A teacher who drank vodka at lunchtime and fell asleep in the classroom has been avoided being banned from teaching. Luchia Ellis had been teaching at an all-boys school in Devon for two months when she brought vodka onto the premises, drank some, and fell asleep during teaching hours in November 2021.
A Teaching Regulatory Agency panel ruled the behaviour of the teacher was a one-off incident and it was not in the public interest to ban her from the profession. The hearing heard Miss Ellis had admitted unacceptable professional conduct.
The panel said her behaviour endangered the safety and welfare of the students in her care. The incident took place at Torquay Boys Grammar School, in South Devon, in November 2021, two months after starting in her role as technology teacher, reports DevonLive. A school investigation prompted a disciplinary hearing which resulted in Miss Ellis being fired from her role.
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Miss Ellis had brought two bottles of vodka to the school and drank some before falling asleep in her classroom during teaching hours. She accepted that during lunchtime on November 11, 2021, she had consumed alcohol from one of the two vodka bottles she had brought into the school.
She accepted that she fell asleep in the classroom, that bringing alcohol into the school created a risk to students, in that alcohol was potentially accessible to students, and she was unable to carry out her professional responsibilities, including her duties of supervising and engaging with students and ensuring students were safe in the classroom.
In a statement she said: "I do not deny that I was wrong. (It) is something I have been unable to forgive myself for to this day. I fully accept responsibility for my disgraceful, shameful and careless behaviour."
The panel, meeting in private and without Miss Ellis, found her conduct amounted to both unacceptable professional conduct and conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute. However, it said Miss Ellis was not thinking straight at the time of her conduct and therefore could not conclude ‘that her decision to take alcohol was deliberate’.
It concluded it had been a 'one-off incident' and there had been no evidence Miss Ellis had repeated her behaviour while employed. It noted her ‘previous good history’, ‘genuine level of remorse and insight’ and ‘passion for teaching’ citing her potential to be a ‘role model for students in the future’.
John Knowles, decision maker on behalf of the Secretary of State, said publication of the findings would send an "appropriate message to the teacher as to the standards of behaviour that were not acceptable". The panel considered that following her summary dismissal from the school, the publication of the adverse findings it made would be sufficient to send an appropriate message to the teacher as to the standards of behaviour that were not acceptable and that the publication would meet the public interest requirement of declaring proper standards of the profession.
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