Quote:He was pretty sure he had no class — but he isn’t a pervert.

That’s the claim being made by teaching assistant Mark Schack who was caught on video masturbating for 13 seconds after a video lesson for Shady Grove Middle School eighth graders in a Maryland suburb near Washington, D.C.

“I thought I was logged out when class was over,” Schack told Bethesda Magazine. “I had no clue that Zoom was still on.”

Schack was reportedly put on administrative leave while the incident is being investigated. He insists that what happened Monday was not intentional and said what he did would be “crazy behavior” otherwise. He said he’d worked with the school district for 21 years and wouldn’t jeopardize his career by doing something as inappropriate as performing a sex act on camera.

“I’m not a pervert or anything like that,” Schack insisted. “You gotta believe me on that... I thought I was in the privacy of my own home.”

Schack claimed he wasn’t aware of the masturbating controversy until a reporter called him Wednesday. He was notified by the school district Monday that he was being placed on leave on account of their having “misplaced his background check file.” He didn’t appear to make the connection.

Quote: I thought I was in the privacy of my own home.