PD: Teacher was drunk at school

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) - Police say a middle school teacher was arrested for public intoxication while at school Thursday morning.

According to Grazia Moyers with the Virginia Beach Police Department, police were called to Plaza Middle School shortly after 11 a.m. for an intoxicated subject.

School officials say 28-year-old Jessica S. Snyder had arrived at the school at 8:30 a.m. and fallen in the hallway. She had not made contact with her students and did not require medical attention.

"I don't like the thought of a teacher being intoxicated in the school," parent Becky Smith said. "I'm glad it was not when my kid was there or any of the kids were there."

Snyder, of the 1000 block of Josephine Crescent, has been charged with public intoxication and was released on bond.

"To be drunk at 8 o'clock in the morning is disturbing enough," parent Hope Yochum said. "You don't know how many times she's done this before."

School officials aren't saying whether or not Snyder has been suspended, but they do say she would not be back in the school until the legal process regarding the charge is over. They say they are not sure whether or not she had been drinking at school.

Snyder is a first-year French teacher at the middle school.

"It's concerning especially when [teachers] are supposed to be positive role models for these children," Yochum said. "They are at that age when they're taught not to do drugs, not to drink and not put those kind of substances in their body."