Former Southwest DeKalb High chorus teacher Nathan Grigsby pleaded not guilty Nov. 9 in DeKalb State Court to charges that he allowed male students to perform a lewd dance on female students when he worked at the Decatur school.

Grigsby was fired in the wake of the Dec. 10, 2008, incident that was videotaped and placed on Facebook. He was a popular music teacher at the school and more than 200 students and parents protested his suspension in front of the school on Jan. 23 and 26. He was eventually fired by the school system.

Students say that even though he was in the classroom when the video was made, that he was not aware of what the students were doing and he did not condone it.

Grigsby, a teacher for 22 years, taught at Southwest DeKalb for eight years. He entered not guilty pleas to six counts of public indecency and four counts of contributing to the deprivation of a minor and is expected back in court on Dec. 4. Each count of the misdemeanor charges is punishable by up to a year in jail.

DeKalb Solicitor General Robert James said the tape of the simulated sex acts was the worst thing he had ever seen from a classroom.