WATCH: Algebra Teacher Swears, Throws Furniture In Classroom Meltdown

An 11th-grade algebra teacher at McGavock High School in Nashville, Tenn. shocked school officials and students last week when he had a full meltdown during class, screaming at students and throwing furniture.

One of Donald Brian Wood's students captured the tantrum on a camera phone and posted the video to YouTube.

WATCH:

Wood's sister released a press statement to The Tennessean in response to the video:

"My older brother, Brian Wood, had what appeared to be a nervous breakdown in his classroom while serving in his role as a Math teacher at McGavock High School. No one was physically harmed or injured, including him, and for that we are deeply grateful."

Principal Robbin Wall told The Tennessean that Wood's unruly behavior was an anomaly:

"I'm not a doctor, but what we saw was a little bit of a nervous breakdown,'' Wall said. "I understand he's doing better now. It's sad, he's a very good man. Always positive and has good things to say. I've never seen him be negative or even use profanity, so it was far out of his normal pattern.''

Barbara Fisher, mother of two former students of Wood, revealed to the The Telegraph that McGavock had a history of "disciplinary problems among students." Fisher speculated:

"I am really not sure where the blame really lies. The students were egging him on but he didn't know how to handle it."

Wood, who is currently recovering at the Vanderbilt Medical Center, is on "indefinite administrative leave" according to Metro Nashville Public Schools.

Comments

[freddsky]

10:07 AM on 10/19/2010

The similarity between math and music is indubitable. It's all about practice and precision.
This poor maestro broke his violin.
Now he cannot play.

[freddychef]

09:06 PM on 10/17/2010

as a disruptive student in school, i am sorry for this teacher. it wasn't his fault.

kids, you better get a grip of your lives.

join the army, get some disipline, it works!

[Galia Hannah]

01:16 PM on 10/17/2010

|How about Michelle Rhee when she was a teacher she put duct tape on a student's mouth to keep the student quiet. What should be done about her?

[LogicalMathMan]

03:18 PM on 10/15/2010

I do not know what egged this teacher on. Last week, a student whom I have been tutoring for the SAT could not calculate a percentage because there were letters involved and not numbers. It was Friday evening and she had just finished a long day of school and a rigorous volleyball game of 4 sets in which her team lost.

When I reminded her that this was 5th grade Math, she got visibly upset. I actually took a time out to let her compose herself. For as bright as this student is, her mind was spent from the long week. Surprisingly, she responded well after the break.

[Paulroc]

01:28 PM on 10/15/2010

The class are guilty of assault, and aiding and abetting an assault, as they are causing extreme apprehension in the teacher.

If his illness is chronic, and the students can be shown to be aware of this, and have acted to make him unstable, they are guilty of workplace harassment, degradation of the individual, bullying and psychological harassment, and the much more serious charge of torture. These are imprisonable offfences.

[Mr Anonymous]

08:13 PM on 10/14/2010

Doesn't know who is responsible? He is a teacher. He is responsible. If he can't handle it, then he needs to get out of education.

[savalas6]

08:20 PM on 10/14/2010

These "students" can only be handled by a prison guard. And they very probably will be. At your expense, and mine.

I have seen rats that were more civil.

[savalas6]

07:57 PM on 10/14/2010

I guess this community isn't interested in that "hopey, changey" stuff, like education. They are sewage.

[AndyWright68]

03:28 PM on 10/14/2010

Anyone who forces their kids to attend these violent government institutions of bullying, abuse and propaganda is guilty of child abuse. Do what it right. Take your kids out of these brain-crushing prisons if you care about them at all.

[Mr Anonymous]

08:14 PM on 10/14/2010

Who is going to teach them then?

[AndyWright68]

11:06 PM on 10/14/2010

Homeschool is the best option but there are plenty of good private and charter schools. There are also groups for homeschoolers. Even unschooling would be better then forcing your kids off to be abused.

[Bostontru2u]

07:45 AM on 10/15/2010

G. E. D. When they themselves learn what fools they are.

[robmandont]

12:28 PM on 10/14/2010

This reminded me of the teacher in Houston who went off on a student earlier this year. As someone who once worked in public education for 20 years, I had the misfortune of working in a school environment where the staff had minimal support from the administration (powers that be). It was as the saying goes, "The inmates were running the asylum." I escorted a young man (I hope he has since grown up to be a somewhat responsible member of society) to the principal's office for cussing me out after I repeatedly warned him to keep his voice down in the library media center. The assistant principal who "handled" the situation, reprimanded me in front of the student for "wasting his time". The young man was sent back to class with no punishment and I was humiliated. I knew then that it was time for me to get out because incidents such as this one was becoming all too common. Parents send their kids to school and expect teachers, etc to raise their kids, and then blame teachers when their kids are graduated into society with the skills and manners of common animals. It is so sad. I hope this teacher gets the help he needs, and that this serves as yet another warning for anyone who dares to go into the public education field that they better think REALLY hard about it before hand, or as I have heard the saying, "Count the cost."

[Gin1234]

11:30 AM on 10/14/2010

When I was in school a hundred years ago, this would have never even been thought of happening. We had disruptive students, and teachers who couldn't teach, but kids were too afraid of getting too far out of line because that just wasn't accepted by society and their parents were at least a little bit on top of what was happening at school. Now? Somehow it is the teacher who is responsible for handling a class of out of control kids who aren't expected and were never taught by society, their parents, or anyone else to be responsible and behave. How does this get hung on the teacher, who is evidentally supposed to become super human and deal with everything handed to him. Obviously because this was not how it once was, there are many other factors not having to do with the teacher at work. The teacher is the one who should have to deal with this the least.

[Mr Anonymous]

08:17 PM on 10/14/2010

If you went to school a hundred years ago, then you know that teachers used to be able to physically punish students for behaving like that.

[Naithom]

11:56 PM on 10/14/2010

So, you are comfortable with the idea of people that you've either never met or who you've spent less than two hours with in a year being free to assault your child? Yeah, that will definitely teach your kids a lesson. Not necessarily the one you want, but definitely a lesson.

[savalas6]

11:19 AM on 10/14/2010

Services provided at taxpayer expense should be curtailed in communities that squander them until such time as those communties will not squander them.

This policy should be carried out on the basis of community behavior only, without any regard to ethnicty whatsoever.

[fromdnorth]

09:58 AM on 10/14/2010

Sometimes you got to do something... Love is often passionate...

[Mr Anonymous]

08:18 PM on 10/14/2010

You mean have sex with the kids?

[Frog in a pot]

06:42 AM on 10/14/2010

Wow that poor teacher.No wonder we cant keep good teachers in some schools.The contempt for authority and lack of repect would NEVER have been tolerated for one second in my school.Teachers need more support and must be able to get rid of disruptive students.We put up with too much bad behavior in our schools and it hurts the kids who are trying to make something of their lives and the teachers who have the extra stressors of dealing with disrespectful kids.No adult should have to put up with that kind of chaos.And no kid should have to sit in a class where teachers cant teach.It hurts everyone.

[beaniencecil]

04:12 AM on 10/14/2010

A teachers personality and rude behavior can really hurt students. My "College Level Algebra" teacher in prep school used to swear a lot. It was really upsetting to me and affected my academic performance, I complained to the headmaster but they ended up having me repeat Algebra 2 ( already taken the prior year) . So I was the one who lost out because the school didn't want to confront the guy about his behavior. Of course I made straight A's in Algebra 2 but it was horrible because I really loved math, but after that year I stopped my study of mathematics.

[fromdnorth]

10:00 AM on 10/14/2010

Swearing is distracting but not a fatal flaw... I f this was the sole reason for your failure, get help...

[Gin1234]

10:37 AM on 10/14/2010

It seems like your issue runs deeper than just the teacher swearing. The consequence seems a little bigger than it should have been.

[Ryan Butters]

11:15 PM on 10/13/2010

Perhaps an entirely separate "remedial high school" is something to look into. Let the pre-felons "learn" in their own company if they show an unwillingness to behave appropriately, leaving the remainder of students with half an impulse to learn more free of distraction.

[bintalshamsa]

12:27 AM on 10/14/2010

Well, how do we know that you aren't also a "pre-felon"? Let's lock you up among those who think that we should just isolate anyone who might go on to commit a crime in the future.

[Ryan Butters]

10:40 PM on 10/14/2010

A record of recurrent, uncorrectable disciplinary problems within a high school setting would be enough to identify most "pre-felons". I take it you approve of the sort of behavior shown in this video. That's a shame.

[Bostontru2u]

04:09 AM on 10/14/2010

Good idea. They had a school for bad kids when I went to school, so the serious students could continue to learn in a peaceful environment.