We've all had a teacher who's tried out an unorthodox or innovative approach to their craft in order to make lessons less boring for students. Sometimes it works, sometimes it's horrendous for all concerned.
But last week, one US high school student discovered their English teacher doing something even more off-the-wall when they caught her snorting coke in her classroom - while the school day was already underway.
Advert
According to the Chicago Tribune, Samantha Cox, 24, was caught by the eagle-eyed pupil who filmed her through the window of the locked classroom door.
The footage, recorded by junior student Will Rogers, appears to show Cox snorting the powdery white substance off her desk after using a book to sort it into lines.
"She's in the corner, hiding with a chair and a book and what appears to be cocaine, putting it into lines," Rogers told Chicago's WGN-TV. "When I actually watched the footage again and again I just realised that my English teacher just did cocaine."
Students at Lake Central High School, Indiana were shocked by what they saw and quickly informed the principal of Cox's drug use, before administrators then called the police.
Advert
Police used a drug-sniffing dog to search Cox's classroom and found "a clear tightly twisted bag with multiple small rolled up pieces of tin foil" in the centre drawer of her desk, the Tribune reported.
Officers also found "a rolled up small piece of paper", similar to a straw, which detectives knew to be "used to ingest illegal narcotics through one's nostril."
Cox was quickly arrested and politely gave officers the keys to her car, where they found a range of other drug paraphernalia including a glass pipe, two pieces of tin foil and two more rolled up paper straws.
Credit: PA
Advert
She later admitted buying $160 (£119) worth of cocaine before school that morning. "She normally purchases (her) drugs after school but was feeling sick and needed to get some," court records said.
As Cox was unable to take the drugs before school started, she snuck them into school with her and used them during a class break, she told police.
According to reports, Cox had been hired by Lake Central in August last year and told police that she had been using cocaine since she'd started university at Purdue University Northwest four years before.
Lake Central Superintendent Larry Veracco said he was happy that principals took 'swift and forceful action' against Cox but expressed regret at the incident, saying that she seemed to be a 'very good teacher'.
Advert
"She was popular with the students," Veracco told the Northwest Indiana Times. "It's a sad situation. We are happy that we got her removed from the classroom very quickly after being tipped off by a student. But we are also concerned about her welfare, too. She seemed to be a very good teacher."
Cox now faces a felony charge of possession of cocaine and a misdemeanor charge of possessing drug paraphernalia, a police statement said.
Featured Image Credit: Google MapsTopics: Students, Drug Addict, News, US News, Cocaine, crime