{"id":122843,"date":"2025-07-30T02:18:07","date_gmt":"2025-07-30T02:18:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tvbrazilusa.com\/2025\/07\/30\/investigation-was-douglas-anderson-worse-than-other-schools-district-data-issues-make-it-hard-to-compare-jacksonville-today\/"},"modified":"2025-07-30T02:36:44","modified_gmt":"2025-07-30T02:36:44","slug":"investigation-was-douglas-anderson-worse-than-other-schools-district-data-issues-make-it-hard-to-compare-jacksonville-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tvbrazilusa.com\/pt\/2025\/07\/30\/investigation-was-douglas-anderson-worse-than-other-schools-district-data-issues-make-it-hard-to-compare-jacksonville-today\/","title":{"rendered":"INVESTIGATION | Was Douglas Anderson worse than other schools? District data issues make it hard to compare\u00a0 | Jacksonville Today"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-8864793242727901\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"1e05a6e6-ebb2-4f5c-a18c-95754c65067a\"><em>This story is the third in a series, <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/category\/the-show-must-go-on\/\"><em>The Show Must Go On<\/em><\/a><em>, based on tens of thousands of pages of public records and historical documents, as well as dozens of interviews with lawyers, local officials and current and former Douglas Anderson students, parents, teachers and administrators.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<hr data-beyondwords-marker=\"b8d7c277-1425-4d9c-bf44-326616fc4ff7\" class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"3f8de429-df92-4fdb-ad5c-9b1a862121ce\">Douglas Anderson School of the Arts is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.duvalschools.org\/o\/dahs\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">among the nation\u2019s best<\/a> public high schools.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"70a4c691-ca17-4bfa-bf9c-87c1bbe18c0a\">Around 1,000 students\u00a0\u2014 about three-quarters female \u2014 choose to attend the prestigious magnet school, which requires an audition for admission.<\/p>\n<p><!-- This site is converting visitors into subscribers and customers with OptinMonster - https:\/\/app.optinmonster.com :: Campaign Title: 2025 Email Registration Wall Message --><\/p>\n<p><!-- \/ OptinMonster --><\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"961aa14a-b978-45a3-adb6-14640df2cee5\"><a href=\"https:\/\/dcps.duvalschools.org\/o\/dahs\/page\/achievements\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The school district touts Douglas Anderson\u2019s academic prowess<\/a>: A 100% graduation rate for four years running. Above-average SAT scores. Graduating classes who collectively earn tens of million in scholarships.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"51f37d92-0007-43d2-b0c3-979a270748db\">Douglas Anderson students shine brightly when it comes to the arts too. They have won national YoungArts awards (putting them in a club with Timoth\u00e9e Chalamet, among other past winners) and they\u2019ve been nominated for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jimmyawards.com\/winners-and-nominees\/2024-jimmy-awards\/nominees\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jimmy Awards<\/a> (think Tonys, but for high schoolers). Grads have performed as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/thesalt\/2018\/02\/11\/582454813\/hamiltons-aaron-burr-has-some-culinary-advice-talk-less-cook-more-creatively\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Aaron Burr in <em>Hamilton<\/em> on Broadway<\/a>, founded major touring music acts like Limp Bizkit, starred opposite Tom Cruise in movies and had parts on sitcoms like <em>30 Rock<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure data-beyondwords-marker=\"50a7b4fd-b58e-4672-a188-b03bb69fa314\" class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Daniel Breaker, who graduated from Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, starred as Aaron Burr in Hamilton on Broadway from August 2017 until COVID put the show on pause in 2020. | Courtesy: Joan Marcus<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"c86d4d99-0043-41b2-9411-c7effe7f83a0\">Others use the skills they learn about artistic expression to take center stage in courtrooms or classrooms or in boardrooms or aboard Navy submarines.<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"e52724e3-e7db-48f5-83dd-8a0104261fe5\">But in recent years, much of the local spotlight on the school has been focused on reports of teacher misconduct.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"9e6cd6c1-ba9e-4eef-a9f9-a18519fcf049\">As students shared allegations online, in court and in news reports, the Douglas Anderson community found itself asking, <em>Was Douglas Anderson <\/em>really <em>worse than the average school<\/em>?\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"2b42d09d-3566-4832-9e9b-1b490142ad1a\"><em>Did something about the school lead teachers to misbehave<\/em>? <\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"72758d46-025a-4a9c-b2c6-8f5908159047\">And, <em>did being an arts school play a part<\/em>?<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"8a9e2eb0-9031-4396-b078-efdae9f19e94\">Answers to these questions are hinted at in district records and in interviews with former students. At the same time, documented issues with Duval Schools\u2019 incident reporting practices raise the question of whether accurate comparison is possible.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3 data-beyondwords-marker=\"a3b8629e-9f6b-4a53-82ed-68af40051fa6\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Was it just Douglas Anderson? \u00a0<\/h3>\n<figure data-beyondwords-marker=\"ca891815-9496-4787-933f-d6768b293eaf\" class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" color=\"6e6b66\" transparency=\"false\" style=\"--dominant-color: #6e6b66;\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1440\" src=\"https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_6785-edited-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"not-transparent wp-image-98732\" srcset=\"https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_6785-edited-scaled.jpeg 2560w, https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_6785-edited-300x169.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_6785-edited-1024x576.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_6785-edited-768x432.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_6785-edited-1536x864.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_6785-edited-2048x1152.jpeg 2048w, https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_6785-edited-800x450.jpeg 800w, https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_6785-edited-1200x675.jpeg 1200w, https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_6785-edited-427x240.jpeg 427w, https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_6785-edited-100x56.jpeg 100w, https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_6785-edited-1650x928.jpeg 1650w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Douglas Anderson School of the Arts students work on choreography for a musical theater number on March 14, 2025. | Megan Mallicoat, <em>Jacksonville Today<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"a43c5168-685f-4e0e-ab5f-54657a279785\"><em>Jacksonville Today<\/em> requested the state records of employee misconduct reports from 15 public arts schools in Florida over the last decade. That request has gone unfulfilled six months after <em>Jacksonville Today<\/em> paid for the records.<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"56b3452b-2d64-4a31-bbc2-1a1258c65793\">Employee misconduct reports from every Duval County public school, as tracked by the district, show Douglas Anderson historically has not stood out from the local pack when it comes to recorded complaints of all kinds. <\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"4aabbd8e-56d4-42d3-9628-08ec19c7f643\">Every investigation of misconduct was until very recently meant to be entered into a central digital spreadsheet in the district\u2019s Office of Professional Standards, according to a 2023 state <a href=\"https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/2023-0003-FINAL-ROI-003.pdf\">inspector general\u2019s report<\/a> that lambasted Duval\u2019s reporting. <em>Jacksonville Today<\/em> combined several iterations of the master spreadsheet, received through public records requests, and totaled up 4,026 incidents of alleged employee misconduct of all types that were reported to Duval Schools between 1980 and 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure data-beyondwords-marker=\"40974ff5-1605-415d-abde-60c500894555\" class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" color=\"e6e6e7\" transparency=\"false\" style=\"--dominant-color: #e6e6e7;\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"398\" src=\"https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/3-spreadsheet.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"not-transparent wp-image-98728\" srcset=\"https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/3-spreadsheet.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/3-spreadsheet-300x119.jpg 300w, https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/3-spreadsheet-768x306.jpg 768w, https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/3-spreadsheet-603x240.jpg 603w, https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/3-spreadsheet-100x40.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">One of Jeffrey Clayton\u2019s two investigations listed in the spreadsheet was in 2021 for \u201cInappropriate Physical Contact with a Student (of a sexual nature).\u201d | Record provided by Duval Schools <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"6fe133dc-1dd9-4575-aca5-dbe280f89fb7\">Of those allegations, Douglas Anderson reported a total of 32 over the roughly four decades, placing it in the middle of the pack among Duval\u2019s high schools. First Coast, Ed White, Englewood, Sandalwood and Terry Parker each reported more than 50 incident investigations.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"f512fd66-ef1f-48bd-97c3-b8551443e6ca\"><em>Search any school\u2019s name to see its total reported incidents: <\/em><\/p>\n<div data-beyondwords-marker=\"facbc07a-e6cb-4487-a297-62a940d9806d\" class=\"flourish-embed flourish-table\" data-src=\"https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/2025\/07\/29\/investigation-was-douglas-anderson-worse-than-other-schools-district-data-issues-make-it-hard-to-compare\/visualisation\/23548625\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/public.flourish.studio\/visualisation\/23548625\/thumbnail\" width=\"100%\" alt=\"table visualization\"\/><\/div>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"b153eeb5-1866-4e44-b04e-8155b80288b0\">Among all misconduct reports, about half came from elementary schools. The school with the most investigated incidents was Arlington Middle with 80. Lake Shore Middle was second with 70.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"668d1f70-ddc7-40aa-9b11-1810b3c4db15\">When it comes to sexual misconduct allegations specifically: Just 4% of Duval\u2019s high school investigations over the roughly 40-year period were classified as sexual misconduct (with labels like \u201csex\u201d and \u201csexual\u201d in the spreadsheet). Douglas Anderson was tied with Andrew Jackson and Fletcher high schools for the most reports \u2014 with three incidents apiece.<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"3562b272-0622-47c8-8ec2-55d8c57dd183\"><em>Tap on the chart to explore the outcomes of all misconduct investigations: <\/em><\/p>\n<div data-beyondwords-marker=\"3af08664-6c30-452d-a107-9f232da6f28b\" class=\"flourish-embed flourish-hierarchy\" data-src=\"https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/2025\/07\/29\/investigation-was-douglas-anderson-worse-than-other-schools-district-data-issues-make-it-hard-to-compare\/visualisation\/23495501\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/public.flourish.studio\/visualisation\/23495501\/thumbnail\" width=\"100%\" alt=\"hierarchy visualization\"\/><\/div>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"415b8d71-e19c-41f6-90db-be78b1c42e52\">The employee misconduct report data are not complete, however.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"880b6df6-8b95-4881-8395-df8ef8092a2b\">Duval Schools\u2019 Office of Professional Standards processes more than 400 investigations annually, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/2023-0003-FINAL-ROI-003.pdf\">testimony to the inspector general\u2019s office<\/a> \u2014 but nowhere near that many appear in the compiled data. And a former district professional standards office employee who reviewed the data notes several memorable cases are missing. For one thing: Jeffrey Clayton is listed just twice, though he was investigated eight times during the timeframe, based on his personnel file.<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"dc325d56-5369-4067-97b5-422c14d6daa1\">Also missing from the spreadsheet is Douglas Anderson English teacher Kat Jackson, a non-arts faculty member who, in 2009, was prosecuted for a sexual relationship with a student. According to state Education Department documents, after finding an email from Jackson to her son, the boy\u2019s mother reported her to then-Principal Jackie Cornelius. Jackson was arrested within days, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 18 months in prison. She remains a registered sex offender, and her teaching license was permanently revoked.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"f6d6d18c-0b66-44dd-b6f6-6e5dd9063557\">When <em>Jacksonville Today<\/em> asked the district about the missing incidents, a records custodian said only that there are 5,291 entries in \u201cthe spreadsheet.\u201d (They have not clarified whether that is the total through the current day.) A spokesperson did say a new electronic management system, which cost about $50,000, went live on June 16 \u2014 replacing the former system for tracking misconduct reports that was based on paper records and manual entry into the digital spreadsheet.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"e9d7e187-9878-4645-b95e-1faa844cacbc\">Of the more than 4,000 records available, nonetheless, there were 1,089 substantiated cases of \u201cinappropriate communications,\u201d \u201cinappropriate physical contact\u201d (which could include nonsexual physical abuse) and sexual misconduct districtwide. <\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"7e3d2f15-e9ca-490e-835b-0be82f898f20\">D.A.\u2019s three listed sexual misconduct investigations were <a href=\"https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/2024\/12\/05\/removed-douglas-anderson-teacher-was-accused-of-sex-with-14-year-old\/\">Corey Thayer<\/a> in 2015, <a href=\"https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/2025\/07\/28\/investigation-douglas-anderson-student-accusers-lacked-faith-in-schools-response\/\">Michael Higgins<\/a> during the 2019-20 school year and <a href=\"https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/2025\/07\/27\/investigation-douglas-anderson-teacher-received-mostly-unofficial-discipline-before-arrest\/\">Jeffrey Clayton<\/a> in 2021. (Clayton\u2019s investigation was the only one of the three that was substantiated.)<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"c4fe4693-ee1c-4a22-98b2-b0c883a9d6a8\">Labels aren\u2019t necessarily consistently used across the spreadsheet either. A Clayton investigation in 2016, about his rubbing a girl\u2019s shoulders and commenting on her appearance, was classified as \u201cpoor judgement.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"830f33c3-e598-467c-bbd5-79f1be37c2fc\">Categorized as \u201cinappropriate communication\u201d in the data was the case of D.A. social studies teacher John Vetsch. In September 2015, a student confided in another teacher that an \u201cinappropriate relationship was developing between Mr. Vetsch\u201d and a friend, according to Vetsch\u2019s personnel file. The student shared screenshots of texts between Vetsch and her friend, which included this exchange:<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"934f98b4-add2-442d-b2f6-71ae44fe2239\"><em>\u201cYou sure looked nice in your black dress the other day, and I liked my hug. Hope I didn\u2019t squeeze you too hard.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"b7214d20-6d4b-42cb-9306-24bdd7d83633\"><em>\u201cThanks, I love dressing up and nah\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"0eb45fc6-4dc9-4fe4-bab2-10fb85262a44\"><em>\u201cI felt like my hand was on your butt and my face was in your chest!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"231a2b34-68e8-4843-9ab9-ff6b5f547911\"><em>\u201cBut that\u2019s because I was sitting down!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"bcec5aa9-c28a-4ac3-8435-d4aa0d4a8afa\"><em>\u201cBut I kind of liked it\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"67a7f826-ea77-45d3-b3b4-69b8a7ee444a\">The teacher immediately \u2014 within minutes \u2014 contacted the student\u2019s mother and reported the situation to then-Assistant Principal Melanie Hammer. Then-Principal Cornelius filed a report with the district the next day. Vetsch was fired within weeks, and the state permanently revoked his teaching license.<\/p>\n<h3 data-beyondwords-marker=\"dcbdebe4-8d54-41b1-bc17-8fd5bc58ace1\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Duval\u2019s reporting issues<\/h3>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"48acd8e6-1023-4a7f-9299-f5c8f36498d5\">Keeping misconduct reports organized at the district level hasn\u2019t been Duval Schools\u2019 only challenge. Data issues also extended to the district\u2019s mandatory reporting of incidents to the state of Florida. Duval Schools\u2019 reporting practices were under scrutiny in Tallahassee before Clayton was arrested. <\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"815a226e-41e1-4bac-b239-f8caa7297c36\">Following the 2018 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High, the state had empaneled a <a href=\"https:\/\/acis-api.flcourts.gov\/courts\/68f021c4-6a44-4735-9a76-5360b2e8af13\/cms\/case\/01b0b79a-2ace-4305-bd83-08fd826118d0\/docketentrydocuments\/7eb446d4-57dd-460f-b4ce-bda326789077\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">grand jury<\/a> to review school safety, including what are commonly called <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fldoe.org\/safe-schools\/sesir-discipline-data\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">SESIR reports<\/a> that serve to \u201ctrack incidents and analyze patterns of violent, criminal or disruptive activity\u201d at schools.<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"90241c1a-1db2-4693-9901-97c3aa0031b2\">In an interim report publicly released six months before Clayton\u2019s arrest, the grand jury held up Duval as an example \u2014 under the heading \u201cOne Unfortunate Case In Point.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"f2aedf01-4703-44ee-9b26-c432417a1950\">Their conclusion: Duval had been intentionally misreporting incidents through a system of assigning Duval County School Police case numbers to complaints without any real investigation to follow up. (Records show that in July 2019, Duval had confessed to the state its own failure to correctly report more than 2,000 SESIR cases \u2014 something the district blamed on a \u201ctechnical glitch.\u201d)<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"446e5b12-14b2-42eb-bdca-ceba6f85c602\">The grand jury also found district administrators had directed Duval County School Police Chief Micheal Edwards \u2014 who had been appointed to lead the relatively new police force in 2015 \u2014 to train officers not to report \u201cpetty acts of misconduct\u201d or misdemeanor crimes to other law enforcement agencies. And, the grand jury heard district police officers\u2019 testimony that Edwards told them to discourage victims from putting suspects into the judicial system.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"8e418640-3db2-40d4-a697-20e8e6bb5338\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.news4jax.com\/news\/local\/2021\/01\/25\/head-of-dcps-police-department-resigns-in-wake-of-scathing-report\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Edwards resigned<\/a> in January 2021, following the release of an earlier interim grand jury report that detailed some of Duval\u2019s SESIR issues.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"e560e918-a8b5-4184-bfd1-2f2b955b4e10\">The initial allegation that former Film Department Chair Corey Thayer inappropriately touched a student \u2014 which the victim later testified was <a href=\"https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/2024\/12\/05\/removed-douglas-anderson-teacher-was-accused-of-sex-with-14-year-old\/\">sexual battery<\/a> \u2014 was reported to police in 2015.<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"4ebf357d-f990-4c82-951d-5f95beb3fca4\">Documents show Duval County School Police soon closed its investigation, citing a request from the student\u2019s father. Since 2015, the accuser\u2019s family has maintained the father actually asked investigators to wait to interview his daughter until after she completed a course of psychological treatment.<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"0cb2e40b-6218-47cc-80cc-b0dddbd8275d\">The student\u2019s mother remembers a telephone conversation between a school police detective and her husband.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"0ff398ed-7c5e-49ba-8686-891c4f5f3252\">\u201cOn that particular call\u2026the officer was very obtuse \u2014 he was on speaker \u2014 and acted like he couldn\u2019t care less,\u201d she says. \u201cOver the course of this entire saga, I have been spoken to many times in a manner that was discouraging us.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"172dfe18-937e-4055-9836-cd9ef94a569d\">A former district-level professional standards investigator, who spoke with <em>Jacksonville Today <\/em>on the condition of anonymity, remembers school police as hesitant to open sexual misconduct investigations.<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"2bdeb9dc-43b1-4a3b-9f57-8b28bae879dc\">\u201c[DCSP] wouldn\u2019t take anything,\u201d the investigator says. \u201cThey wouldn\u2019t take anything. They only wanted guns and drugs, and that was it.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure data-beyondwords-marker=\"61d46c73-dd14-4287-996b-a75b4a5070fb\" class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" color=\"8b897e\" transparency=\"false\" style=\"--dominant-color: #8b897e;\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/July-22-Douglas-Anderson-School-of-the-Arts-6-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"not-transparent wp-image-98459\" srcset=\"https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/July-22-Douglas-Anderson-School-of-the-Arts-6-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/July-22-Douglas-Anderson-School-of-the-Arts-6-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/July-22-Douglas-Anderson-School-of-the-Arts-6-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/July-22-Douglas-Anderson-School-of-the-Arts-6-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/July-22-Douglas-Anderson-School-of-the-Arts-6-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/July-22-Douglas-Anderson-School-of-the-Arts-6-800x450.jpg 800w, https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/July-22-Douglas-Anderson-School-of-the-Arts-6-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/July-22-Douglas-Anderson-School-of-the-Arts-6-427x240.jpg 427w, https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/July-22-Douglas-Anderson-School-of-the-Arts-6-100x56.jpg 100w, https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/July-22-Douglas-Anderson-School-of-the-Arts-6-1650x928.jpg 1650w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Douglas Anderson School of the Arts in the summer of 2025 | Will Brown, <em>Jacksonville Today<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"fe115c7f-8899-4938-b07e-a558b9ec48d3\">In August 2022 \u2014\u00a0following the release of the \u201cunfortunate case in point\u201d report that shined a public spotlight on Duval \u2014 state Office of Safe Schools Director Tim Hay wrote to then-Superintendent Diana Greene, telling her the SESIR reporting issues required \u201cimmediate action\u201d and that his office expected her \u201cfull cooperation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"43a116a2-946a-42be-8b50-f451a5f4fd6b\">Documents show Duval Schools officials had already met with Hay\u2019s office, though \u2014 at the district\u2019s request \u2014 to conduct a \u201cjoint review of processes\u201d and had been working to correct issues since at least May of 2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"2c182394-a93a-46c5-943c-73ca101a2463\">A district <a href=\"https:\/\/www.news4jax.com\/news\/local\/2022\/08\/25\/dcps-board-to-discuss-scathing-report-accusing-district-of-underreporting-crimes\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">spokesperson said<\/a> in August of 2022, \u201cBecause of this collaboration with the state, we are confident that our current procedures are legally sound.\u201d That October, the school board also authorized $50,000 to retain an outside law firm to review its reporting practices.<\/p>\n<h3 data-beyondwords-marker=\"e1f1b9d4-bba4-4553-b25c-568eab769ee9\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Questions mount<\/h3>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"e517554f-fde1-489d-ba3a-c9f963f173a4\">The SESIR reporting issues reared their head again after Clayton\u2019s 2023 arrest, when state officials said they could not locate the SESIR report of the district\u2019s 2021 investigation of his rubbing a student\u2019s back during rehearsal.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"6499699d-ad1d-4a40-9784-31bd39e4efa4\">And the incident reporting scandals didn\u2019t end there. Less than a month after Clayton was put in handcuffs in front of Douglas Anderson, then-Duval Schools Office of Professional Standards Supervisor Reggie Johnson sent the state a cache of previously unreported teacher misconduct cases that should already have been forwarded to the Education Department\u2019s Office of Professional Practices, going back several years.<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"637323b4-a4e5-4502-a83c-e4802dfdb6ed\">Greene would deal with the fallout of that mailing and the lingering SESIR reporting controversy at the same time she was also fielding concerns from School Board members.<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"6e3b2da2-b42c-4dec-b2ff-4adc1c1a895f\">Here\u2019s a timeline:\u00a0<\/p>\n<ul data-beyondwords-marker=\"8d817ee8-55f1-4952-802d-c07fd935b7e9\" class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li data-beyondwords-marker=\"bfd1e964-a936-4edf-baf9-b1a55eb89c20\"><strong>Week of April 10, 2023:<\/strong> Several School Board members asked Greene to provide documentation that showed the district correctly reported Clayton\u2019s 2021 incident to the state, as well as information about the \u201cnumber of complaints against teachers who reportedly had inappropriate contact or communication with students.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul data-beyondwords-marker=\"6b80cb3a-c35a-4050-a1f5-7bf77c9dd8f4\" class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li data-beyondwords-marker=\"0e071f34-b262-4a07-a1b5-a6cbb06a8cb0\"><strong>Week of April 17, 2023:<\/strong> Every day this week, district records show, Johnson, the Office of Professional Standards supervisor, swiped his badge to enter district offices around 4 a.m. \u2014 much earlier than usual. According to a resulting state <a href=\"https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/2023-0003-FINAL-ROI-003.pdf\">Office of Inspector General report<\/a>, during this week, Johnson deleted about 200 files from his computer. At the end of the week, the state received the 50 \u201cdelinquent cases\u201d he\u2019d mailed to Tallahassee.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul data-beyondwords-marker=\"40104f2a-e581-4ff6-aee8-2b0612834ac5\" class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li data-beyondwords-marker=\"465843ba-5ff9-4d6b-ab39-8d0b339b33eb\"><strong>April 19, 2023: <\/strong>Greene received a digital letter from Scott Strauss, an administrator in the state Education Department\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fldoe.org\/safe-schools\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Office of Safe Schools<\/a>, asking her if the district reported Clayton\u2019s 2021 investigation as a sexual harassment SESIR incident. In her response sent April 21, Greene told Strauss that the district\u2019s findings did not warrant that kind of report, but provided documentation to show the district had reported the incident in two other ways: to Professional Practice Services and to the Department of Children and Families.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul data-beyondwords-marker=\"f3bffb78-18c1-4d30-bb42-69a15805b965\" class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li data-beyondwords-marker=\"6bb49a5c-4335-4df7-9b2e-a462048736be\"><strong>Tuesday, April 25, 2023:<\/strong> Greene received a <a href=\"https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/2023\/04\/25\/state-threatens-to-slash-duval-superintendents-salary\/\">letter from then-Education Commissioner Manny Diaz<\/a> threatening to slash her salary\u00a0\u2014 a response to receiving the delinquent cases. She also responded to School Board member Charlotte Joyce (the current chair of the seven-member board) and provided several documents of teacher misconduct data created from the investigation spreadsheet, similar to what she\u2019d sent Strauss the previous day. Some of these records were what <em>Jacksonville Today<\/em> used to analyze the districtwide data.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul data-beyondwords-marker=\"502f28aa-0dde-48f4-9016-9f920010aa96\" class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li data-beyondwords-marker=\"bc093867-6f50-4d1a-b6d8-bccdaa95bbbc\">Greene responded to Diaz on <strong>April 28<\/strong>: \u201cI can assure you that I did not intentionally fail to report any required information,\u201d she wrote.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure data-beyondwords-marker=\"3b076e39-f061-4e71-99de-0c3ad4519790\" class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" color=\"f3f4f4\" transparency=\"false\" style=\"--dominant-color: #f3f4f4;\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"898\" src=\"https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/3-diazresponse.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"not-transparent wp-image-98727\" srcset=\"https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/3-diazresponse.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/3-diazresponse-300x269.jpg 300w, https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/3-diazresponse-768x690.jpg 768w, https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/3-diazresponse-267x240.jpg 267w, https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/3-diazresponse-100x90.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\"\/><\/figure>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"94cac6c3-eab7-4ba8-a8f8-6ad60da4a42c\">In an email response to <em>Jacksonville Today<\/em> for this story, Greene said Johnson alone compiled the spreadsheet she distributed post-Clayton, and only later did she learn the state did not receive certain files.<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"188f339c-68bd-45e5-a4b5-bdc96ad16229\">\u201cThe internal processes in place at the time were built on the assumption of accurate reporting by the Office of Professional Standards. Once it became clear that this trust had been violated, corrective action was taken immediately,\u201d she wrote. <\/p>\n<ul data-beyondwords-marker=\"501e9224-2796-44bd-ac62-3b427f4ba41b\" class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li data-beyondwords-marker=\"11fff531-7ac8-46f3-a2b6-34c8cda05d88\"><strong>Wednesday, April 26, 2023:<\/strong> Johnson was reassigned to temporary duty and then resigned. He did not respond to requests for an interview for this story.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"a4450d69-787a-4844-9082-e07a642de44b\">Since the Douglas Anderson scandal, the Duval School Board has approved policy changes to address incident reporting \u201cweaknesses\u201d and prevent future sexual misconduct. A district spokesperson says Superintendent Christopher Bernier \u2014 who came to Jacksonville about a year ago \u2014 has implemented \u201csignificant changes,\u201d many of them first shared in a <a href=\"https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/2024\/06\/27\/duval-schools-releases-new-student-safety-plan\/\">20-point plan crafted by interim Superintendent Dana Kriznar<\/a>.\u00a0Duval Schools employees are now required to contact students only through the district\u2019s official tools, and they must limit physical contact to high-fives, fist bumps and handshakes, for example. <\/p>\n<h3 data-beyondwords-marker=\"8e00f346-e26d-4baf-a84d-273e9b9ace41\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">What causes teachers to misbehave? <\/h3>\n<figure data-beyondwords-marker=\"50e72ccd-040a-4038-b6d6-7de459717109\" class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" color=\"6d7072\" transparency=\"false\" style=\"--dominant-color: #6d7072;\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1440\" src=\"https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_6799-edited-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"not-transparent wp-image-98734\" srcset=\"https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_6799-edited-scaled.jpeg 2560w, https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_6799-edited-300x169.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_6799-edited-1024x576.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_6799-edited-768x432.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_6799-edited-1536x864.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_6799-edited-2048x1152.jpeg 2048w, https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_6799-edited-800x450.jpeg 800w, https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_6799-edited-1200x675.jpeg 1200w, https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_6799-edited-427x240.jpeg 427w, https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_6799-edited-100x56.jpeg 100w, https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IMG_6799-edited-1650x928.jpeg 1650w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A student poses for a photograph in Douglas Anderson\u2019s Augusta Savage Sculpture Garden on March 14, 2025. | Megan Mallicoat, <em>Jacksonville Today<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"ce4f2f02-2a31-468b-a211-5a9c90644b3d\">\u201cI love Douglas Anderson, and it broke me,\u201d says a theater grad who\u2019s in the process of filing a lawsuit accusing former Douglas Anderson teacher Michael Higgins of \u201cemotional, sexual and physical abuse.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"33edd5dd-087f-4062-abb6-c4b4d20f6f29\">\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of apologetics that goes on with the survivors and the victims,\u201d he says, \u201cbut again, it\u2019s very complex because we love these abusers.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"50bc2bf1-eed9-4bf5-b7e5-b13705be63e0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/soe.vcu.edu\/about-us\/directory\/full-directory\/charol-shakeshaft-phd.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Charol Shakeshaft<\/a>, a Virginia Commonwealth University professor who researches sexual misconduct by educators, says abuse in schools often happens not because an educator sets out to abuse but because small boundaries get crossed \u2014 sometimes unintentionally \u2014 and no one says anything.<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"fb6abac9-4486-4359-91df-3ec567f57133\">\u201cAnd then they cross another boundary, and then they cross another boundary, and pretty soon they are attracted to this student and they thought, \u2018Well, nobody said anything \u2014 I guess I\u2019ll just go ahead,\u2019\u201d Shakeshaft says.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"5b4b157e-bbff-4cd9-a447-165adec30205\">She says one of the strongest predictors of misconduct is organizational culture.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"80cbee07-89ee-4054-afd8-b83f9be38c34\">\u201cIt\u2019s a culture of not voicing concerns, a culture of not bringing up uncomfortable questions, a culture of not educating and preparing and training your faculty \u2014 not just about what is appropriate and not appropriate, but about what kind of things, if you see them happen, you need to report them,\u201d Shakeshaft says.<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"f95caf4f-dcd5-4444-8c1d-29ded5f300d3\">She says she\u2019s studied non-traditional schools, including arts programs, and \u201cbeing an arts school\u201d isn\u2019t in itself a predictor of employee sexual misconduct. But schools with a creative culture can sometimes foster greater \u201cfaculty autonomy\u201d \u2014 when teachers have \u201cloose boundaries and a lot of freedom and not a lot of oversight\u201d \u2014 and that can lead to issues.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"fc2f585a-54d2-4c47-a9a4-88676041e65d\">And at schools like Douglas Anderson, where students perceive their future success in cutthroat industries depends on teachers\u2019 support, students may have an incentive to keep quiet when boundaries are crossed.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"533020f1-e380-4cf2-8932-e404361b56f0\">Another theater department grad, who asked to remain anonymous because of his current employment, recalls students viewing Higgins as \u201ca godlike figure.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"472fe4a9-681e-4e82-88ee-013633bacc4e\">\u201cWe all wanted to be in his shows. So whatever he did, we didn\u2019t question that because we wanted to be in his good graces,\u201d he says.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"9d2f8bd2-87b3-4ba4-a51b-eeec3ab263fa\">Douglas Anderson alum Katie Sacks says friends she met after high school had similar experiences at other arts schools.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"d328bffa-a7cf-4f42-9b9a-07a63f6c71db\">\u201cThere\u2019s not a single person I know who went to a performing arts high school that didn\u2019t have at least one problem teacher, or problems within the administration at the school,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"ca5efedc-bf87-4e83-aaa8-9dc6e632d1b6\"><em>Jacksonville Today<\/em> sent requests for records about employee misconduct to six major arts high schools around the country \u2014 in cities like New York, Chicago and Los Angeles\u00a0\u2014 many of which are members of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.artsschoolsnetwork.org\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Arts Schools Network<\/a> like Douglas Anderson.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"b230a96b-6172-4017-8837-1d232b1f0c95\">All but one school did not respond. The Baltimore School for the Arts, which served as the model Duval Schools officials studied as they were creating Douglas Anderson back in the mid-80s, shared <a href=\"https:\/\/go.boarddocs.com\/mabe\/bcpss\/Board.nsf\/files\/CBGQGU638E4F\/$file\/JBA%20JBB%20and%20JICK%20Compliance%20Report%20FY%202021%20021522.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">a district investigation report<\/a> from when it went through its own reckoning over alleged teacher sexual misconduct and bullying during the 2020-21 school year. Baltimore, like Duval, has implemented policy changes as a result. <\/p>\n<h3 data-beyondwords-marker=\"f46723a6-8386-42c0-bffb-6ad8a6be9aa8\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u2018Why I fight so hard\u2019\u00a0<\/h3>\n<figure data-beyondwords-marker=\"985d68eb-fba9-491a-8f26-d2ad11698937\" class=\"wp-block-image alignwide size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" color=\"9e9b9f\" transparency=\"false\" style=\"--dominant-color: #9e9b9f;\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/July-26-Shyla-Jenkings-portrait-2-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"not-transparent wp-image-98466\" srcset=\"https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/July-26-Shyla-Jenkings-portrait-2-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/July-26-Shyla-Jenkings-portrait-2-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/July-26-Shyla-Jenkings-portrait-2-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/July-26-Shyla-Jenkings-portrait-2-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/July-26-Shyla-Jenkings-portrait-2-2048x1152.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/July-26-Shyla-Jenkings-portrait-2-800x450.jpg 800w, https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/July-26-Shyla-Jenkings-portrait-2-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/July-26-Shyla-Jenkings-portrait-2-427x240.jpg 427w, https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/July-26-Shyla-Jenkings-portrait-2-100x56.jpg 100w, https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/July-26-Shyla-Jenkings-portrait-2-1650x928.jpg 1650w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Shyla Jenkins says Boneyard Beach at Big Talbot Island State Park is one of the places she visits to escape the emotions of her Douglas Anderson experience. | Will Brown,<em> Jacksonville Today<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"db794271-798a-4f0f-9494-8daa74ed8a95\">Early Douglas Anderson Principal Jane Condon wrote in her memoir that she purposefully hired artists at the top of their fields instead of certified teachers to teach many arts classes \u2014\u00a0something that required getting the district\u2019s HR policy changed.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"48d09077-eea7-4649-989f-516ad7b0a8fe\">Dozens of former students and teachers tell <em>Jacksonville Today<\/em> that D.A.\u2019s arts teachers were seen as connections who opened doors in ruthlessly competitive creative industries.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"53210e82-9d99-494a-a89c-dfc217056082\">\u201cYou got to think these arts directors had contacts at Julliard, had contacts on Broadway, in Nashville, in Hollywood \u2014 these names carried weight at some point,\u201d says Shyla Jenkins, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jacksonville.gov\/city-council\/former-council-members\/d04suzannejenkins.aspx\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">whose mother\u2019s tenure on the Jacksonville City Council<\/a> began right after her freshman year at D.A., and who has recently become one of the community\u2019s most vocal advocates for students.<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"b8871b55-282a-478e-a127-9b35e9062b80\">\u201cAnd that\u2019s really, at the heart of that school, is what it is \u2014 that opportunity for geeky, nerdy arts kids like myself, to meet grown geeky, nerdy arts kids, and really have that camaraderie,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"506ff9c4-07f1-46cf-9572-52ef4dd3ffa9\">Jenkins, a gifted vocalist who has built a career in the financial services industry, remembers being mesmerized as a 5-year-old by Judy Garland\u2019s singing in <em>The Wizard of Oz<\/em>. She also remembers feeling \u201cexpendable\u201d as an arts student, knowing there was a long line of kids behind her who would be glad to take her spot if she struggled \u2014 or questioned the status quo.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"4c16a9ca-9c62-41a2-9b23-3c633cd40567\">\u201cNo, it\u2019s not just because it\u2019s an art school, but it\u2019s the fact that the arts community is so small in Jacksonville and across the nation\u2026coming forward ostracizes you not just at D.A., but also throughout. And that\u2019s where it\u2019s so different than any other high school,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"46885518-6763-46c6-aa5d-8dc605b674dc\">Still, she hopes the tremendous opportunities D.A. offers are not eclipsed by the recent scandal. \u201cIt\u2019s what I think got stolen from a lot of us,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"960239aa-199d-4044-ad24-58267c854192\">So while she\u2019s become a familiar voice calling for change at Douglas Anderson, she hopes the essence of the school will <em>not<\/em> change.<\/p>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"7b4458bb-f8de-4ad4-a63c-cff747774995\">\u201cIn the advocacy I\u2019ve done, what I\u2019ve tried to reinstate at the school in building that culture back is like, <em>\u2018This<\/em> is what the school is. <em>This<\/em> is what the school could be,\u2019\u201d Jenkins says. \u201cAnd that\u2019s why I fight so hard for it.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr data-beyondwords-marker=\"eef2d467-fa19-4d29-9e31-8a63558804cc\" class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n<p data-beyondwords-marker=\"e5baf2bd-9a5a-4adf-a05f-3e6401aaca44\"><em>This story is the third in a series, <a href=\"https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/category\/the-show-must-go-on\/\">The Show Must Go On<\/a>, examining the handling of reports of teacher misconduct at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts \u2014 and what\u2019s changed in the more than two years since Jeffrey Clayton\u2019s arrest. The final story is about the changes the district and school have made to make sure it won\u2019t happen again.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/jaxtoday.org\/2025\/07\/29\/investigation-was-douglas-anderson-worse-than-other-schools-district-data-issues-make-it-hard-to-compare\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This story is the third in a series, The Show Must Go On, based on tens of thousands of pages of public records and historical documents, as well as dozens&hellip;<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":122844,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-122843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvbrazilusa.com\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvbrazilusa.com\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvbrazilusa.com\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvbrazilusa.com\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvbrazilusa.com\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122843"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tvbrazilusa.com\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122843\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":122845,"href":"https:\/\/tvbrazilusa.com\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122843\/revisions\/122845"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvbrazilusa.com\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tvbrazilusa.com\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvbrazilusa.com\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tvbrazilusa.com\/pt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}