Conestoga High Teacher Due in Court Wednesday

A Conestoga High School science teacher is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday morning for a hearing on charges stemming from a Decembe incident in her science lab and an adjoining lab prep room.

Tredyffrin Township Police have charged a 42-year-old Conestoga High School Chemistry teacher with one misdemeanor count of endangering the welfare of children after she collapsed in an adjacent lab prep room while her AP Chemistry students took a test in a classroom. The incident happened at noon on December 10 inside the high school.

According to court documents filed in the case, Carol Wittschieben was found on the floor of a lab prep room next to a chemistry classroom. According to allegations made in court documents she was "mostly unresponsive" when EMS and police first arrived.

In a criminal complaint filed by Tredyffrin Police in the case, Wittschieben is accused of having a blood alcohol level of ".32%" when she was taken to Paoli Hospital.

The case is a little unusual because the students who were left unattended in the classroom were older high school students who were taking a test at the time of the alleged incident.

As TE Patch reported in December, in the charging document filed with the District Court in Devon police allege that "given her level of intoxication, Wittschieben did knowingly endanger the welfare of her students who were under the age of 18 by violating her duty of care, protection and support.

More about the case and what led to the decision to file these charge may be brought to light when Wittschieben is scheduled to appear at 9 a.m. before Magesterial Judge Thomas Tartaglio in Devon.