The nun was charged after crashing her car into an auto body shop Nov. 7, 2015.
PHILADELPHIA -- The city nun who was convicted last month of driving under the influence will not return to her teaching job until at least next year -- if she is allowed back at all, the archdiocese said Friday.
A spokesman told NJ Advance Media that no final decision had been made yet on whether Kimberly Miller, who was charged with DUI after crashing into a Washington Township auto body shop in the early morning hours of Nov. 7, would be allowed to return to Little Flower High School. More than 1,500 people signed an online petition later that month asking that Miller be allowed to keep her job.
"As the school year is nearly over at this point, the students at Little Flower will finish the remainder with the substitute who has been instructing them for the past several months," Ken Gavin of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia said in an email. "A formal decision about Sr. Kimberly's status for the 2016-2017 academic year will be made later. Any decision will take into account what is best for the students, the school community and for Sr. Kimberly."
Miller had a blood-alcohol level of .16 percent, or twice the legal limit, when she was arrested. Although there was an open bottle of wine in the back seat of her car, she maintained throughout her court hearing that she had no memory of driving to New Jersey.
Miller said she had attended a book signing event in Haverford, Pennsylvania. The event was part of her duties as a theology teacher and librarian at Little Flower, a girls' high school in North Philadelphia. While there, she said she had two small glasses of wine, then went home and had another glass of wine with an Ambien sleeping pill before bed. When she woke up, Miller claimed, she was being arrested in New Jersey after driving in her sleep to Gloucester County.
She faced fines and a suspended license when she was convicted in April, and must take a special class for DUI offenders.
Miller's attorney, Jeff Lindy, told the Philadelphia Inquirer that it would be a "real loss to the students" if Miller was not brought back to the school next year.
"A finding of culpability in a low-level, noncriminal case certainly shouldn't bar anyone, particularly Sister Kim, from teaching high school," Lindy said.
Andy Polhamus may be reached at apolhamus@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @ajpolhamus. Find NJ.com on Facebook.