Drunk teacher wins unemployment benefits; gets to keep license

[Geee]

Watchdog.org:

DES MOINES, Iowa — If Dennis Pagel had taken a box of school supplies while working as a teacher at Dallas-Center Grimes Middle School, he could have gotten in serious trouble.

 

Luckily for Pagel, he just showed up for work drunk and on OxyContin.

 

For lighting up a breath test at three times the legal limit, Pagel received a three-day suspension with pay and later was allowed to resign.

 

He’s now collecting unemployment, thanks to a ruling by an administrative law judge earlier this month.

 

Iowa Watchdog tied to contact Pagel to discuss his case, but he has failed to reply.

 

Pagel, who had been a teacher in the Dallas-Center Grimes Community School District since 2005, was initially denied unemployment benefits due to “work-connected misconduct.”