Foley Teacher Drunk in Class

Alabama Foley Baldwin County teachers are making headlines for all the wrong reasons.

by Debbie Williams

Published: Tue, January 13, 2009 - 4:13 pm CST Last Updated: Tue, January 13, 2009 - 6:35 pm CST

A Daphne high school teacher resigned last week under allegations of viewing inappropriate websites on school computers.
A Central Baldwin teacher is under investigation for inappropriate contact with a student.
And now a veteran educator has resigned after allegations she was drunk at school.
Barbara Riley spent almost nine years at Foley Middle School teaching math and later english literature. Her tenure came to an abrupt end Friday afternoon according to school spokesman Terry Wilhite. "One of our teachers saw another faculty member and alerted administrators. The administrator and the school resources officers responded to the classroom and removed the teacher from the classroom to the office and called the police department."
Police arrested Riley for public intoxication. "She didn't come to work apparently intoxicated but the administrator later on in the day said she was obviously intoxicated" says Wilhite.
As parents pick up their kids from another day at Foley Middle School most were unaware of what happened last Friday. "Considerably upsetting." This is the first year Robin Myers daughter has attended Foley Middle. "We've never had any problems and we've heard really wonderful things about this school so sometimes it only takes that one person to do something."
Amanda Duke was also shocked to hear a teacher was drunk in class. "That's not a good thing at all being around children, drunk. She should be fired."
Riley was immediately placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation. Tuesday morning she resigned from the Baldwin County school system.

WKRG.com » News Stream » Alabama

Video
Photo
Map

Embed:

WKRG.com Related

News –› Alabama

News –› Foley

Discuss this in the forum

Email to a Friend

Printer Friendly

Download Video

BamaBob Says:

Wed, Jan 14, 2009 at 4:32 pm

The AMA and most doctors say alcoholism is a disease that has to be treated and it is harder to kick than heroine. Something in her life probably triggered this latest episode and I hope she has some help dealing with whatever has happened in her life. She is probably in a very precarious state of mind at this point in time and I hope she doesn’t do anything drastic.

This zero tolerance approach is not always the answer and could very well make the problem much worse.

Sunndew Says:

Wed, Jan 14, 2009 at 3:58 pm

Mrs. Riley’s husband died about 5 years ago off of Fort Morgan. They had only been married a short time (less than a year). She does not have any family in the area and had to deal with this alone. It is not an excuse but it is a reason.
Mrs Riley is a wonderful teacher. The kids love her. She has a problem and needs help, not a public crucifixion.

southfan1981 Says:

Wed, Jan 14, 2009 at 3:46 pm

Something is strange about this. She wasn’t intoxicated when she came on duty but was later. I wonder if she’s on medications that are interacting as well as possibly drinking. There is something wrong. I hope she gets help before she gets tossed under the bus.

engtchr Says:

Wed, Jan 14, 2009 at 3:17 pm

I agree with you, BamaBob. Why didn’t someone suggest treatment and a leave of absence. There is nothing to indicate that she is a habitual offender.

Alabama Patriot Says:

Wed, Jan 14, 2009 at 7:44 am

Public intoxication around kids…Hmmmm. This is a bad example for anyone to make. I wonder if the city of Mobile will get tough on this during Mardi Gras? Everybody knows that people get roaring drunk during the parades and they totally forget about how this and their actions affect the young kids around them. It does not matter if the kids belong to them or to someone else. Will the city have police and narcotics people roaming the crowd looking for people that set bad examples for children? Will they be arresting anyone because it is Carnival time in the city of Mobile for Child Endangerment (due to being in the company of intoxicated adults) or for Contributing to The Delinquency Of A Minor (by allowing the children to be in the vacinity of adults that act inappropriately or indecently) downtown, before, during, and after the parades? I really don’t believe that the city cares enough to do this. Do you? Money means more than the safety and welfare of the children.

BamaBob Says:

Tue, Jan 13, 2009 at 7:28 pm

I don’t know how to feel about this one. The woman obviously has a very serious problem, if she couldn’t even make it through the day without a drink. Shouldn’t the first step be to insist upon treatment, before dragging her out into the town square and burning her at the stake?