Another Douglas Anderson teacher charged with misconduct

A teacher at the Douglas Anderson School of the Arts has been transferred after being accused of inappropriate communication with a student during the 2022-23 school year, News4Jax reports.

The teacher is the sixth to be transferred at the school in recent years due to allegations of misconduct.

“While our school and district have taken strong steps this year to ensure that students, families and staff are aware of the boundaries between appropriate and inappropriate behavior toward students, I am writing to inform you today that we have transferred a teacher based on recently received information regarding alleged past misconduct,” Principal Timothy Feagins said in an email to parents Wednesday.

News4JAX has chosen not to name the teacher as he is not accused of any crime and the investigation is ongoing.

Feagins said, “Although professional standards always presume innocence in an investigation, we have assigned him duties at a location in the district where he is not allowed to have contact with students while the investigation is ongoing.”

He said the investigation was confidential, but added the school would inform parents once it was completed.

A Duval County Public Schools spokesman said the school board had been informed of the investigation.

“I want to stress that we are actively educating all stakeholders about the healthy boundaries that should exist between students and staff. Earlier this week, we shared the information with families on this Know the Line webpage,” the spokesperson said.

In his email, Feagins discussed the process of reporting allegations against staff to parents:

“As your new headteacher, it is disappointing to have to share this information with you. However, I would like to take this moment to remind you of some of the expectations I have for our team at the school and the resources available to you.

1. I assure you that any new allegation of this nature raised by a student against a member of my administrative team will be reported to the internal and external authorities required by law.
2. While I am confident that my team is prepared to handle any situation in the future, I also understand that it can be difficult for a student to share this type of information with school staff, so please remember that the school district has created this online form so that students can report directly to the school district.
3. To help you and your students better understand our expectations regarding how staff should interact with students, we recently Do you know the line. I encourage you to become familiar with these boundaries and to let us know if you or your child experience something that may be on the wrong side of this line.

“We will always have high expectations for your students, both academically and artistically. We will also have very high expectations for achieving those goals in an emotionally and physically safe school environment. I look forward to working in partnership with you to achieve those goals and meet those expectations for our students.”

This story was produced by News4Jax, a Jacksonville today News partner.