The name of the childcare centre is also suppressed.
The teacher was still feeling the effects of the two bottles of wine she had drunk the night before when she arrived at the centre that day.
She had with her the bottle of cider, which she kept on top of a large cupboard in the art bay in a room inaccessible to children.
Between 9am and 11.20am she returned intermittently to drink the cider, consuming about 600ml during that time.
Around 12.15pm, a child was upset and the teacher invited the child to sit on her knee for a cuddle.
Another teacher crouched down to speak to her when she noticed her speech was slurred, her eyes were red and glassy and she appeared to be under the influence.
Two teachers had approached the centre’s co-owner at separate times that day with concerns about the teacher.
When questioned, she initially denied that she was under the influence of any substance, but after agreeing to allow her boss to get her drink bottle, she admitted she had been drinking and that the bottle contained alcohol.
She resigned two days later after 25 years of teaching.
The tribunal was notified of the teacher having a 2019 conviction for driving with excess breath alcohol. That had been considered by the Teaching Council’s Minor Convictions Panel, which took no further action.
The tribunal decision said the teacher accepted responsibility for her actions and that she was very stressed at the time. Her husband had also been diagnosed with cancer, and she was feeling pressure in her job.
She told the tribunal she “mourns the loss of her teaching career” and felt “great shame and regret” over an “impulse decision” to drink at the centre.
Tribunal deputy chair Catherine Garvey said in the decision that there was no dispute the teacher had alcohol in a drink bottle while at work.
She was found guilty of serious misconduct, and the tribunal censured her and ordered a note be added to the teaching register for five years.
There were also several conditions she had to follow if she returned to teaching.
In the decision, Garvey said there was an emphasis on the need for teachers to provide a high level of supervision of learners in an early childhood setting, including visual observation, hands-on physical interactions in situations such as mealtimes, play, assisting children to sleep, nappy changes and holding a young child to provide appropriate comfort.
“Impairment caused by alcohol or another substance creates a risk of harm by affecting the teacher’s judgment and ability to provide appropriate responses, verbal and physical, in these situations.”
Brianna McIlraith is a Queenstown-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the lower South Island. She has been a journalist since 2018 and has had a strong interest in business and financial journalism.
