A teacher at Big Picture High School has been fired after Metro Nashville Public Schools said he photographed and filmed students, then ran the images through artificial intelligence programs to alter them without the students’ permission.
Mario Mumphrey received his termination letter from MNPS on July 7, and the decision was included in the district’s July 28 Board agenda packet. According to that letter, the misconduct stretched back to October 2025 and continued through early May 2026.
MNPS says Mumphrey used AI to turn a photo of one student, taken without consent during Personalized Learning Time, into cartoon and teddy bear style images. In another case, he allegedly turned a student’s photo into a video of the student dancing in a way described as “weird,” repeating the behavior until the student said he felt awkward and uncomfortable. Other students said Mumphrey used their photos to generate AI videos of them dancing in sexualized or feminized ways, including one video shown to the class of two male students dancing that MNPS says caused embarrassment.
The letter also outlines a pattern of after-hours contact. Students told the district Mumphrey texted them once school let out to check on their whereabouts and would get upset if they didn’t respond fast enough. In one instance, he allegedly built a “prom-posal” poster using a student’s photos and videos without asking first.
Beyond the AI-related complaints, MNPS said Mumphrey inserted himself into students’ personal conversations, including one where he told a male student, “you don’t like her, you just want to have sex with her,” about the student’s girlfriend. The letter also references comments he allegedly made suggesting students in relationships were primarily interested in sex.
This was not Mumphrey’s first disciplinary issue with the district. He was suspended without pay for three days in January 2026 over inappropriate physical conduct and communication with a student, along with insubordination. He also received a memo in September 2023 for missing deadlines and tutoring a student for pay without district approval, and another in March 2024 for what MNPS described as retaliatory communication during an Individualized Education Program meeting and failing to respond to parent requests.
After students came forward, the principal at Big Picture High School reported the allegations to Metro PD and the Department of Children’s Services. MNPS confirms both agencies now have open investigations into Mumphrey’s conduct.
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