JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A former Douglas Anderson teacher that was pulled from the classroom and arrested in March waived his appearance for a pretrial hearing on Wednesday morning. His next court date is scheduled for June 7.
Jeffrey Clayton has pleaded not guilty 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.
Clayton was a vocal teacher at Douglas Anderson for more than 20 years. His arrest warrant provides details on the investigation.
On March 17, a student's father dropped her off for a one-on-one voice lesson with the 65-year-old teacher. The student sat on a couch in Clayton's office while he sat in a chair next to her. He began talking about his "intoxicating" feelings for the student before he began rubbing her thighs, according to the arrest warrant.
Clayton reportedly began kissing the student, first with his mouth closed then escalated to kissing her with his mouth open.
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.
Officials said there were around 1700 texts between Clayton and the victim.
Three other teachers have also been removed from their positions at the school. These teachers are not yet being named as they have not been charged with crimes
Last week, 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.
Greene was under increasing political pressure amid the teacher removals at the school.