Published on August 29, 2024 at 9:33 am
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Another teacher is under investigation for misconduct with a student at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts in Jacksonville.
In an email to parents, new Principal Tim Feagins said Wednesday that teacher Craig Leavitt “allegedly engaged in inappropriate communication with a student during the 2022-23 school year.”
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Leavitt, who has been a teacher at Duval County’s flagship arts school for almost 20 years, was removed from the classroom while the district investigates.
The principal’s email did not explain how the allegation about Leavitt arose. It said only that the district had “received information.”
“This allegation is under investigation, and while the presumption of innocence always applies in a professional standards investigation, we have reassigned him to duties at a district site with no student interaction while the investigation is in progress,” Feagins wrote.
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Leavitt is at least the sixth Douglas Anderson teacher to face allegations of misconduct within the last couple of years, including one who is serving prison time for inappropriately touching and kissing a student.
Earlier this week, Duval Schools kicked off a new information campaign called “Know the Line.” A district spokesperson said the initiative is meant to reinforce the “healthy boundaries that should exist between students and employees.”
Know the Line emphasizes limiting contact between students and staff. It encourages teachers to use group conversations with students whenever possible, for example, and instructs them to have no physical contact with students beyond high fives, handshakes and fist bumps.
The guidelines in the new campaign come from a student safety plan outgoing Superintendent Dana Kriznar created before leaving her post in July. When the School Board reviewed corresponding suggestions for policy changes at its meeting in July, it accepted the advice of its attorneys and chose to delay voting on the changes.
Since then, the board attorney’s office has completed a more robust update to the professional ethics policies governing staff interaction with students. The board is scheduled to vote on the new policy at its regular meeting Tuesday evening.
