By PATRICK McARDLE STAFF WRITER

BENNINGTON – A former teacher and coach at Arlington Memorial High School pleaded guilty Friday to enabling underage people, who were not her students, to drink at her home in August and received a deferred sentence, which could leave her with a clean criminal record.

Two drug possession charges against Allyson Hoffman, 38, of Sunderland, were dismissed by the state as part of a plea agreement. Hoffman's sentence has been deferred for nine months. If she successfully completes probation, her record will be expunged.

Hoffman wept as she read a statement in Bennington District Court on Friday.

"I want to publicly apologize to the parents of these young men and women (who were at Hoffman's home in August) and to my community for my poor judgment and for allowing these young people to put themselves at risk. I am ashamed and embarrassed and very sorry and nothing like this will ever happen again," she said.

Hoffman was fired from the Battenkill Valley Supervisory Union by a unanimous vote of the Arlington School Board on Oct. 1 at the recommendation of Superintendent Charles Sweetman for "conduct unbecoming a teacher."

The supervisory union has two schools in Arlington, the high school and Fisher Elementary School. Hoffman had taught a dance class and coached the dance team at the high school and worked as a librarian at the elementary school.

Police said they had gone to Hoffman's home about 1 a.m. Aug. 15 because of a report that underage people were drinking alcohol in the house.

Several people were cited for drinking alcohol while they were younger than 21 and police found what they believed to be marijuana and cocaine in the home.

In her statement, Hoffman said the party was hosted by her daughter. She said she made a "terrible mistake in judgment" by not supervising the party.

According to Hoffman she had gone to her room to drink a few glasses of wine and watch a movie to celebrate because she had been awarded her master's degree in teaching that day.

Hoffman said a young woman she knew came into her room and seemed intoxicated and ill although Hoffman said the woman had arrived at her home after drinking alcohol in a different location. The woman was later taken by the Arlington Rescue Squad to Southwestern Vermont Medical Center in Bennington for possible treatment because of the amount of alcohol she had consumed.

After the young woman came into her room, Hoffman went out to check on the party and realized young people were drinking, she said. Hoffman said she told them not to leave her home.

"Once I found out that the young men and women were drinking alcohol, I did not take any steps to prevent them from continuing to drink alcohol. I did not call any parents or the authorities," she said.

Hoffman was arraigned in September for possession of less than 2.5 grams of cocaine and possession of less than two ounces of marijuana but Bennington County State's Attorney Erica Marthage said those charges were dismissed because the state was unable to find evidence that the drugs were Hoffman's or that she knew they were in the home.

Marthage asked Judge David Suntag to impose the proposed sentence.

"I think it's appropriate given the number of individuals that were at this residence, the fact that one of them ended up being transported to the hospital and that the defendant is not only a mother, as Mr. Silver indicated, but she's also a teacher and a coach in that community. The state has received an awful lot of input from community members, especially the parents of some of the children that were present at this home," she said.

Marthage said she believed that the deferred sentence might allow Hoffman to continue her teaching career in the future even if it isn't in Vermont.

Bennington attorney David Silver, who represented Hoffman, said she was a "teacher with an exemplary record who took her responsibility to children very, very seriously."

"She's paid a very serious price for (the incident) already. Her standing in the community, in this highly publicized case, may be irreparably damaged. She lost her job, a job that she loved, a job she was very good at, a job that allowed her to give so much to the community and that's a loss, not just for Ms. Hoffman, but the community as well," he said.

Suntag told Hoffman that he believed the sentence was appropriate because she had committed the crime while "clearly a leader" in her community.

"I agree, the consequences are significant but the offense was also quite significant," he said.

patrick.mcardle@rutlandherald.com