Teacher Arrested After Playing Loud Music To Disrupt Student Testing: Police

A middle school teacher in Port Orange, Florida, was arrested Tuesday after playing loud music to disrupt Florida Standards Assessments (FSA) testing being conducted at the school.

Officers with the Port Orange Police Department said Martin Reese, an art teacher at Creekside Middle School, refused to turn off or adjust the music after school officials asked him to do so and caused a disturbance as he was being escorted to the principal’s office, Fox 35 reported.

Reese live-streamed much of the incident on social media, and the video is now part of the investigation, News 6 reported.

“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,” Reese was quoted by the outlet as saying in the video posted to his Instagram page.

In the video, Reese can be heard telling students in the classroom that he’s disrupting the test and acknowledging that there are kids 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. The music only stopped after the power to his classroom was cut through the breaker box.

Reese, who was reportedly hired as a teacher just one week before he called in sick to work Tuesday, then left the classroom and made his way to the courtyard, where he took his shirt off as hundreds of students watched from the cafeteria, according to investigators.

“Martin advised he was a Black male and kept his shirt off so they knew he did not have any weapons,” the police report said in part.

The school was put on a brief lockdown as Reese was detained.

"At no time were any students endangered, and no weapons were involved in the incident," a spokesperson for the Port Orange Police Department told Fox 35.

Police said they found a small amount of marijuana in Reese's laptop and a bullet in his backpack when they searched his classroom, WESH 2 reported. They also found an additional 15 bullets in the trunk of Reese's car, according to the report.

Port Orange police released bodycam footage showing a conversation between Reese and a responding officer on the day of the incident.

Reese told police he wanted to disrupt the testing but wouldn't give them his reason for doing so, according to WESH 2.

"Just doing something for my kids," Reese told the officer in the footage, before saying he was "playing music ... to disturb the FSA test."

Reese now faces charges of disrupting a school function and disorderly conduct.

He could face additional charges for filming the kids in his classroom, police said.

The school district said Reese has been fired.

“We’re always concerned when there’s chaos on campus and have to go into lockdown mode,” Elizabeth Albert, president of the Volusia teacher’s union, told Fox 35. “That’s never good. It creates unnecessary disruptions and puts everyone on edge.”