A Johnston County High School driver’s education teacher has been charged with driving while impaired.
Kenneth Marvin Watkins
Kenneth Marvin Watkins, age 30, is charged with driving while impaired and failure to maintain lane control.
He was released on an unsecured bond and is set to appear in court again on August 8.
Watkins was pulled over by a state trooper on June 15 around 2:30 in the morning. The Jeep Watkins was driving was swerving while doing 62 mph in a 55 mph zone on Cleveland Road (state route 1010) in Johnston County.
Trooper T.R. Price reported that he smelled alcohol on Watkins’ breath and gave him a field sobriety test which he failed.
Watkins was then taken into custody and given a Breathalyzer test at the Johnston County Courthouse. Watkins’ test results were 0.11 and 0.10, which were above the North Carolina legal limit of 0.08.
According to Johnston County School officials, Kenneth Watkins began employment in the district in September of 2014 and has a salary of $4,400 a month.
Watkins the Health/PE Teacher at Cleveland High, serves as a coach and ironically is a driver’s education instructor, however, the Johnston County School District indicated that Watkins is not currently engaged in those driver’s education duties.
According to state records, Watkins holds an active teaching license in the areas of Physical Education, Health Specialist, and Exceptional Children: General Curriculum (K-12). His license, unless revoked or suspended, will expire June 30, 2022.
