BREWER – At the back of a classroom in Brewer’s Alternative Choice for Teens educational program sits a big closet with one window and a door that locks.

It was in this closet that several students were questioned last month by school system administrators about their knowledge of the alleged marijuana smoking activities of Mary Ellen Bryner, an education technician III.

Some of the students claim they felt threatened and intimidated by the process, but a stream of school officials Tuesday denied any attempts at coercing students into making statements against an educator they liked.

The second controversial hearing, which pits Bryner against the school superintendent who placed her on administrative leave in early March and recommends that she be fired, took place Tuesday night at the Brewer Middle School.

The crux of the problem is that Bryner reportedly smoked marijuana with some of her students during a class art trip to Boston, and that she took part in pot smoking inside the school with students after a fall weekend bottle drive about six months ago. Affected by the controversy is art teacher Joanna Pennypacker of Brewer High School, Bryner’s roommate. A student last week testified that Pennypacker as well as Bryner smoked marijuana with students at Boston’s Quincy Market during the art trip. Though the student recanted her testimony on Pennypacker’s alleged involvement, the teacher also has been placed on administrative leave. Her lawyer, Larry Lunn of Bangor, took notes at Tuesday’s meeting.

At Tuesday’s meeting two administrators said they heard students implicate Pennypacker in the alleged Boston pot-smoking activity.

Bryner, who has been with the ACT program since last fall, reportedly insisted on having an open hearing. The first administrative hearing, featuring three attorneys, a court stenographer, Superintendent Betsy Webb and the Brewer School Committee, took place last Thursday. The second was Monday. The next session will be at 3 p.m. April 16 at the Brewer Middle School.

About 50 people sat on benches in the school cafeteria as the meeting swung into gear. The number had dwindled to half that amount as the hearing progressed into its fifth hour. Details of the 18-foot-by-13-foot closet area were the focus of a lengthy hearing. Though the superintendent described the room as larger than her office, the seating area was described as being only 8 feet by 10 feet because of items stored in the room.

While Bryner and her attorney, Jeff Silverstein of Bangor, maintain her innocence, ACT lead teacher David Morris testified that he became convinced that marijuana improprieties were going on after a senior told him about the bottle drive. Morris, who supervised Bryner, stated he had spoken to her earlier about some “mistakes in judgment” but became really concerned when Amanda Sawyer, 18, told him that if he knew what was really going on he would “shut the program down,” Morris said. Sawyer’s former probation officer confirmed that the girl had told him about the alleged pot smoking. Sawyer quit the program twice during the 2002-2003 academic year and no longer attends. At least nine other students questioned by Morris, Pupil Services Director Kerry Priest and Attorney Richard Violette, who represents Webb, basically confirmed Sawyer’s story, many of them providing extra details. One student told about having a key to Bryner’s home and felt very close to her. “It was more than a student-adult relationship. She said she loved her,” Priest testified. Another told how Bryner hid a bottle of “Aleve” aspirin when a police officer visited the school. Though not illegal, students carrying aspirin is against the school’s drug policy.

When asked, Priest admitted to defense attorney Silverstein that two male students in the ACT program were suspended for violating school anti-drug policies after refusing to take part in questioning. A third student was suspended later as a result of being “disruptive,” Priest said.

School officials had secured a promise from the town’s police chief that students who were truthful about the incident would not face arrest or other legal action.

Superintendent Webb testified Bryner performs classroom work under supervision as an education technician III. She is not under a continuing contract and is not certified as a teacher. Silverstein had objected to the hearing based on claims that Bryner was regarded as a full-fledged teacher, which would have further protected her.

She placed Bryner on leave to protect her and the students, Webb said. In talking to the students who may have smoked marijuana with her, Webb assured them that prosecution wouldn’t be sought because “an adult was there who was entrusted with your care, and without that adult there, they [students] would have assumed smoking there was inappropriate.”