The Adobe Flash Player is required to view this multimedia interactive. Get it here.

Middle school assistant principal charged with drunken driving

Contributed photo Ronald K. Rowland.

Man, 68, drowns at Caesar Creek Lake
5/26/12
Water rescues prompt warning from health officials
5/25/12
Beach Waterpark sued for failure to deliver
5/25/12
Raleigh Trammell’s defense opens in felony trial
5/25/12
UD to move satellite campus to Dublin
5/25/12
> More headlines

By Margo Rutledge Kissell and Doug Page
Staff Writers Updated 11:02 PM Friday, August 12, 2011

DAYTON — A Northmont Middle School assistant principal is facing misdemeanor drunken driving and felony improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle charges after being arrested late Monday by University of Dayton police.

Ronald K. Rowland, 49, pleaded innocent Tuesday to the drunken driving charge in Dayton Municipal Court and was released on his own recognizance.

According to a UD police report, a UD officer arrested him in a UD Arena parking lot at 11:01 p.m.

The report states that Rowland was in the driver’s seat of a Hummer parked in the lot with a female in the passenger seat when the officer approached.

The parking lot is privately owned and signs are posted indicating that it is closed after dark.

The engine of the vehicle was running and the officer smelled alcohol, according to the report.

Rowland admitted having a bottle of wine in the car and drinking from a plastic cup on the dashboard.

After sobriety tests were administered in the parking lot, Rowland was transported to the Kettering Police Department where a breathalyzer test revealed his blood alcohol content to be 0.125, exceeding the legal limit for operating a vehicle of .08.

University of Dayton officials initially said because they are a private university, they did not have to release the police report. The Dayton Daily News fought to obtain the report and was given a redacted copy, which did not give details of the firearm charge.

The female in the car was not arrested.

UD spokeswoman Cilla Shindell said university police are working with the Montgomery County Prosecutor’s Office on the case.

Prosecutors filed the fifth-degree felony weapons charge Wednesday in Common Pleas court. That charge will be presented to the grand jury.

Northmont Superintendent Sarah Zatik said no disciplinary action has been taken.

“We’re turning it over to our legal counsel. That’s as far as we’ve gotten. We’re waiting to get the arrest report,” she said Friday. “It was not on school property. It was not during school hours. That all plays into the decision.”

School starts Tuesday, Aug. 23.

Rowland has been at the middle school since 2009. Rowland, who has a master’s degree from UD, also has served as a high school and middle school assistant principal in the Dayton Public School District, according to the district website.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2094 or mkissell@DaytonDailyNews.com.

Share this article