A substitute teacher at Westland Hialeah Senior High School is facing a felony charge after a school employee found a loaded 9mm handgun inside her unattended backpack, which had been left in the auditorium. Chenelle Antonette Doctor, 27, told the arresting officer she simply forgot to take the gun out of her bag that morning, according to the arrest report.
Officers found the pistol in a black holster tucked inside the bag, according to NBC 6 South Florida. The weapon had a round chambered and a magazine loaded with seven live rounds inserted, while a second, empty magazine was also stashed in the bag, per the arrest report cited by Local 10 News, which identified the firearm as a Walther pistol.
The discovery began when a teacher at the school spotted the bookbag sitting unattended in the auditorium and searched it looking for identification, according to the arrest report. Inside, that teacher found the gun sitting next to Doctor's wallet, which contained a passport identifying her. That passport listed a home address in Hollywood, Florida, outside Miami-Dade County, the same report notes.
Booked on a Felony Weapons Charge
Miami-Dade Schools Police detained Doctor after officers searched the bag and confirmed the firearm inside. She was arrested on a charge of possession of a firearm on school property, according to Miami-Dade jail records, and booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on Tuesday.
A judge ordered Doctor to participate in pretrial services with an alternate bond of $2,500 and instructed her to stay away from Westland Hialeah Senior High School. Under Florida Statute Section 790.115, carrying a firearm onto public or private school property is a third-degree felony, carrying a penalty of up to five years in prison, five years of probation, and a $5,000 fine, according to the statute published by Online Sunshine. Florida law leaves little room for claims that a weapon was left in a bag unintentionally.
A Contracted Position Inside the District
Doctor worked at Westland Hialeah Senior High as a substitute teacher on the day of her arrest. Substitute placements at the school run through Kelly Services, known as Kelly Education, a private staffing firm that Miami-Dade County Public Schools has contracted with since October 2023 to handle substitute staffing across nearly 500 schools districtwide, according to a post shared on Facebook. Kelly Services requires substitute candidates to pass fingerprinting and background checks covering local, state, and national criminal records before they can be placed in a classroom, Local 10 News has reported. Pay for those positions ranges from $113.02 to $117.72 per day depending on whether the substitute holds a degree, per Kelly's own documentation on myKelly.
Not the First Firearm Case on Campus
Westland Hialeah Senior High, located at 4000 W. 18th Ave., opened in January 2008 to ease overcrowding in the area and enrolls roughly 1,190 students across grades 9 through 12, according to background compiled on Wikipedia. This is not the first time a gun has surfaced on the campus. In May 2024, Hoodline reported that an armed robbery suspect was arrested there after officers found him parked on school property with a Glock 19 in plain view, resulting in felony firearm charges.
The school also has a notable place in local civic history. Late Miami City Commissioner Manolo Reyes, who died in April 2025, taught economics at Westland Hialeah earlier in his career before entering municipal government, Hoodline has reported. The arrest of a substitute teacher over a loaded weapon adds another chapter to a campus that has already drawn scrutiny over firearms making their way onto school grounds.
