PORT ORANGE, Fla. – Martin Reese was hired as an art teacher at Creekside Middle School just one week before he called in sick to work on Tuesday, but showed up to the school with large speakers to blast music while kids were taking the FSA test, according to Port Orange police.
Investigators said Reese took to social media, live streaming a 50-minute video, which is now part of the investigation into the incident.
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.”
At times throughout the video that’s posted to his Instagram page, Reese talks to kids in the classroom.
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He said in the video he’s disrupting the test and can also be heard acknowledging that there are kid’s in a classroom right next door.
Police told News 6 the situation escalated as school administrators asked Reese to turn the music down, but he refused.
According to the report, it wasn’t until they cut the power off to his classroom through the breaker box that the music stopped.
Police said the school was put on a temporary lockdown. At that time, Reese left the classroom and made his way to the courtyard where he took his shirt off with hundreds of students watching from the cafeteria, 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.”
Police said, however, one round of ammunition was found in Reese’s backpack and boxes of ammunition were found in his car in the school parking lot when they searched it.
Reese eventually spoke with police in a conference room at the school and was arrested.
He’s now facing charges of disrupting a school function and disorderly conduct.
Police said he could be facing additional charges for filming the kids in his classroom.
The school district said Reese has been fired.