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Last updated on Tuesday, July 31, 2012
(SWITZ CITY) - White River Valley School Superintendent Layton Wall says he takes full responsibility for what he called a “lapse in judgment” that led to his arrest for public intoxication last November outside an Indianapolis hotel.
Nick Schneider, of the Greene County Daily World reports, Wall was attending a school-related convention at the Westin Hotel and planned to spend the night.
"I went to the local lounge and drank and got inebriated and they (lounge officials) told me that I should go to my room. I said 'no'. Then, they told me again. I said I was going to step outside and get a little air first. When I did that, they arrested me and took me to jail. They put me in the slammer. I was in there all night," Wall explained. "When I came home, the only person I told was my wife. The reason for that was because I was extremely ashamed and felt like I let the whole school community of White River Valley and my teachers and staff down. That wasn't something I wanted to share. I have no reason to hide what has been done."
The superintendent called himself "not much a drinker" but said he used to be.
"I had a bad relapse and I was drinking way too fast and I knew it, but I thought I would just go up and go to bed. I was just wanting to forget everything, but I didn't, which is a bad thing about alcohol," Wall said. "I'm accountable ... I never left the hotel and I wasn't driving or anything like that. But I did have a bad night and I messed up. I'm ashamed of it.
"I did what I needed to do (in the plea bargain), but it (the public intoxication) was not the right thing to do and I'm not advocating it at all. I was wrong. I accept full responsibility. Obviously, no one made me do it. It was a lapse in judgment."
When asked why he didn't inform the board of the arrest, he replied, "I didn't want the students to know ... I wanted to tell the board, but I didn't want the students to know it and didn't want my staff to know it."
The board will meet in an executive session at 6 p.m. tonight to discuss Wall's future employment.
The 56-year-old Wall came to the superintendent's post in the 2004-2005 school year with 15 years of experience with the WRV corporation.
He started as a social studies teacher at Worthington-Jefferson Junior High School, and then moved on to become the assistant principal and athletic director at WRV-Worthington.
In 2003, he served as the assistant to retiring superintendent Stephen Campbell.
Wall said regardless of how his tenure as superintendent turns out, he says it's been a good one.
"There is only one thing that I'm ashamed of as superintendent here and that's that PI (public intoxication charge)... I'm just glad God knows I'm a good man," Wall concluded.
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