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Officials: Drunk Teacher In Custody

Fred Bellet/The Tampa Tribune

Charles S. Rushe Middle School

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By HOWARD ALTMAN

haltman@tampatrib.com

Published: March 20, 2009

A Pasco County middle school teacher was placed in protective custody under the Baker Act on Wednesday after she was intoxicated in school, the Pasco County Sheriff's Office said.

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.

Teacher Kylene Nelson was being interviewed by school officials, who said they could smell alcohol on her breath.

Nelson's speech was slurred, the report said, and she was having trouble talking. Nelson told the officials she was "two years sober and had not been drinking."

She was taken to a facility the school uses to test for drugs and alcohol. A test showed Nelson had a blood-alcohol level of 0.26, the report said. An 0.08 level is considered intoxicated.

At 1:40 p.m., a school official reported over school radio that Nelson had run off campus and was headed north from the school. Bryan Jack, supervisor of employee relations, chased her through a subdivision and ultimately found her by a recreation center pool, the sheriff's report said.

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

She was taken to a mental health facility in New Port Richey, where she was placed in protective custody under the state's Baker Act, which allows a person to be placed in such custody for 72 hours.

Renalia DuBose, assistant superintendent for administration with the Pasco County School District, said no disciplinary decisions will be made until district officials can interview Nelson, as well as other teachers, security personnel, administrators and students at the Rushe school, which serves about 1,300 students in grades 6 through 8.

The district's school board will review the findings. Only the board can fire her.

Michelle Humphrey, a parent of a boy at Rushe, said Nelson should be fired. Her son is in a Nelson language arts class. She said she was worried about what he saw. He told her Nelson was dancing around the classroom, trying to get some of the boys to dance with her. "I don't think she should be teaching anymore," Humphrey said.

Reporter Rich Shopes contributed to this report.

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