Trouble In River City!

Here is a link for the arrest of our athletic director. He was allegedly DUI, hit a fence, a couple of cars, and then was arrested an hour later after leaving the scene of the accident. He did not hit a house as the report indicated. His blood alcohol level at the time of testing was .13 . He stated that he had a couple of drinks in Orlando before leaving for home near Jacksonville. This is about a 4 hour drive. The liver can process about one drink per hour, or in the neighborhood of .6 on a blood alcohol reading, according to what I have read in the past. If that is true and his statement was true then he would have had to have drank around 6-7 drinks in Orlando to have had a BAL of .13 five hours later.

We were called into the auditorium and given a brief rundown on the situation. We were then asked not to talk to the press about it. I don't really have any desire to talk to the press and don't have anything to say to them that would shed any light on his actions. I do think that since this blog is all about my teaching life that I have to address this issue here in some way since it has had a huge impact in the community and has led to a lot of negative comments concerning educators in our county.

I have worked with Mr. Craig for the past 7 years and have had cordial relations with him the entire time. I would like to see him have his day in court before a lynch mob comes after him but I am afraid the "image is everything" philosophy in our school system will ensure his being fired in the next few months. From the facts that have come out he may have a problem with alcohol. Whether this is a chronic problem or not is unknown, at least by me. If he does in fact have a drinking problem I would like to see him get help to overcome it. I do not want to read in the papers in a year that he killed a family on the highway while driving drunk. On the other hand, I think the good things he has accomplished at our school should not be forgotten in an effort to minimize bad publicity for the school. Any person deserves better than that. If he is judged guilty he should get the same treatment that any other person would receive, no more and no less. I do not believe that educators should be held to a higher standard than the general public. We are human. We do stupid things and we make incredibly stupid errors of judgment on occasion. He has a family to support and no criminal record. If he is guilty, he is still a good candidate for successful rehabilitation. As far as this somehow negatively impacting upon our students, trust me, a significant number of our students have their own issues to overcome such as alcoholic and abusive parents, drug use, pregnancy, and psychological problems. I don't think that they are all suddenly going to run out and begin drinking because our athletic director is in trouble. Some of the problems they face make his problem pale by comparison. This is not to say that his behavior should be overlooked. Just let the court system work as it should and hopefully get him help if the verdict justifies it. Don't sweep him out the door just to make the school look good and then try to justify lynching him before his trial as a moral/ethical mandate. Every person deserves a fair trial and alcoholism, if that is a problem he is faced with, should be addressed by treatment as well as punishment. This punishment, in my opinion, should not include firing him for a first offense. If he was working in the business world and was judged guilty he would probably be given a driver's license suspension, be put on probation, and be ordered to undergo alcohol treatment and monitoring. The last time I checked educators were regular U.S. citizens and deserve the same treatment as other citizens.