A former Davis School District teacher is facing a misdemeanor after allegedly drinking alcohol and appearing inebriated at school, police records show.

It reportedly happened Feb. 9 at the Vista Education Campus, which serves 18-22 year-old special education students, school district spokesperson Christopher Williams told The Salt Lake Tribune.

The district contacted Farmington police, which opened an investigation Feb. 12, according to a police report.

School staff noticed the teacher was “talking slowly, slurring her speech and seemed to be disoriented,” the report states. Witnesses also noted she smelled of alcohol.

Staff immediately alerted a school supervisor, Williams said.

“Our district security investigator then responded to the situation, the educator was removed from school and was immediately put on leave,” Williams said.

A district administrator told police that the staffer performed a sobriety test, which the teacher failed, according to the police report. The staffer then drove her to a nearby hospital where she tested positive for alcohol consumption, the report states.

Medical records later subpoenaed by officers showed her blood alcohol level was 0.251%, according to the report. That’s roughly five times Utah’s legal driving limit of 0.05%.

The district also launched an internal investigation, during which the teacher “admitted” to having “hard seltzer in a stainless-steel tumbler that she did consume that morning,” Williams said.

The teacher resigned Feb. 13, before the district could complete its findings, Williams said.

Student allegedly put mouth on tumbler

Two days after the teacher was reported, district officials learned during their investigation that a student had “picked up the tumbler and brought the straw to her mouth,” though it’s unclear if the student drank from it, Williams said. The district notified the student’s parents, he said.

In a follow-up email on Feb. 13, the district’s director of special education provided more details, according to a copy provided to The Tribune.

The director wrote that at the end of the school day Feb. 9, after the teacher had been reported, the teacher’s water bottle was found “empty but smelling strongly of fruity alcohol.”

“An employee reported late in the day on 2/11/26 that they saw [the student] pick up the bottle and bring the straw to her mouth at around 10:20 the morning of 2/9,” the email states.

The student’s mother, Kimberly Perry, told police that after the teacher was reported, the teacher “was removed from her classroom, leaving the bottle of alcohol unattended,” the police report states.

“While the bottle containing the alcohol was unattended it was reported [the student] placed her mouth on the straw and took a drink,” it continues. “Kimberly explained she was worried about the safety of [her daughter].”

Perry told The Tribune that while her daughter is 21-years-old, she has the “mental age” of a toddler. She said she believes that “if the straw was in her mouth, she was drinking.”

However, because her daughter is nonverbal, there’s no way to verify, she said. Perry explained her daughter has a rare genetic disorder called 1p36 deletion syndrome, which causes severe intellectual disabilities.

“She’s very quick and impulsive and often grabs our cups or bottles and is drinking out of them the second she gets her hands on them,” Perry said.

District officials maintain it is not known whether the student consumed anything.

The teacher has also been reported to Adult Protective Services and the Utah Professional Practices Advisory Commission (UPPAC), Williams said. UPPAC is responsible for investigating allegations of educator misconduct.

An official with the commission confirmed there is an open investigation into the teacher.

On March 18, the Farmington city attorney’s office charged the teacher with possession or consumption of alcoholic beverages at school or school-sponsored activities, court records show. She could face up to six months in jail and up to $1,000 in fines for the class B Misdemeanor.

The Tribune is not naming the teacher at this time because it doesn’t typically cover low-level criminal charges.

An arraignment is scheduled for May 5.