JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Former Douglas Anderson School of the Arts choir teacher Jeffrey Clayton, who pleaded guilty in April to four charges regarding sexual misconduct with a student in April, is set to be sentenced Friday afternoon.
His arrest prompted a fierce outcry from parents and community advocates. Clayton was the first of five teachers at the school to be reassigned or removed from the school since the spring of 2023. Clayton's arrest led to criticisms of Duval County Public Schools' handling of complaints and the investigation prompted scrutiny toward the district; Superintendent Diana Greene later retired.
Here's a timeline of how it all went down:
March 22, 2023: Jeffrey Clayton, 65, was arrested on charges of lewd and lascivious conduct involving a student, the school's principal said in a statement sent to students' families. A voicemail that went out to parents said that Clayton will not "return to the school and will have no interaction with students" if he is released from custody.
March 23, 2023: DCPS opens its investigation. Students say Clayton's arrest is not an isolated incident and the school failed to listen to complaints until Clayton's arrest. The arrest warrant said that Clayton and the student exchanged roughly 1,700 text messages. It states Clayton rubbed the student's thighs and kissed her during a voice lesson.
A coworker also speaks out against Clayton.
March 27, 2023: We learn a second teacher “was removed from the classroom and assigned non-teaching duties on or about March 1. He was reassigned to duties off-campus on March 9. This investigation remains open.”
March 31, 2023: A third teacher was removed from the classroom as Douglas Anderson for claims of misconduct, according to a phone message send to parents.
April 4, 2023: Several Douglas Anderson students, alumni and teachers shared their claims of abuse by Clayton at a Duval County Public Schools meeting. They claim Clayton was reported several times and nothing was done.
"This is much larger than just Clayton, this is years, decades of bad behavior that's been rewarded with silence and kept under the rug," a former student, Shyla Jenkins, said.
April 18, 2023: Clayton, via his attorney, waived his appearance and pleaded not guilty on his behalf to one count of indecent, lewd or lascivious touching of a minor, two counts of offenses against students, and one count of the unlawful use of a two-way communication device.
More details from a warrant are released. Clayton reportedly began kissing the student, first with his mouth closed then escalated to kissing her with his mouth open, putting his tongue in her mouth, the warrant said.
When there was about ten minutes left in the singing lesson, Clayton stood up and began teaching. The student's parent picked her up and took her home, according to the arrest warrant.
The victim told one of her friends what happened with Clayton, which prompted a DCF employee and a Clay County Sheriff's deputy to visit the student's home. The parents then reported the incident to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, the warrant said.
Investigators worked with the victim to record a phone call between herself and Clayton. The call lasted around 30 minutes and was recorded. The details of the phone call are redacted in the arrest warrant. The victim provided screenshots of texts from Clayton - One of the texts from the teacher said "I feel freaking amazing! Wow!"
April 19, 2023: Clayton’s termination letter from DCPS identifies four earlier sustained complaints – in January 2006, March 2008, and in November 2016 and 2021. State officials want to know why they can’t find a mandatory DCPS report about Jeffrey Clayton’s inappropriate conduct with a student from 2021.
April 20, 2023: More complaints come in regarding Clayton's behavior. First Coast News learns of at least 10 investigations since 2006.
April 23, 2023: A letter from Florida Commissioner of Education Manny Diaz Jr. says Greene failed to follow state statutes when reporting "educator misconduct," and called the failure "completely unacceptable."
April 26, 2023: At a special called meeting, several speak in favor of Greene keeping her job.
April 28, 2023: The Duval County School Board was scheduled to host a "special meeting" Friday afternoon to discuss recent events at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, but it was postponed at the last minute due to “pending legal matters.”
May 2, 2023: The Duval County School Board voted 4-3 to allow Superintendent Diana Greene to retire from her position Tuesday afternoon in a special board meeting. Some board members believe she is being forced out.
May 10, 2023: Clayton waives his appearance for a pretrial hearing.
June 23, 2023: A judge rules Clayton will not be allowed to leave the county or remove his GPS ankle monitor.
Aug. 2, 2023: Assistant Superintendent Victoria Schultz said the DCPS is moving to an electronic format for reporting teacher misconduct.
“It’s just more user-friendly,” Schultz said, “so I think it’ll help us with pulling reports and those sorts of things, just an extra layer of monitoring.”
Aug. 14, 2023: The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office release a recorded interview they term a "salacious" conversation with Clayton and a student. Investigators told Clayton they made the recording so after the student reported him for inappropriate conduct.
Sept. 7, 2023: Jail phone calls with Clayton and his wife and texts are released. His wife presses him on the veracity of the charges, suggesting there have been prior instances.
WIFE: “I’ve come to bat for you so many times of you telling me things didn’t really happen and things weren’t true, and they were just after you, but I need to know, is this true?”
JEFFREY CLAYTON: “Is what true?”
WIFE: “The fact that you made passes at her, advances at her, something DCF [Department of Children and Families ]would have to investigate.”
JEFFREY CLAYTON: “I really don’t, I can’t talk about it right now.”
Feb. 24, 2024: Douglas Anderson math teacher Chris Allen-Black was arrested after several women saw him exposing himself through a window at the Walt Disney World Dolphin Hotel, according to the Osceola County Sheriff's Office. DCPS apologized after Allen-Black was removed from the classroom 45 days after DCPS learned about his arrest.
April 24, 2024: Clayton pleaded guilty to two counts of offenses against students by authority figure, one count of indecent, lewd or lascivious touching of certain minors and unlawful use of a two-way device. Former students and colleagues react.
Clayton's sentencing is at 1:30 p.m. Friday. He faces up to 40 years in prison.
