Childcare worker disguised vodka as Gatorade: tribunal

An early childcare teacher who was “happier” and “chattier” than normal at work had disguised vodka in a bottle of Gatorade while working with children, a tribunal has found.

The New Zealand woman was charged with serious misconduct in the Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal over the incident which took place in January 2022.

The tribunal was told the teacher left the centre on her lunch break and purchased a 1.25l bottle of Nitro vodka and guarana drink, which contained 7 per cent alcohol.

She poured it into a Gatorade bottle and returned to the school.

Her colleagues noticed her drink out of the bottle throughout the afternoon while she was supervising children in the playground.

She told them she was drinking a new sugar free Gatorade when questioned.

Staff described her demeanour at a staff meeting later that day as “very over the top.”

The tribunal was told she was uncharacteristically happy, greeted other teachers in an overly friendly manner, slurred her words, was unfocused, disruptive, confused and sipped alcohol during the meeting.

Towards the end of the meeting, a person realised she was drunk and tipped the alcohol down the drain and put the bottle in a recycling bin.

When the meeting ended about 6.30pm, the teacher was struggling to walk straight and open a gate, another teacher stopped her from driving home and asked her if she had been drinking.

The woman broke down and explained it was the anniversary of her partner’s death.

After she left in an Uber another teacher found an empty alcohol bottle in the gutter, the tribunal heard.

The tribunal heard the teacher admitted during a meeting with the centre’s management that she should have taken the day off and had suffered an anxiety attack.

She apologised for her behaviour and said she should have told colleagues how she was feeling and sought support, she also told them she started drug and alcohol counselling shortly after the incident.

The tribunal found that the woman’s actions met all the tests for serious misconduct, which could have adversely affected students and brought the profession into disrepute.

The teacher, who the tribunal heard also had recent drink driving convictions, was ordered to provide any current or future employer a copy of the tribunal’s findings, as well as the Teaching Council along with a report of her rehabilitation progress every six months.

The woman was also ordered to pay court costs of $1250.