Former Drama Teacher charged with sexual battery of a student

CW: Details of sexual assault of a minor

A former Metro Nashville Public Schools drama teacher has been charged with aggravated sexual battery of a minor following a grand jury indictment.

According to a Metro Nashville Police Department news release, 60-year-old Gary Schleimer, of Nolensville, was arrested on Wednesday night by Nolensville Police and transported to the Davidson County jail where he was booked on a $100,000 bond.

Schleimer is accused of “inappropriately touching a female student’s chest from behind, above her clothing, while alone in a classroom with her” at Nashville’s H.G. Hill Middle School in the fall of 2022.

The allegations were immediately reported to the Tennessee Board of Education and authorities. Authorities confirmed that this incident is directly related to the incident at the middle school.

Schleimer was an employee at John Overton High School from 2016-2019 and later worked at H.G. Hill Middle School from 2019-2022. Schleimer was terminated at the end of the 2021-2022 school year, according to Metro Nashville Public Schools spokesman Sean Braisted.