East Forsyth coach suspended for five days without pay for tirade

East Forsyth softball coach Mike Muse will be suspended for five days without pay for his tirade last month against a student who recorded the incident on his cellphone, the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County school board decided Monday.

The decision came after a 45-minute closed session, and the board voted unanimously to implement a punishment suggested by schools Superintendent Don Martin. Martin said he believed Muse was remorseful after the incident, and that Muse let emotion get the better of him when he cursed 15-year-old Dillon Tschrnko during an hourlong confrontation in the East Forsyth lunchroom.

"Clearly it was aggressive behavior and clearly it was inappropriate," Martin said.

Tschrnko's parents said Monday that they were "extremely disappointed" with the board's decision, which they termed "a slap on the wrist."

"The elected school board members have failed to uphold a standard of morals and allowed a clear case of bullying to go virtually unpunished," Klaus and Marsha Tschrnko wrote in an email to the Journal.

Among other things, Muse threatened to sue Dillon Tschrnko and his family "for whatever you got" after Tschrnko said it was "weird" that Muse texts back-and-forth with a 16-year-old member of his girl's softball team. On the recording, which Tschrnko and his family provided the Journal last month, Muse says the texts are innocent and that he feared Tschrnko was spreading dangerous rumors.

He also tells Tschrnko that he should have "the testicles" to bring any concerns directly to Muse and share them "to my (expletive) face."

Muse's punishment fits precedents set in about 10 other incidents of "aggressive behavior toward a student" that the system has dealt with over the past few years, Martin said. Those teacher suspensions ranged from one day to seven, and the system keeps a file on suspensions to ensure consistent punishment, Martin said.

Muse's suspension will be served on days that hadn't been determined Monday night, board attorney Allison Tomberlin said. Generally school principals decide the schedule, and an effort is made to enforce suspensions on noninstructional days, such as planning days, Tomberlin said.

No discipline is planned for other educators who heard the confrontation, Martin said. It's not clear how many teachers were within earshot while Muse berated Tschrnko, but at least one teacher's voice is on the recording, that of Avery Cockerham.

But Cockerham was "not in an authority position" and his comment on the recording — in which he talks to Tschrnko about relationships "was not inappropriate," Martin said.

Assistant Principal Scott Munsie was also at the table but did not hear the aggressive portions of the conversation, Martin said. The table is 16 feet long, Munsie was monitoring the entire cafeteria during lunchtime and "it is a noisy place," Martin said.

But the Tschrnkos questioned that, asking why any school employees would be "permitted to witness such conduct without reporting it."

The school's resource officer, James Deeney of the Kernersville Police Department, was also at the table and actively participated in the conversation. Deeney was temporarily suspended last week and moved out of the school because he didn't calm the situation when Muse's comments reached an "unprofessional level," Kernersville Police Chief Kenneth Gamble said Friday.

Board members declined to comment Monday on the incident or the punishment, referring questions to Martin. Board Chairman Donny Lambeth announced Muse's punishment as a matter of course, along with the naming of a new elementary school principal and contract extensions for two high-level central office staff members.

"We just followed the recommendation of the superintendent," Lambeth said after the announcement.

Board members did say they had gotten a lot of emails from parents after the Journal reported the tirade. Many were forwarded to Martin, whose emails the Journal receives through the state open-records act.

At least one person wrote to support Muse, but most demanded punishment, and several said he should be fired. In some cases, email writers wanted others who heard the confrontation to be punished as well. Several people labeled Muse a bully and noted the system would never tolerate such behavior from its students.

In response, Martin told several email writers that his stepdaughter had Muse as a teacher 15 years ago "and he was excellent." Martin also said Muse's overall message — that people shouldn't spread rumors — was a reasonable one. But it was delivered in an unacceptable manner and with "over-the-top profanity," Martin wrote.

"I want to be clear that I do not condone in any way Mike's language or tone in this long conversation with this young man," Martin replied to at least one email writer. "Rumors … were being shared by the student. The student needed correcting but not by Mike and not in this manner."

Martin also said Muse may be aggressive as a coach, but that's not uncommon in athletics and it has never led to "any kind of complaints" against him until now.