A Virginia teacher busted for possession of a crack pipe has a novel defense. She claims the pipe belongs to one of the people she was driving around with in the early morning hours and she never touched it. That’s right Michelle Auville’s defense is that she was just hanging around watching people smoke crack, not using it herself.

Something tells me she’s not seeing the larger picture on this one:

he Culpeper County Public School teacher arrested Saturday morning on a felony drug charge said Tuesday that the smoking device with crack cocaine residue found on the ground near the vehicle during a traffic stop wasn’t hers.

Michele Lynne Auville, 35, of the 600 block of Southview Court, was a passenger in a car being pursued by police on Madison Road, according to the Culpeper County Sheriff’s Office.

Auville, who was arrested and charged with possessing a controlled substance, taught first-grade at Emerald Hill Elementary School for nine years until she resigned on Monday.

She said the drug paraphernalia found at the scene belonged to a third individual riding in the back seat. That’s why she’s banking on DNA tests and fingerprint analysis to prove her innocence.

“I knew that I hadn’t touched that pipe,” she said Tuesday afternoon at her apartment about a mile south of town.

CCSO spokesman Sgt. Jim Fox said deputies discovered the drug paraphernalia in the vicinity of where Auville exited the vehicle.

“An investigation led to charging her with possessing a controlled substance,” Fox said.

Auville, who began working for the Culpeper County Public School System in 1999, was arrested on scene for possession of a controlled substance.

She was released on bail, according to the Virginia Judicial System Web site.

Auville said her main concern is the school system and its image.

“I’m not worried about myself,” she said. “I just feel bad for the school and I feel bad for my students.”

“All I want to say is ‘I’m sorry’ and in the end the truth will come out.”

CCPS spokeswoman Marla McKenna confirmed Auville’s resignation.

“The school is sending a letter home to parents informing them of the situation and explaining how the remaining days will be managed,” McKenna said.

Kristen Brewer, a student teacher in another class, will oversee Auville’s students until school ends June 10. Auville’s annual salary was $46,000.

Actually her main concern should be for her safety, which is endangered by her crack using, sorry I mean crack watching, lifestyle. But that’s the kind of logic one would expect from a product of today’s teacher diploma mills where critical thinking and expertise in a subject has been replaced with feel good curriculum so dumbed down that a woman who doesn’t know that you shouldn’t hang around crack addicts can coast her way into being in charge of your children’s social and intellectual development.

Thanks teacher’s unions! While her first graders may not read as well as the next kid, at least they’ll know who to go to when they need to score a little rock.