Wish had teacher like you. Got caught selling weed at school. My first time selling was to a narc. Got arrested, booked, expelled, which is all justified. I deserved that. I accepted my punishment and literally quit weed cold turkey the day I was arrested. What got me was certain teachers I looked for advice gave me more stern lectures than confidence boosts. I expected it but not so hard from the people I looked up to.
Im not saying these teachers should have treated me like a little fragile unique snowflake but it got to the point where teachers instigated stuff and it would leave me more ashamed. I understand how a teacher would be really disappointed and possibly feel they failed their student when in that situation. An electronic music teacher of mine who was well known for his past drug history called me an enemy of education. That didnt help my self esteem. It got so out of hand with that specific teacher i just stopped all contact with him. When I got escorted around the schoolyard to sign year books he walked up near me and oddly stared. I tried to keep it cordial said hello and hovered away but honestly it felt like I was being bullied.
Private teacher who would joke about leaving the bong on the living room table when parents are out town totally flipped on me. Gave me 20 minute stress talk but it just felt he was talking at me and not to me. "What were you thinking? Wtf is wrong with you?" These questions really didnt need any answering as it seemed it only indulged his stern lesson.
Tbh got ridiculed about it more from teachers who literally didnt know my name before the incident. Not educators who encoutered me because of the incident but just adult figures that would walk the halls that youd see on and off between classes for crowd control or something. It was a cold and bitter attitude toward a kid who didnt know any better and its just weighed me down more and more.
Thirteen years since and still remember the look on my economics teacher face. She didnt give me the time of day before getting in trouble and then lectures me about what i did wrong, what I should have done and why we discussed so many weed cases in class, which was one out of a whole year. Maybe they meant well but their input just added to the guilt, along the shame i still deal with when applying to a job or knowing that all my hard work, countless hours i dedicated to after school seemed to have been purged since most just remember me as some drug dealer who got expelled.
The only teacher who was supportive, gave some respect, and just made me feel like i was worth a damn afterward turned out to be an alleged pedophile... so yep. All for selling .7 grams.
Tl; dr - OP is an awesome teacher and person.