Education

Colorado ‘Crunk Bear’ teacher tweets on, won’t face drug charges

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America has surely been dying to know what became of Carly McKinney (aka Carly Crunk Bear), the 23-year-old high school math teacher from Aurora, Colorado who took to Twitter in January with half-nude photos of herself, chatter about getting heroically stoned and an admission that she was tweeting instead of working during school hours.

Well, thanks to KUSA — “Colorado’s News Leader” — we have a Crunk Bear update at last.

The Denver-area NBC affiliate reports that McKinney will not be criminally charged for allegedly possessing drugs on campus.

The not-yet-fired Overland High School teacher had boasted about having the drugs in her car in a Twitter post.

“Watching a drug bust go down in the parking lot. It’s funny cuz I have weed in my car in the staff parking lot,” the tweet read.

An Aurora law enforcement representative told KUSA that police could not determine whether the Crunk Bear actually had marijuana in her vehicle, or if she was making merely idle Twitter boasts.

When the story of the world’s greatest high-school math teacher’s exploits first broke in January, she told KUSA that she and a friend had created the Twitter account as a parody. She maintained that her partner in tweeting was responsible for the offending posts, and that she never brought any illegal drugs to campus.

McKinney cancelled the original Twitter account almost immediately after it became widely known to the public. However, she resurfaced just a few days later as @Carly_McKinney. In her many tweets since reemerging, she has thanked her supporters (including nearly 1,700 followers) and frequently endorsed freedom of speech.

“Please tell people to follow me so we can keep spreading the word….. #FREECRUNKBEAR #FreedomOfSpeech #FreedomOfExpression,” reads a tweet from February 9.

The hash tag #freecrunkbear has become something of an Internet meme that has spread with the support of students at Overland High School and, notably, the rapper Diplo.

The Cherry Creek School District placed McKinney on administrative leave shortly after officials learned about her Twitter posts, notes KUSA. An investigation into whether she violated any school policies has been ongoing ever since. The Crunk Bear faces an uncertain future at the school, but officials have made no final decision about her future employment.

The OnlineSlangDictionary.com defines “crunk” as a blend of “chronic” — a slang term for marijuana — and “drunk.”

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Eric Owens