By Cain Madden

Special to the News-Herald

A Suffolk woman arrested in September on drug charges has been released from her job as a teacher at S.P. Morton Elementary School in Franklin.

Elizabeth Ferguson was arrested Sept. 26 in Suffolk on two felony charges of distribution of heroin. On Dec. 5, Ferguson was fired from S.P. Morton Elementary School after the system learned of the charges from a background check, Franklin School Superintendent Willie Bell said.

“When the school was notified, the employee was released immediately,” Bell said.

Bell said Ferguson had been with the system since at least the beginning of the school year.

He declined to comment on any background checks that might have been performed.

The Franklin School Board’s policy manual specifies that school system employees must submit to fingerprinting and provide personal information that will be used to obtain criminal records and histories.

Ferguson is scheduled for arraignment Jan. 7 in Suffolk Circuit Court.