As the Duval school district continues investigating the latest teacher removed from the classroom at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts, state records show that at the time the arts school hired him a decade ago, he was facing state discipline for having been under the influence of drugs or alcohol at his previous Duval County school.

Craig Leavitt, a varying exceptionalities teacher, was removed from student contact two weeks ago because the district is investigating an allegation that he engaged in “inappropriate communication” with a student during the 2022-23 school year. 

“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,” Douglas Anderson Principal Tim Feagins wrote to parents on Aug. 28, weeks into his first school year as principal at the nationally recognized arts magnet school.

The district declined to provide details of the alleged communication, citing its confidential investigation, and Leavitt has not been charged with any crime. Jacksonville Today has requested Leavitt’s personnel file and has reached out to him via email and phone. He has not responded. 

Local attorney Chris Moser, who has represented students in past litigation tied to teacher behavior at Douglas Anderson and other schools, says she has seen the communication in question and plans to file another suit on behalf of the student who received it. She described the communication as “wildly inappropriate” and “unwelcome” in an interview with Jacksonville Today news partner News4Jax but declined to give specifics. 

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Moser tells Jacksonville Today the student reached out to her directly, rather than approach anyone at Douglas Anderson, because he’d watched others report former Vocal Department Chair Jeffrey Clayton over and over, “to no avail and due to the toxic culture at the school.” Clayton was sentenced in June to 10 years in prison for sexual activity with a minor, a student. The school district in August settled lawsuits with three students over its inaction during years of reports about Clayton’s behavior.

Moser says she shared the alleged “inappropriate communication” with a Duval Schools’ attorney on Aug. 27. Leavitt was removed from classroom duties within 24 hours. Requests for the district to confirm that Moser was the reporting party went unreturned.

Previous discipline against Leavitt 

According to Leavitt’s LinkedIn profile, he started working for the school district in 2002. 

State Department of Education records show that at the time Leavitt transferred to Douglas Anderson in 2013, he was facing state disciplinary action for having been under the influence of alcohol or drugs in his classroom in the presence of his Ed White High School students on April 25, 2012, as well as for two DUI arrests — one in 2009 and another in 2011. (He was not convicted in either of those cases, court records show.) 

The state education commissioner requested a sanction against Leavitt’s teaching certificate on July 8, 2013 — a month before he started teaching at Douglas Anderson, with then-Principal Jackie Cornelius at the helm of the school.

In April of 2014, the teacher and the state education department agreed to a settlement that included two years of teaching probation and a $500 fine. The probation meant he couldn’t drive students anywhere in his car and his evaluations were more closely monitored by the state. His attorney at the time, Tad Delegal, declined to comment for this story. 

Including Clayton, Leavitt is the sixth teacher to be removed from student contact at Douglas Anderson in the last 18 months. Five were removed for alleged inappropriate behavior with students, and one was removed over an arrest for alleged public exposure at a Disney resort. (That teacher, Christopher Allen-Black, pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to appear in court in Orange County on Friday, Sept. 13.) 

Douglas Anderson suits so far

If Moser does file suit, it would be the fifth suit the district has faced over its handling of teacher misconduct at the arts high school since Clayton was arrested in March of 2023. 

Another Douglas Anderson student’s suit was filed in June and is working its way through the court. The lawyer in that case did not respond to email and texts asking for comment. 

And the School Board voted in August to settle suits with three other Douglas Anderson students, two of them also represented by Moser. The total settlement of $1.45 million came out of the school district’s general fund. 

Asked whether the district is setting aside more money for lawsuits, a district spokesperson told Jacksonville Today it could not offer comment on ongoing litigation, but referred DCPS families to its new Know the Line page, which includes a link to the form for reporting suspected staff misconduct.

“The district is fully focused on implementing the strategies outlined in the plan released this past summer,” the spokesperson said in an email, referring to its recently updated staff code of conduct.

In his email to parents, the principal, Feagins, said, “As your new principal, it is disappointing to have to share this information with you; however, I do want to use this moment to remind you of some expectations I have for our team at the school and resources available to you. I assure you that if a student brings a new allegation of this nature to a member of my administrative team, we will report it to legally required internal and external authorities.”