DUVAL COUNTY, Fla. – An investigative report from the Florida Department of Education Office of Inspector General obtained by the News4JAX I-TEAM reveals chaos in the previous process of reporting teacher misconduct in Duval County Public Schools.
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The district has been under scrutiny since the arrest of longtime Douglas Anderson music teacher Jeffrey Clayton in 2023, which resulted in a flood of additional allegations and changes to the district’s policies and procedures for investigating misconduct.
In a scathing letter last April, the Florida Education commissioner threatened to slash the Duval County superintendent’s salary for the late reporting of 50 cases of teacher misconduct. School districts are required by Florida law to report complaints to FDOE within 30 days of the district learning of a complaint so the state can investigate further and see if a teacher should face consequences like entering into additional training or even having their teaching license revoked.
Following the discovery of the 50 late-reported cases, the FDOE OIG investigated why the district failed to report them on time. The resulting report reveals that, for years, cases that should have risen to a state level of investigation, slipped through the cracks.
The late cases were sent by the district’s top investigator at the time, Reginald Johnson.
Johnson told News4JAX that the cases had slipped through the cracks because his office, the Office of Professional Standards, was overburdened. He said he uncovered the files in his own audit and felt that sending them, even though they were late, was the right thing to do.
He sent the late cases in April 2023-- some of the cases back to 2020.
Soon afterward, the OIG investigation uncovered additional delinquent cases of teacher misconduct sent that spring, bringing the total to 73.
Among them, were three allegations of teachers using a racial slur and a teacher at Douglas Anderson who was found to have shown a sexual video and made sexual comments in the presence of students, more than two years earlier. He received a verbal warning after a school-based investigation.
District investigators and administrators interviewed by the OIG said Johnson, as supervisor, was responsible for sending the complaints to the state. But Johnson said investigators were also supposed to send cases. However, he said ultimately, he takes responsibility.
The OIG report also shows that after Clayton was arrested, it was revealed that numerous investigations into him going back years at DCPS were never reported to the state.
According to the report, Johnson claimed his office had sent reports on Clayton in 2021 and 2023 and that reports on Clayton from 2006, 2008, 2016, which included reports from before Johnson worked for the district, should have been sent but weren’t. He advised he knew why these cases were not reported; however, he declined to elaborate.
When asked why those cases weren’t reported, Johnson said if he shared that with the I-TEAM, it would open a new chapter on systemic problems at the district that he’s trying to put behind him.
Johnson was reassigned and retired after he faced possible termination for sending reports late. He said the experience has been extremely painful and he doesn’t want anyone else to go through what he has.
One former investigator interviewed suggested, “The school may have lessened the severity of the discipline in order to keep Clayton employed.”
The OIG report also reads, “Johnson reiterated that the cases were never reported due to oversight and the lack of an efficient case management system within OPS. Johnson declined to answer if he received any directive to not report cases.”
When the I-TEAM asked Johnson if anyone above him ever pressured him into downplaying a teacher’s misconduct, he said he had no comment.
The report found Johnson was responsible for failing to get the cases sent on time. Other investigators interviewed said Johnson, who is 66, may have been overwhelmed by a heavy caseload and high turnover in his office.
A spokesperson with the district said they have added two additional investigators and increased pay to improve retention, and they are implementing the changes recommended by the report to make sure teacher misconduct complaints are reported to the state on time, as part of the district’s new student safety plan.