ACCIDENT Teacher gets probation, fine in DUI case
AUSTINTOWN -- A township elementary school teacher must pay $350 and spend 12 months on probation after being convicted of DUI after she struck a school bus with her vehicle.
She resigned from her job Monday, a school official said.
Beth M. Kleja, 50, changed her plea to guilty in Mahoning County Court on Monday night.
Shortly after 8 a.m. April 20, the vehicle Kleja was driving struck the rear of a bus that was unloading children at Lloyd Elementary School where Kleja teaches second grade. No one was injured and only minor damage was done to both vehicles.
Police have said her blood alcohol level was twice the legal limit. Kleja has no previous DUI convictions.
In exchange for the guilty plea, the prosecutor agreed not to file child-endangerment charges.
The judge sentenced the veteran teacher to a year of nonreporting probation, suspended her driver's license for 180 days, ordered her to attend driver safety classes and to pay $350 plus court costs.
Kleja, who has been with the district since 1979, was placed on paid administrative leave the day of the accident.