Arizona math teacher arrives drunk to class and keeps drinking: police

A drunk Arizona math teacher arrived at her high school by taxi and hit the bottle again once she was in the classroom, where she yelled at her students before one of the pupils alerted administrators, authorities said on Thursday.

Kathleen Jardine, 57, a teacher at Poston Butte High School faces one count of public consumption of alcohol stemming from the incident on Wednesday in the community about 35 miles southeast of Phoenix, said Sergeant Pat Ramirez, a spokesman for the Pinal County Sheriff's Office.

Ramirez said a student called the main office to alert them that Jardine appeared drunk and was yelling at the students.

An on-site sheriff's deputy responded and he could tell she was "extremely intoxicated," police said.

A school security officer who went to retrieve her purse found a half bottle of vodka, an empty single-sized bottle of white wine and a half-empty bottle of an orange drink, police added.

The teacher eventually admitted that she had been drinking the night before, that morning and during lunch in her classroom, police said. Jardine also acknowledged she took a cab to the school because she was afraid she was too drunk to drive.

Jardine's blood-alcohol level was .205 percent when tested, which would be considered so-called "super extreme" if she were to drive under the influence of that much alcohol, police said.

Jardine could not immediately be reached for comment.

"Learning math can be hard enough, I can't imagine trying to learn it from a drunk teacher," said Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu in a statement.

This is not the first time Jardine was drunk in the classroom, as she was fired for such behavior while teaching in New Mexico in 2011, Babeu said.

Jardine, in addition to the public consumption of alcohol charge, also could face a charge of disorderly conduct stemming from the incident, Ramirez said.