in the 1000 block of Brice Road, said Lucille Baur, a Montgomery County Police spokeswoman.

"We know things like this happen, but not in my neighborhood or not in my school — you have a typical reaction like that," Doran said.

Doran said he felt the school's role was to cooperate with the investigation and focus on helping any students involved with the incident to get treatment if needed and get back on track academically. He also said the school was reinforcing to students the importance of alerting school officials to anything out of the ordinary.

"We're working with students to make sure they let us know if there's out there that bothers them or upsets them," Doran said.

Duarte was hired as a full-time English teacher at the school in July 2004 after serving as a substitute teacher at Albert Einstein High School in Kensington during the 2003-04 school year, according to a statement from police. Duarte resigned for unknown reasons from Wootton at the end of last school year, police said.

Doran said that Duarte had worked full-time at Wootton before cutting back to working part-time as a yearbook advisor during the 2007-08 school year. She resigned due to scheduling constraints, he said.

According to District Court charging documents, Duarte told police she kept cocaine in the bathroom at her home, and that she had given cocaine to two Wootton students. Duarte told police that she had given the drugs to one of the students, identified only as Student B, just before the end of the 2007-08 school year, when she was still employed by Montgomery County Public Schools, according to the documents. She also said she believed she gave the drugs to the other student, identified only Student A, about a week after she gave cocaine to Student B. Both of the students used the drugs in Duarte's home, according to the documents.

A search of Duarte's home revealed a straw, a folded paper and small amounts of a substance police believed to be cocaine, according to the documents.

Stu Levin, president of the Wootton PTA, met with school officials Aug. 26 to discuss the arrest.

"This saddens the whole community," he told The Gazette. "But the fact is this is a police matter and not a school matter because she is a former teacher."

Levin said Duarte was "not well" when she left Wootton in the spring, but would not explain further.

Aria Warrick, a 2007 graduate of Wootton and Gaithersburg resident, said Duarte had a close relationship with students.

"She related very well to students unlike other teachers at Wootton, and went out of her way to make students feel comfortable," Warrick said. "But honestly this comes at a total surprise."

Duarte taught Warrick in English classes and also helped Warrick with her college applications.

Warrick said when she graduated in 2007, Duarte had mentioned leaving Montgomery County Public Schools, but didn't give a reason.

Duarte was released from the Montgomery County Detention Center in Rockville after paying a $150,000 bond.

Baur said police are continuing to investigate the accusations, and believe more students may have been involved. She said she did not believe the students Duarte allegedly sold the cocaine to would be arrested.

Doran said that the beginning of the school year had gone off smoothly at Wootton despite a flurry of media attention to the case. "What I want the kids to do is focus on their classes and their teachers and move on, and I think the feeling among parents and kids is probably the same thing," Doran said.

Anyone with more information about the case is asked to call Family Crimes Detective K. Carvajal at 240-773-5400.