Minnesota teacher charged with sharing marijuana vape with students during Utah field trip

A teacher from Minnesota is facing criminal charges accusing him of providing students with marijuana while on a field trip to Utah.

Paul Thomas Senechalle, 29, of Goodhue, Minnesota, was charged Thursday in Kane County’s 6th District Court with three counts of drug distribution, a second-degree felony.

On June 23, Senechalle, “while acting as an adult chaperone for a school-sanctioned trip, distributed a marijuana vape pen to multiple minor students, and allowed the minors to smoke marijuana with him,” according to charging documents.

Senechalle was most recently listed as a science teacher for the Cannon Falls Public Schools district in Cannon Falls, Minnesota.

The charges do not say how old the students are or how police found out about it. But according to an October 2024 article from the Cannon Falls Beacon, a weekly newspaper, Senechalle made a presentation to the school board about a field trip he took in June of 2024 with sophomore students that included stops in “Las Vegas, Bryce Canyon, Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, Zion National Park, Glen Canyon, Horseshoe Bend, Grand Canyon National Park and Sedona.”

This story may be updated.