'It is not illegal to teach drunk': Woman arrested for child endangerment faces no charges - Yet another reason to keep your kids out of public school

by WKRC
Tue, June 11th 2024 at 4:16 PM
Updated Tue, June 11th 2024 at 8:53 PM

SUTTER COUNTY, Calif. (WKRC) - A teacher who was arrested for being intoxicated while teaching her second-grade class will not face any charges.

Wendy Munson, a second-grade teacher at Nuestro Elementary, was arrested in October 2023 when a coworker expressed suspicions that Munson was teaching while drunk.

Investigators said they tested Munson's blood alcohol content at the scene, which was two times the legal limit.

Sutter County District Attorney Jennifer Dupre said she spent months searching for something to charge Munson with, but came up with nothing.

"It is not illegal to teach drunk," she said.

Dupre initially believed Munson drove to school intoxicated, but was unable to prove it, saying "There was the possibility that she drank after she arrived at the school."

She said that to prove Munson had been publicly intoxicated, "we would have to prove that she is unable to care for herself and others, and the investigation didn't show that."


(Photo by Jon Cherry/Getty Images)

Dupre also explained a difficulty with enforcing the child endangerment law. Dupre had to prove that Munson "would" harm the children, and not just that she "may" harm them.

"We couldn't prove that her intoxication would endanger them," Dupre said.

Despite authorities reporting Munson's BAC at double the legal limit, Dupre was not able to bring any criminal charges on the teacher.

Dupre said, "We tried because I don't like the conduct. It's not acceptable, but it's unfortunately not criminal."

Parents have expressed their concern about the precedent that this case sets. Can teachers be drunk in the classroom without punishment?

Matthew Cudney, a nearby resident, said, "If you show up to any job intoxicated, that's a fireable offense."

Nuestro Elementary's staff handbook says that violators of its alcohol-free restrictions will be terminated if termination is required by law. Munson is no longer listed on their website as a teacher, but they have not made a public comment on the situation.

Source (Archive)

 

[Kheapathic]

You know, even as a kid, I thought the whole Air Bud "there are no rules saying a dog can't play basketball" thing was goofy nonsense that only works in movies. Well I feel foolish.

Dupre initially believed Munson drove to school intoxicated, but was unable to prove it, saying "There was the possibility that she drank after she arrived at the school."

She said that to prove Munson had been publicly intoxicated, "we would have to prove that she is unable to care for herself and others, and the investigation didn't show that."

Let me guess, she drove to school, got drunk, then spent the next eight hours working it off so she'll be sober to drive home. South Park, The Onion, Babylon Bee, whoever, none of you can fucking lampoon real life.

 

[BikeLock]

I question the sanity of a public school teacher who can do it sober.

 

[Morethanabitfoolish]

Meanwhile if you homeschool you can be as drunk as you want (you also don't have to provide any actual schooling).

Yes, yes, we all saw Rekieta got featured.

 

[Super-Chevy454]

I question the sanity of a public school teacher who can do it sober.

Finding a sane public school teacher who's sober is like finding a haystack in a needle.

 

[elite_club]

It's not illegal to do lots of things while drunk, that doesn't mean it should be allowed or tolerated.

If it’s something that should be illegal, make it illegal. This nonsense of “it feels illegal so fuck what the law says” is a blank check for tyrants to manipulate people into letting them do whatever they like.

 

[KiwiFuzz2]

Diane, please warm up the helicopter. You're flying left seat. Ana, please fly right seat. Ken and Bob, please assist Pitor, the crew chief, after the rest of us have completed the special processing.

Beale's right there.

It seems like you could get real creative with Papa Joe's flightseeing tours on this one.

 

[Flamin Park]

Tbf I can't imagine teaching children every day sober

 

[Absolutego]

How powerful is her union that people trying to oust her are doing it under the guise of child endangerment and not the fact that working intoxicated is like the most reasonable "fired for cause" offense one can make?

 

[KiwiFuzz2]

How powerful is her union that people trying to oust her are doing it under the guise of child endangerment and not the fact that working intoxicated is like the most reasonable "fired for cause" offense one can make?

Seems like one of those things that shouldn't even NEED to be in the employee handbook.

"Don't bring guns to work, don't diddle the kids, and if you're going to have a cheeky nip with lunch, don't show up to your one o'clock wasted."

 

[OrionBalls]

If I had to teach the current curriculum in California, I'd probably be blotto, too. Between the lack of being able to discipline the kids, the weird inclusivity lessons that have nothing to do with math, and parents being the way they are, anymore, I'd go mad.

 

[Ghost of Biden]

If you can teach a class drunk you can drive a bus drunk.

 

[WonderWino]

Considering its public intoxication which is illegal, and its blatant child endangerment I don't see how this can be claimed to be 'not illegal'

Its also a violation of policy to bring alcohol onto school grounds in every school i've ever set foot in. I've literally seen people get arrested for this several times

Be drunk with kids in the house when cps shows up at your house and see how fast they take your kids and hit you with charges for endangering children

This reeks of interference from the teachers union

Also, we know what this teacher was like in the break room:

 

[TETRABAX]

It's not illegal to teach in elementary school drunk, but it's illegal for me to get taught in elementary school drunk? That's just not American

 

[Snekposter]

How powerful is her union that people trying to oust her are doing it under the guise of child endangerment and not the fact that working intoxicated is like the most reasonable "fired for cause" offense one can make?

Are you really asking how powerful the teacher's union is in the bluest state in the nation?

In case you're serious and actually unaware as opposed to brain damaged, the answer is: "incredibly". Nothing the least bit related to public schooling happens unless they say so, and the California Legislature is wholly answerable to them in that arena.

 

[Mukhrani]

Funny story: One time a prof I had in university was going through a bad divorce and showed up to class so high he could barely open his eyes. It was the best class he ever taught.

Still, I'm fucking amazed that this isn't some kind of crime for a god damned elementary school teacher. Public intoxication at least, you'd think, right? Does a classroom not count as being public?

It's California, if they had an enforceable law against public intoxication they'd have to ship all their precious new Latinx neighbors back over the border.

Tbh I'm kind of impressed by her initiative. Having a trashed teacher is one of the least damaging thing that can happen in an American public school. It's pretty funny how everyone is having a conniption about her being fired. Did you go to public school in this country? It's a fucking zoo where you stand a good chance of being diddled and little chance of actually learning anything useful. But tipsy Tina slurring her way through a long division problem once in a while is some kind of red line. If her kids can actually read, write, and do math by the time they graduate she's outperforming a very substantial chunk of her peers. She can use my taxpayer dollars to fill her deer park bottle with Jacquins if the kids can read at the end of the day.

 

[Dog-O-Tron 5000v5.0]

I don't think it's good or right she was teaching drunk, and she absolutely should have been fired, but yeah, she shouldn't have been arrested.

I don't think it was this one, but there was another video I was watching about a similar situation a few months back. They called the cops, she tried to deny it, and they tested her. She said she felt the school staff didn't like her and were out to get her, and you could see a little smugness on the part of the principal and hr drone in the meeting.

She agreed to resign, which they were really trying hard to get her to do, and then they still insisted on arresting her. The cop first suggested she get a ride home and she said she would, but then he flipped it and said he was arresting her anyway. Not for allegedly driving drunk to work, but for being there drunk. She also seemed visually sober and wasn't publicly wasted or anything, but as soon as she signed the paper he reneged on allowing her to just get a ride and arrested her.

Imagine you are drunk at your job and get fired but also arrested, even though you weren't belligerent, slurring your words, making a scene, or any other sign of public intoxication, you just blow a slightly high BAC and you get arrested for basically "being outside your house drunk." Doesn't seem fair. It would be like going into a bar and BAC testing everyone there and arresting them on the spot before they drove or anything.

 

[The Taco Santo!]

Had a 10th grade English teacher who kept vodka in her water bottle, and would get more red-nosed and cheeked as the day went on.

Honestly, I don't know how else she'd have coped. I'm sorry, Ms. [Redacted], we were animals.

I had a 7th grade teacher who walked around sipping 'water' out of a red dixie cup all day. One kid's parents found out and there was a big investigation. He was a Christian Brother and the Vatican was involved. They called me for testimony and I was 1100 miles away. He ended up getting defrocked and forced into retirement after a long stay in the bad religious facility. Pretty good teacher, though. And I wasn't even minorly diddled. My pyromania just stems from a bad attitude, not diddling.

 

[xXx: State of the Union]

Two teachers got fired throughout my high school years for drinking on the job.

Nobody ever got arrested though.

 

[Prokhor Zakharov]

The only way to make this fair is to allow the students to also be drunk.

 

[SBG]

Heart goes out to her, I'd be tempted to drink on the job if I was in a school like this.

https://www.usnews.com/education/k12/california/nuestro-elementary-233300