Charges not likely for drunken Janesville teacher

JANESVILLE, Wis. — A fifth-grade teacher who passed out on a field trip and was later found to be legally drunk isn’t likely to face criminal charges, police said Monday.

Janesville deputy police Chief John Olsen said no one called police on the 50-year-old teacher, and the other chaperones apparently thought she was having a medical issue.

“At this point there was no indication children were ever in danger or at risk,” Olsen said. “If that holds true we’ll close our investigation and the school district will conduct its own internal investigation.”

The teacher is identified in a police report as a fifth-grade teacher at Wilson Elementary School.

A message left with district spokesman Brett Berg on Monday was not immediately returned. He told The Janesville Gazette the teacher was one of nine chaperones accompanying students on a field trip to a bowling alley Thursday.

The teacher’s husband brought her to a hospital later that morning because she vomited in the bowling alley’s bathroom before passing out, the police report said. Hospital staff determined she had a blood-alcohol level of 0.27 percent, which is more than three times the legal limit for driving.

She told hospital staff she started drinking that day at 6 a.m.

Hospital staff called police about 4:45 p.m. as the woman was about to be released, asking officers to make sure she could take care of herself, Olsen said. No one at the field trip called police.

Copies of the police report were forwarded to Child Protective Services and the school district. The report indicated that no additional follow-up was required.

Olsen said there was no immediate indication that any crime was committed. The children were bussed to the event, and the teacher did not drive them, he added.

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Information from: The Janesville Gazette, http://www.gazetteextra.com