DCPS releases safety plan after issues with several teachers at arts school

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A new safety plan is now in place to address sexual misconduct in Duval County schools, after several teachers from the Douglas Anderson School of the Arts were removed from classrooms.

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The eight page plan said the district has fallen short of its goal to ensure the safety of students.

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“This is two steps in a direction that needs about 50,” Shyla Jenkins said. “For the amount of time that they’ve had to put this together, which is close to 15 months, it’s not enough.”

Inside the plan are six strategies including: improved policing, investigations and staff training, as well as improved student awareness and better mechanisms for reporting abuse and informing parents.

“It doesn’t address what we’ve been talking about for a year and a half now, which is, again, how do parents absolutely know what happens when a teacher like Clayton or Thayer or Chris Allen Black are taken from the school room,” Shyla Jenkins said.  “And, why do they have to find it out on the news?”

RELATED: DCPS reaches settlement with victim of former Douglas Anderson teacher, enacts new safety plan

Jenkins is a Douglas Anderson alumni.

She had Jeffrey Clayton as a teacher for the first two years of his 22 year career. Two weeks ago, he was sentenced to ten years in prison for sexual misconduct with a minor, who was his student.

Last September, Cinematic Arts Department Chair, Corey Thayer, was removed from the classroom for a second time because of questionable behavior, including private meetings with students.

In the district’s plan, strategy one, deals with policy change. It would mandate that any person be removed from student contact, immediately for certain arrests regardless of where the crime occurred. Similar to former Douglas Anderson teacher, Chris Allen Black’s case.

Black was arrested and charged for exposing himself in a hotel window overlooking a pool at a Disney resort. It happened in February, but the district took six weeks to remove him from the classroom despite knowing about the arrest.

RELATED: State senator calls out current superintendent for issues at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts

The plan called for changing the policy on fraternization with students. It now states, “employees texting, interacting on social media, and/or being alone with students who are not their family members may be grounds, following due process, for disciplinary action up to and including termination.”

“Though I think the district’s intent was really great with not having students and teachers in an awkward situation in a one on one setting, that’s really unrealistic,” Jenkins said. “It doesn’t give any guidelines to how students and teachers who maybe have to work together in an individual setting.”

Jenkins gives examples like a student making up a test because of an absence or one-on-one tutoring.

She also points to the last section of the plan.

It states the district will “implement a communication plan.” The program will include “elements such as social media posts, information distributed at open houses and school events” as well as “PTAs and other parent groups.”

“Nothing was indicated in that section six, which by the way is the smallest section out of this eight page document,” Jenkins said. “That’s a huge miss for me, because I’ve been standing in front of the board for the last year and a half advocating for this transparency for parents.”

The district said it will also add more staff to expedite its investigations into allegations.

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