‘He Pinned Him to the Wall’: Georgia ‘Teacher of the Year’ Accused of Beating Middle Schooler, Hitting Boy 20 Times, Now Faces Battery Charges
A Georgia teacher who was awarded "Teacher of the Year" at his middle school was recently fired and arrested for hitting one of his students numerous times. According to WXIA, Melvin McClain was charged with first-degree cruelty to children, two counts of third-degree cruelty to children and simple battery following an alleged assault on Dec. 1. Former Conyers Middle School teacher Melvin McClain was arrested for assaulting a student. (Photos: Facebook, Homes.com) Police reports allege that McClain struck 13-year-old Malachi Sherman in the head and stomach roughly 20 times. Classroom surveillance footage caught when McClain asked Sherman and another student stay behind after class before attacking Sherman, news outlets reported. "The teacher got upset with him and dismissed the class. He told him to stay back," Daniell Offett, Sherman's mother, told WXIA. "He yelled for him to come back into classroom and when he came back into the classroom, he pinned him to the wall and assaulted him, hitting him in the chest and the head multiple times in front of the little girl." ‘You’re Being Nasty!’: Pregnant Pastor Lost Her Baby After Racist Circle K Employee Attacked Her On Video Over Rewards Points, Lawsuit Says Offett said the video also showed when Sherman fled to a nearby classroom to hide and cry. She said the school never notified her about the attack, and that she had to learn about it from her son. "The school didn’t protect my son," Offett said. "I wasn’t there to protect him, so, he’s emotionally unstable at the moment and I can’t do anything about it." In a statement, the Rockdale County Public Schools district confirmed they learned about the incident from Sherman's mother via email and began investigating the allegation from there. We hold all employees to the highest standards of professionalism, integrity, and ethical conduct. These expectations are central to maintaining a safe, respectful, and productive learning environment. When employees do not meet our standards, we take swift, appropriate action, and remove them from the classroom. In this instance, we first learned about the incident via email from the parent later that evening. We responded to the parent via a phone call and an email within 30 minutes of her correspondence. We immediately began investigating the allegation, and the teacher never returned to the classroom. We notified law enforcement, the Department of Family and Children Services and the Professional Standards Commission. We remain committed to upholding our standards and taking decisive action whenever those standards are not met. McClain was awarded "Teacher of the Year" at Conyers Middle School for the year 2020-2021. He is no longer a teacher at the school, according to the student's attorneys. He is currently out of jail on bond. Attorneys for the boy's family say they want to review the district's policies and "pursue full legal accountability." “Malachi is our fourth client in the last two years to face violence at the hands of a Rockdale County teacher,” said Attorney Kianna Chennault, founder of Chennault Legal & Consulting Group. “Rockdale County Schools’ failures represent serious legal violations and an alarming disregard for student safety. We will pursue full legal accountability for this assault and the district’s breach of its mandatory duties.” The legal group represented the family of an 8-year-old boy with special needs enrolled in Rockdale County Schools who was allegedly assaulted by a school paraprofessional in 2023. The paraeducator was charged with simple assault.
