Teacher busted drinking on job after smuggling wine into school

A teacher who smuggled four bottles of wine onto his school grounds and drank almost two full bottles while on duty has been terminated, new documents reveal.

A teacher was caught drinking bottles of wine on the job.

A teacher smuggled four bottles of wine onto his school grounds and drank almost two full bottles while on duty, Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal documents reveal.

The male teacher then headed to his designated classroom of students for his next lesson, but he was intercepted on the way, because a campus security camera had captured him drinking the alcohol moments earlier.

Neither the school nor the teacher involved can be identified because QCAT put a non-publication order in place to “avoid endangering the physical or mental health or safety” of the teacher.

The incident occurred in February 2023, when the man took four bottles of wine into the school grounds and concealed them in an area said to be inaccessible to students. Later that day, he consumed a portion of that wine while on duty.

“During the course of a teaching day, [Teacher] accessed them and drank what appears to be at least almost two bottles of the wine,” the QCAT decision read.

“Moreover, he was observed as having done so immediately before leaving one part of the school area to go to his designated classroom to conduct teaching.

“He was subsequently questioned about his conduct, such occurring after he had been observed on CCTV vision drinking from a wine bottle on school ground and in turn then intercepted on his way to the classroom, so being prevented from conducting the class.

“It is said that his demeanour was ‘reserved’ and ‘a little bit arrogant in a passive way’, that he knew ‘he had made a grave mistake’, and that he did not offer any sort of insight into his conduct.”

The man’s employment was terminated.

The man’s employment was terminated by the school, the school notified the College of Teachers the next day, and his registration was suspended subsequently.

According to QCAT documents, the teacher’s registration has since been cancelled by the College of Teachers, but this only occurred due to his failure to pay the annual renewal fee, it was not cancelled as a consequence of any conduct.

However, the College of Teachers did refer the case to QCAT seeking orders that the teacher be formally reprimanded, and for particular conditions and notations to be placed on his registration if he tries to renew it.

The notations sought included that the teacher be required to undergo psychiatric and/or psychological testing, to provide reports on this testing, and to provide evidence of total abstinence from alcohol during a prior specified period, prior to him being entitled to have his suspension lifted and resume teaching.

In response, the teacher did not oppose a reprimand order against him, but he did oppose the proposed notations on his registration.

He argued they were “unnecessary” and indicated that the reports the College of Teachers sought were already available and showed he was able to return to work as a teacher.

In their decision, QCAT ruled a ground for disciplinary action had been established, and the teacher “behaved in a way that does not satisfy the standard of behaviour generally expected”.

QCAT members Christopher Taylor, Robyn Oliver, and Noel Jensen found the reprimand sought by the College of Teachers was not available under the Education Act.

“The respondent [Teacher] has undergone extensive medical treatment over the last 12 months in order to be fit to return to work,” the QCAT decision stated.

“The most recent report is from a psychiatrist dated May 8, 2024. This extensive treatment is not disputed by the applicant [College of Teachers].”

They also concluded that only some of the conditions and notations sought were reasonable when taking into account the teacher’s protections under the Human Rights Act.

“If this Tribunal were to go ahead and make an order that a notation be placed on the [College of Teachers’] Register, it being something that the teacher is now not required to be part of following the College’s cancellation of his registration, then it would have the effect of limiting … his right to privacy and reputation,” the QCAT panel ruled

QCAT ordered that the teacher must provide with his re-registration application a report from a consultant psychiatrist or registered psychologist dated not earlier than six weeks prior.

The expert report must contain an assessment regarding the teacher’s suitability to teach and work in a child-related field, the likelihood that the teacher will return to his previous behaviour, as well as an assessment of his awareness of personal and social behaviour that would compromise his professional standing as a teacher.