A second-grade teacher who was allegedly intoxicated in her classroom will not face charges, the Sutter County district attorney has announced.
“It is not illegal to teach drunk,” District Attorney Jennifer Dupre said, according to TV station KOVR.
The 57-year-old woman was arrested on a Monday morning in October at Nuestro Elementary School in Live Oak, north of Yuba City. A co-worker had reported suspicions that she was drunk.
The Sutter County sheriff’s office said the teacher’s blood alcohol level, two hours into the school day, was nearly twice the legal limit for driving. At the time, the sheriff’s office said she would be charged with driving under the influence and child endangerment.
But the county prosecutor’s office said this week that it could not prove the teacher had been drunk when she was driving to school or that her condition posed a definite threat to the children in her class. Dupre told KOVR she also ruled out a public intoxication charge because “we would have to prove that she is unable to care for herself and others.”
The school district has not commented on the teacher’s status. At the time of her arrest, it said a long-term substitute would take over the class.