Accused “tipsy teacher” wasn’t drunk, judge rules

GREELEY, Colo. - A Colorado teacher who was fired on suspicion that she was drunk on the job has fought the ruling and won.

CBS Denver reports that an Administrative Law Judge ruled in the dismissal of Glennis Hughes, a 23-year teacher in Greeley-Evans School District 6, that  the district’s alcohol testing procedure was flawed and “there is insufficient other evidence that the teacher was intoxicated.”

Last May 8 a co-worker reported smelling alcohol on Hughes’ breath at about 9 a.m. during the school day. A school security officer was summoned and administered a preliminary breath test, which showed Hughes’ blood alcohol level at .13, well above the .08 legal limit for driving drunk in Colorado.

Hughes lawyer, Charles Kaiser, told CBS Denver Hughes was “absolutely not” drunk at school.

“I think they made a mistake, that’s all I’m going to say,” said Kaiser.

Based on the preliminary breathalyzer exam the school district fired Hughes after she refused to resign. She subsequently appealed her dismissal.  CBS Denver says it obtained a copy of the ruling in which Judge Matthew Norwood recommended the district re-hire Hughes.

Norwood ruled that the way the school district administered the breathalyzer was dramatically flawed.

He wrote that the reading given by the “Alco-Sensor” “is unreliable and inadmissible.”

The decision reveals that several coworkers of Hughes reported they smelled alcohol on her breath the morning of May 8. However several other coworkers said they did not detect any alcohol scent coming from Hughes that morning.

The teacher denied she had anything to drink that morning but said the night before she had one mixed drink at a bar with coworkers, followed by three glasses of wine at home with her husband before she went to sleep.

According to testimony before the judge, three days after the school incident, Hughes and a union representative met with a school district human resources officer, Kevin Aten.

“Mr. Aten told the teacher in the presence of her representative that if she would agree to resign, he would not report the May 8 events to the state Department of Education for action against her teaching license. However, if she did not resign, he said he would report. The teacher did not agree to resign,” according to the ruling by Judge Norwood.

Based on his decision, the school board voted to re-hire Hughes in October and she resumed teaching Oct. 2 at Greeley West High School.

Theresa Myers, Director of Communications for the Greeley-Evans School District, told CBS Denver, “We did update our policies and procedures in October regarding the testing of personnel suspected of using alcohol while at work.”

Myers said an initial Breathalyzer test is still conducted but if the test registers positive, the employee is then taken to an independent lab where a second, more scientific test is conducted, a test that can be admissible in court proceedings.