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Murfreesboro, TN (WSMV) — A Blackman Middle School teacher in Murfreesboro was suspended without pay Wednesday after a video surfaced of him screaming at a student.
Another student secretly recorded the video in the classroom. At one point, you hear the teacher say, “You want to sit here and run your mouth, like you really want to go toe to toe, because you can’t sit there and shut your mouth.”
Rutherford County Schools identified the teacher as Dustin Stem, an 8th grade social studies teacher and head baseball coach at Blackman Middle School.
“If there was a problem maybe he could have spoken to the child outside the classroom,” said Dawn West, a parent to a 7th grader at Siegel Middle School in Murfreesboro. “If you’re a teacher, I know things are rough with kids nowadays but that doesn’t, there’s no allowance for that I don’t think.”
Rutherford County Schools sent News4 a statement that reads in part:
“The teacher, Dustin Stem, was accused of an inappropriate verbal altercation with a student during class. The school administration was notified and investigated yesterday after receiving an audio recording of the altercation. The administration reviewed the recording, interviewed students in the class and spoke with the teacher.
Based on the findings, Director of Schools Bill Spurlock today suspended the teacher for three unpaid days and the teacher must complete counseling through the Employee Assistance Program.”
The district says Stem has no prior history of similar issues.
It’s not clear what lead up to the exchange between Stem and the student.
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