PORT ORANGE, Fla. – A middle school art teacher had a very short tenure at his current school after he blatantly disrupted assessment testing leading to his arrest and subsequent termination, according to reports.
Martin Reese was hired to teach art at Creekside Middle School. After being on the job for a few weeks he called in sick on Tuesday, Click Orlando reported.
Although Reese took a day off, reportedly due to illness, he showed up at the school with large speakers to blast music while students were taking the Florida Statewide Assessment (FSA) tests, according to Port Orange police.
During the stunt, Reese live streamed a 50-minute video documenting the disorder that he created. Investigators said the footage is now part of the investigation, which justifies the criminal allegations.
In the video, Reese said, “We’re going to play music very loud, FSA testing is today and there’s a lot of students, a lot of kids stressed out about it.”
Throughout Reese’s Instagram video, he talks to students in the classroom. He not only acknowledged disrupting the testing process, but is cognizant of the negative impact his antics are having on students in the classroom right next door.
The situation escalated when school administrators asked Reese to turn the music down, but he refused, police told the news outlet.
Finally, authorities cut power to his classroom through the breaker box in order to stop the music.
The school went into temporary lockdown. At that time, Reese left the classroom and made his way to the courtyard where he proceeded to make a scene.
With hundreds of students watching from the cafeteria, Reese removed his shirt and uttered comments that were race-related, according to investigators.
The police report said in part, “Martin advised he was a black male and kept his shirt off so they knew he did not have any weapons.”
Although the teacher did not possess a firearm, he carried a single round in his backpack and an unspecified number of boxes of ammunition in his car, which was parked in the school parking lot, police said.
Officers managed to eventually speak to Reese in a conference room at the school where he was subsequently arrested, Click Orlando reported.
Reese faces criminal charges that include disrupting a school function and disorderly conduct. Law enforcement authorities said he could face additional charges for filming kids in his classroom.
The school district confirmed that Reese was fired following his arrest.
According to FOX 35, Reese’s antics were a form of protest against the FSA tests.
“I do think that if this individual was wanting to protest the FSA there are definitely some better ways to go about it,” Volusia teacher’s union president Elizabeth Albert responded.
She said Reese had only worked at the school for three weeks, although he had been with the district since 2009, before he was terminated.
