‘He was cool. He wouldn’t burn you.’ : Arrested Teacher Given High Marks

At Edison High School, science teacher Jim Hoyland projected the image of an aging surfer--a laid-back sort who drew praise from students and administrators alike for handling almost all the disciplinary problems in his classroom without running to the dean for help.

He wore Hawaiian print T-shirts and Ocean Pacific shorts to class. Sometimes he bicycled to the Huntington Beach school. Other times, he drove up in what some students describe as a “beat-up” 1975 Porsche.

This was hardly the expected aura of a man whom law enforcement authorities accuse of involvement in a million-dollar money-laundering scheme. Away from school, authorities allege, Hoyland lived fast and rich, counting among his possessions two Maseratis and a 53-foot yacht that he purchased with $200,000 in cash.

Hoyland, 42, an Edison science teacher for the past 18 years, was arrested Dec. 22 at his home after a yearlong investigation by the Newport Beach Police Department. Officers also arrested Hoyland’s boating companion, John F. Ford, 41, of Long Beach, and confiscated the boat, five cars and more than $1.3 million in cash and gold that they said belonged to the two suspects.

Police said both men are suspected of laundering drug money, although they are not charged with any drug offenses. The two men have been held in Orange County Jail on $1-million bail each and face arraignment Jan. 19.

If he makes bail, Hoyland will be allowed to return to the school but only for unspecified clerical duties. James Buhman, one of Edison’s two deans, said Hoyland would be automatically dismissed if he pleads guilty to the laundering charges or is convicted in a trial.

If Hoyland is found not guilty or the charges are dropped, he will be reinstated to his teaching post, Edison Principal Jack Kennedy said.

Some of Edison’s 2,200 students, returning to school Monday from the long Christmas holiday, huddled in small groups and exchanged words of disbelief over what had happened to one of their teachers.

“I don’t think it’s true,” said one girl in Hoyland’s freshman life-science class who declined to give her name. “He just doesn’t seem like the type of guy who would do that.”

Carrie Owsley, 18, a senior, added: “He didn’t stand out, but people knew who he was. And nobody suspected this.”

Some students found it ironical that a teacher had been arrested on drug-related crimes just two months after Huntington Beach police arrested eight students in a drug “sting” operation at Edison and other city high schools.

“People think it’s a big joke,” said sophomore Alicia Erickson, 15.

On campus, Hoyland reportedly did not behave like the typical teacher. Besides coming to school in surfer style, he carried himself with what students described as a “mellow, kick-back” air.

“He didn’t walk; he strutted,” said senior Julie Villanueva, 18.

In the classroom, Hoyland was popular among students for his low-key, non-confrontational teaching style.

“If you had his class, you were lucky,” said student Chad Romero, 16.

Joe Parker, 18, a 1987 Edison graduate who took a horticulture class under Hoyland two years ago, added: “He was cool. He’d never give you any hassle. He wouldn’t send you to the dean or nothin.’ He wouldn’t burn you.”

Spencer Gilpatrick, an 18-year-old senior, also took Hoyland’s horticulture class two years ago.

“He was a nice guy,” Gilpatrick said. “He’d get mad once in a while, like if you screwed up.”

Hoyland’s ability to handle any disciplinary problems in-house also won him praise from school administrators.

Buhman said that while some teachers send students to his office for minor infractions, Hoyland almost always handled everything himself. Students can be sent to the dean’s office, Buhman said, for such infractions as abusive language, disobedience, fighting in class and smoking on school property.

“He ran a good classroom,” Buhman said. “The kids respected him, and they liked him.”

In fact, Buhman said that in his years at Edison, he had never heard a student complain of unfair treatment by Hoyland, as they sometimes do with teachers.

Among his peers at the school, Hoyland was less popular because he kept to himself most of the time, Principal Kennedy said.

Hoyland did not participate in any extracurricular activities and is not pictured in recent yearbooks posing with any of the other 100 teachers, Kennedy and Buhman said.

“He was kind of a loner,” Kennedy added.