Teacher banned for drinking at Wellingborough school
A Northamptonshire teacher has been banned from the profession for at least three years after she was seen ‘stumbling’ and drinking alcohol during a lesson.
Michelle Stant, 51, was teaching at Friars Academy, a special education school in Wellingborough, in May 2024 when she was found with a water bottle containing a strong alcoholic liquid.
The Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) also heard of a previous incident involving Ms Stant when she was working at Oakwood Community School in November 2020 and had driven her car into a gate and bollard in the school car park and had a small, unopened bottle of red wine in her coat pocket.
According to the report, Ms Stant resigned from both schools on the same day each incident occurred.
The 51-year-old, who did not attend the teaching misconduct panel hearing, denied that she was drunk on her drive to Oakwood school in 2020 and said she believed the contents of her water bottle had been spiked on the day in question at Friars Academy.
She did, however, admit that the allegations and her conduct amounted to unacceptable professional conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute.
The panel heard from a witness who had concerns about Ms Stant after she allegedly hit the entrance gate and a lighting bollard in Oakwood Community School’s car park on November 25, 2020.
They told the panel that they received a number of calls from Ms Stant that morning, saying that she had been sick and that she had collided with a taxi on the way to work.
They also stated they could smell alcohol coming from her when they were sitting together in an enclosed room.
Accounts from other staff who helped Ms Stant get from her car into the school building both stated that Ms Stant was ‘severely confused’ to the extent that she was unsure who they were, despite being her colleagues.
However, neither of these accounts mentioned being able to smell alcohol on her. On the balance of probabilities, the panel did not find that Ms Stant was under the influence that morning.
Nonetheless, the TRA found there was ‘no dispute’ that Ms Stant knew she was unfit to drive, as she later admitted she recalled feeling ‘lost and extremely light-headed’ during her drive to work. It also wrote that there was ‘no dispute’ she had brought a small bottle of wine onto the school premises that day.
After starting at Friars Academy, new witnesses raised concerns about the teacher after she drove her car into a bollard when entering the school car park on the morning of May 1, 2024, and was ‘unsteady on her feet’.
A colleague explained that, during a lesson later that day, they saw Ms Stant’s behaviour become ‘unstable’. They took the teacher to a first aider on duty at the academy and realised that the water bottle she had been drinking from contained a clear alcohol.
At no point did Ms Stant dispute that the bottle was hers, but she told the hearing that she believed it had been spiked in an attempt to ‘jeopardise her employment’.
The panel also found that Ms Stant acted with dishonesty and amounted to misconduct of a serious nature as she did not inform Friars Academy of her employment at Oakwood Community School, the reason for her leaving, or her being subject to a TRA investigation at that point.
In an email to the TRA in October 2024, Ms Stant expressed her recognition of the incidents and said that they were caused by the combination of medications she was taking at the time.
In deciding to ban her from teaching for at least three years, the report said: “The panel noted that Ms Stant has shown some remorse for the behaviours described in the allegations. However, the panel has not been provided with evidence to persuade it that there is no risk of repetition.
“In 2021, Ms Stant confirmed that her behaviours would not be repeated and then, in 2024, those behaviours were effectively repeated.
“Ms Michelle Stant is prohibited from teaching indefinitely and cannot teach in any school, sixth form college, relevant youth accommodation or children’s home in England.
"She may apply for the prohibition order to be set aside, but not until 20 October 2028, 3 years from the date of this order at the earliest.”
Friars Academy has been approached for comment.