CLINTON, Mass. (AP) – A driver of special needs students pleaded not guilty to operating under the influence of alcohol Monday after police say she was arrested with an open bottle of rum shortly after she dropped off a student.

Cynthia Lea, 38, of Sterling, was released on $2,500 bail after pleading not guilty in Clinton District Court to drunken driving and having an open container of alcohol in a vehicle, Worcester County District Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Elizabeth Stammo said.

As a condition of Lea’s release, she must not drink alcohol or have contact with witnesses and is subject to random alcohol screening, Stammo said.

Lea was arrested Friday in the parking lot of a school transport company after a Princeton woman reported to police that a school driver had run over her fence after dropping off the woman’s 9-year-old daughter. The woman said her daughter had arrived late from school.

At the time, the 9-year-old, who is autistic, had been the only student aboard the Jeep Cherokee that Lea was driving as a school transport vehicle.

Officer Craig Pomeroy said he found an open pint bottle of rum that was half- to three-quarters empty in Lea’s purse when he arrested her.

“It was clear from talking to her that she was highly intoxicated,” Pomeroy said.

Lea refused to take a field sobriety test, and a Breathalyzer test recorded a blood-alcohol level of .24, or three times the legal limit of .08, Pomeroy said.

Lea’s attorney, Eugene Lumelsky, said he has had only preliminary discussions with his client and could not comment further on the case.

Lea was due back in court Dec. 19.