PORTLAND, Maine (WGME) -- It was a packed house Tuesday night at Casco Bay High School as a teacher set to be fired by the Portland school district asked for his hearing to be held publicly.

The teacher in question is Jemal Murph, who is also the Lincoln Middle School Athletic Director.

Murph is accused of punching a student last October on a playground near an after-school soccer game.

He was apparently getting some students to leave the area when things escalated.

Cell phone video shows several students pushing and shoving the teacher, and he responds with a closed-fist punch to the student that knocked him down. He is then heard saying to the other students, “You wanna do this?”

The administration says Murph escalated the situation instead of trying to de-escalate it as he is trained to do.

They also say punching a child under most any circumstance will lead to a teacher's firing.

The teachers’ union claims Murph was defending himself and shouldn't be fired, but another video from just after the punch was thrown shows Murph shouting that he would knock out other students.

The hearing is run like a trial, and according to the Press Herald, the Board of Education delayed a vote on whether or not to fire the teacher.

The hearing lasted more than eight hours and stretched into early Wednesday morning.