JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Duval County School Board will host a special meeting Wednesday at 1 p.m. to discuss a recent crisis at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts.
Three teachers have been removed from the classroom for alleged misconduct, according to a message sent to parents on March 31.
One of those teachers was longtime music teacher Jeffrey Clayton, who is accused of lewd behavior with a student.
DCPS says Clayton submitted his retirement, effective March 28. The district has submitted the required Affidavit of Separation from School District Employment Due to Termination or Resignation in Lieu of Termination form to the Florida Department of Education.
Another one of the teachers, who will not be named because no charges have been pressed, was reassigned to duties off-campus on March 9. The district says the investigation in that case is still open.
The agenda for Wednesday's meeting says the board will discuss "hiring of third-party counsel" in these cases.
School Board Chair Kelly Coker said in a statement Monday that the board is "committed to hiring third-party counsel" to investigate the events leading to Clayton's arrest.
"The Douglas Anderson community and our community-at-large deserve our commitment to and focus on ensuring the safety and well-being of the students that attend Duval County Public Schools," she wrote.
'District leadership was aware'
The meeting was scheduled amidst growing pressure on Superintendent Diana Green following the events at Douglas Anderson.
A rally will take place Monday night in support of Greene as concerns rise about her job being at risk.
Since Clayton's arrest, the School District has been inundated with complaints by former and current teachers and students who say their complaints about Clayton over the years were ignored. Clayton's discipline file shows he was disciplined twice for inappropriate physical contact with a student -- in 2016 and 2021 -- in addition to other discipline.
Coker said she was "appalled to know that district leadership was aware of this teacher’s behavior as recently as 2021," a seeming barb aimed at Greene.
There are also concerns about whether the 2021 incident was reported as required. The vice chancellor of the state’s Office of Safe Schools sent Greene a letter last Wednesday saying it had not been notified of the 2021 incident, and giving the district five days to respond.
The district's underreporting of campus crimes was the subject of a scathing grand jury report in 2019 that said former chief of the Duval County Schools Police Department, Micheal P. Edwards deliberately manipulated and underreported criminal activity taking place on school grounds without regard for student safety.
There have been no overt threats on Greene's job, but her supporters are worried that the cascade of issues is accumulating. And it's not an easy time to be a superintendent in Florida. Five superintendents have been removed since the November elections, most recently in Flagler County, following a political shakeup led by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Superintendent Greene had been scheduled to hold a Q&A session with parents and community members at Jean Ribault High School Monday evening, but the event was postponed.