Zoom mishaps have become common now, right? You think you’re muted while in a meeting only to realize the whole room could hear everything you were saying. Well, one teaching assistant in Maryland made a mistake that may cost him his career.
Marc Schack says he thought he had logged out of his Shady Grove Middle School eighth grade class session reportedly including two or three students. In reality he didn’t, and began masturbating while still online. The New York Daily News reports that the special education teaching assistant at the suburban school was caught on video masturbating for 13 seconds after class. Schack claims he didn’t even know he was still on video until the school notified him a few days later.
“I thought I was logged out when class was over,” he toldBethesda magazine. “I had no clue that Zoom was still on. Why would I do that? That’s my job. My career. I had no clue that Zoom was on. I mean, that’s just crazy behavior.”
While it’s unclear how many many staff and/or students might have witnessed Schack’s actions, what is known is that while in a breakout room, he began masturbating and at least one student recorded it and posted it to social media. This may be how the administration caught wind, with the district’s superintendent making an announcement to the school community asking for anyone who still had the video to delete it.
As Montgomery County police begin to investigate the incident, Schack is hoping people to believe him that it was an accident and unintentional.
“I’m not a pervert or anything like that, you know,” he said. “You gotta believe me on that…I thought I was in the privacy of my own home. I had no clue.”
The school district has placed Schack on leave on account of their having “misplaced his background check file.”
