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Wednesday Wasn't 1st Time Pasco Teacher Was Drunk At Work

Tribune photo by FRED BELLET

The incident started at Charles S. Rushe Middle School in Land O'Lakes about 10:20 a.m., according to a sheriff's office report.

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By RONNIE BLAIR | The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 20, 2009

Updated: 03/20/2009 06:27 pm

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Kylene Nelson

LAND O' LAKES - When teacher Kylene Nelson was discovered intoxicated in a school parking lot in 2006, Pasco County School District officials decided to give her a second chance.

This week, she may have used it up.

Nelson, a language arts teacher, was taken into protective custody Wednesday under the state's Baker Act after she appeared drunk in class at Rushe Middle School and a test showed she had a blood-alcohol level of 0.26, a Pasco County Sheriff's Office report said. A level of 0.08 is considered intoxicated.

Parents said their children told them Nelson put on music, danced and tried to get some of them to dance with her. Some of the students used cell phones to photograph or take video of the teacher.

Assistant Superintendent Renalia DuBose said school district officials interviewed students Friday and will prepare a report for Superintendent Heather Fiorentino, who will make a recommendation to the school board.

Only the school board can fire a teacher.

Nelson was assigned to Rushe Middle in August 2007 because she had been accused of being drunk at work before and couldn't return to her old school.

According to information in her personnel records:

On Oct. 26, 2006, Nelson didn't show up for her third-period class at Seven Springs Middle in New Port Richey; two assistant principals found her asleep in her car in the faculty parking lot.

Nelson had difficulty standing and walking, had slurred speech and smelled of alcohol. Inside the car, the school resource officer and the assistant principals found a 3-liter plastic container with a small amount of wine, a 12-ounce Ocean Spray beverage container with a small amount of wine and a 20-ounce Aquafina water bottle full of wine.

The teacher reportedly told the school resource officer, "I'm wasted."

In a letter to Nelson dated Nov. 8, 2006, Fiorentino said she had considered recommending the school board fire the teacher but decided to give her another chance.

Fiorentino's decision was conditional. Nelson had to take a leave of absence for the remainder of the 2006-07 school year and enter and complete a substance-abuse program. She also would not be allowed to return to Seven Springs Middle.

Fiorentino added that if Nelson ever violated school board policy on substance abuse again, she would recommend her dismissal.

This week's incident at Rushe Middle began Wednesday morning in one of Nelson's language arts classes.

Parent Junelle Velez-Adams said her son was in an adjacent classroom and another student sent him video of the teacher via a cell phone. The video showed Nelson dancing, Velez-Adams said.

Her son later showed her the video "and we deleted it," she said.

Later in the morning, school officials interviewed Nelson and said they could smell alcohol on her breath, according to a sheriff's office report.

Nelson's speech was slurred, the report said, and she was having trouble talking.

She was taken to a facility the school uses to test for drugs and alcohol.

Later that afternoon, Nelson ran away from the campus and was found at a recreation center swimming pool, the sheriff's report said.

Nelson told school officials she had purchased a bottle of vodka and thought she drank the whole bottle, the report said.

She was taken to a mental health facility in New Port Richey.

Reporter Rich Shopes and editor Howard Altman contributed to this report. Reporter Ronnie Blair can be reached at (813) 948-4218.

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