Elgin Teacher Found Asleep, Apparently Drunk On Job: Report

ELGIN, IL – An Elgin High School social studies teacher has been fired after he allegedly skipped one of his classes and was found sleeping, and apparently drunk, in an office at the school, the Elgin Courier-News reports. The U-46 school board earlier this month approved the suspension and termination of Robert Brault and documents obtained by the Elgin Courier-News through a Freedom of Information request shed more light into an April 24 incident at the local high school. According to those documents, a search for Brault began after he failed to show up for his sixth-period class and couldn't be reached by e-mail or phone.

Administrators found him asleep in an office and said he seemed confused, slurred his words and smelled of alcohol, according to the report. Brault initially said he wasn't drunk but in a later interview with school officials admitted to being an alcoholic and drinking the night before the April 24 incident. But, he said, he did not drink at school and instead blamed cold medicine he took earlier in the day for making him drowsy.

Two administered to Brault at a clinic showed he had a blood alcohol level of .06, according to the report.

It's not the first time Brault's apparent alcohol use has gotten him into trouble. In 2007, he was terminated from his duties as head coach of the Elgin boys basketball team following a DUI arrest near the school, according to the Arlington Cardinal. He had taken a personal day that day.

Brault, who was hired by the school district in 1996, was given a "notice to remedy" by school officials in early 2008, which allowed him to keep his U-46 job as long as he could “conduct (himself) in a professional matter” and not drink or use controlled substances while at school, on U-46 property or working for the school district, according to the Elgin Courier-News.

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