Multiple East Tennessee Teachers Face Various Charges Of Assault, Sexual Misconduct Against Children

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The Tennessee Conservative Staff –

Two East Tennessee school districts are dealing with separate incidences of teacher misconduct towards students, including alleged assault, statutory rape, and exploitation of a minor.

Sullivan County Schools Director Chuck Carter stated that the school district filed a report with local law enforcement and the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services upon learning that a teaching assistant at Bluff City Elementary School had made “inappropriate and unacceptable contact with a student” on Tuesday.

Police later arrested 38-year-old Margaret Widener Osbourne for alleged assault.

A substitute teacher for Holston Elementary School was also arrested last week after school officials reported two incidences of alleged assault on students.

23-year-old Jordan Malachai Duett was charged with two counts of child abuse after he allegedly slapped one student on the upper arm and “slung him into the bus line by his shirt” and also threw a pencil and struck a second child in the head.

Another substitute teacher in Sevier County is being charged with statutory rape and sexual exploitation of a minor by electronic means.

The police warrant says 44-year-old Jacqueline Porterfield was employed at the victim’s school and had also served as a parental figure/babysitter for the child.

The criminal behavior is said to have occurred between January and March 2025.

Sevier County Schools officials say Porterfield will be suspended from employment with the system pending results of the investigation.