Fla. Middle School Teacher Suspected of Being Drunk at School
BROOKSVILLE, Fla. — A West Hernando Middle School teacher accused of drinking on the job and having inappropriate conversations with students last December is fighting to keep her job.
Erin Cougill, 47, has been on paid leave since she allegedly arrived at the school drunk, stumbling down the hallways with dilated pupils and slurring her speech on Dec. 11. On that day, Cougill engaged in an incoherent conversation with Assistant Principal Angela Kennedy.
Kennedy then contacted a school resource officer to check on Cougill in her classroom. There, the officer allegedly found Cougill red-faced and glassy-eyed while having what school officials described as a conversation of “a personal nature which is inappropriate,” ABC News reports.
Alcohol tests revealed that Cougill was over the legal limit of .08,
Cougill admitted that she had been drinking the night before with friends, but had not had a drink on the day of the incident. She said that as a diabetic, her body doesn’t process alcohol well, which is why her alcohol reading was above the legal limit.
The school board is currently reviewing whether the instructor should be dismissed.
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