FROM STAFF REPORTS

A woman who was working as a teacher assistant Shepherd Elementary School faces two misdemeanor charges after a school resource officer discovered she was drinking wine while on the job, according to the Iredell County Sheriff’s Office.

Jessica Sue Proctor, 41, of Barclay Lane, Mooresville, was removed from a classroom on Tuesday and cited for misdemeanor possession of alcohol on a school campus and misdemeanor child neglect, Sheriff Darren Campbell said in a news release Wednesday.

Proctor, who worked with exceptional children at the school off Charlotte Highway in Mooresville, is not an employee of Iredell-Statesville Schools. She was employed by Stepping Stones Group, which provides contract staffing for I-SS.

ICSO Sgt. Dallas Hicks, who works as an SRO, was notified by Shepherd Principal Kim Mitchell on Tuesday that she suspected a person working on campus was possibly impaired on some substance, according to the news release.

Sgt. Hicks immediately began investigating. Proctor was removed from the classroom where she was working and was escorted to the school’s office, Campbell said.

Proctor was determined to be impaired and had in her possession an empty wine bottle and an insulated cup full of wine she was drinking, the sheriff said.

Proctor was charged with misdemeanor possession of alcohol. The misdemeanor child neglect charge stems from evidence that she had been in a classroom with an open bottle of wine in her pocketbook that the students could have easily accessed, according to the news release. She was removed from school property.

Proctor is scheduled to appear in District Court in Mooresville on March 9.

Iredell-Statesville Schools officials released the following statement Wednesday afternoon:

“The safety of our students is our top priority. We are thankful that our employees felt empowered to speak up when something was not right. Due to the prompt response by our school administration, with assistance from the school resource officer and I-SS human resources department, the suspected employee was questioned, alcohol was found, and the employee was removed immediately.”

No child was left alone with Proctor at any time, district officials said.