Michael Smith, left, leaves a School Board meeting Aug. 4, 2026, after Superintendent Christopher Bernier recognized his new appointment as principal of Baldwin Middle-Senior High School. | Megan Mallicoat, Jacksonville Today
Published on September 10, 2026 at 3:32 pm
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After the former principal at Baldwin Middle-Senior High School was arrested and charged with failing to report possible teacher sexual misconduct, the school in western Duval County was assigned a new principal, Michael Smith — who himself has been the subject of multiple investigations for alleged inappropriate conduct toward students, newly released personnel records show.
Jacksonville Today received the records through a public records request filed with Duval Schools. The records included copies of three professional standards investigations of Smith since 2016.
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The complaints claimed Smith had made students uncomfortable with comments, unwanted attention and inappropriate physical contact. Two of the three complaints were found to be unsubstantiated, but one of those was reported to police anyway — about 18 months before Smith’s appointment at Baldwin.
The school district did not make Superintendent Christopher Bernier available for an interview about the appointment. Jacksonville Today contacted Smith through his office and cellphones and through text message, but he did not respond before this story’s publication.
Spokesperson Tatyana Wimberly says the district “completed appropriate due diligence, including reviewing [Smith’s] background check, references, and personnel file.”
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The complaints
Duval Schools first hired Smith in July 2016 as an assistant principal at Atlantic Coast High School. Two months into his first school year, the principal received an email from a parent saying Smith had made her daughter uncomfortable by staring at her and then FaceTiming a friend of his to show him how much the student resembled the friend’s wife.
The incident was substantiated and Smith was given a verbal warning Oct. 18, 2016 — the first step in the district’s progressive discipline process. His evaluation that school year was “needs improvement,” though the principal noted: “Dr. Smith has been a pleasure to mentor and work with this year. I believe he has a future as a principal in Duval County.”
In April 2022, when Smith was an assistant principal at Atlantic Coast High School, an athletic coach reported Smith for giving what the coach considered an intense amount of attention to one female student.
“He hugs her and calls her sweetheart,” the coach’s account reads. “I’ve seen her after the tardy bell being escorted to class by him while other students were told to get tardy slips.”
The district investigated but determined the claims were “not substantiated.” The documents provided by Duval Schools do not say why.
Records show he was transferred to First Coast High School in mid-2023.
New allegations came at the new school. In December 2024, a First Coast High parent reported Smith through the FortifyFL app, a reporting tool that allows students and parents to relay information directly to police and school officials.
The parent reported that their daughter said Smith “has engaged in inappropriate behavior, including stroking her hair, standing too close to her, and covering her eyes while asking her to guess who he is, among other actions,” the report reads. The parent said the student “feels unsafe and fears that his behavior could escalate.”
An employee misconduct report says the complaint was “not substantiated,” but that Smith was disciplined with coaching (which is not part of the progressive discipline process and therefore doesn’t count toward potential suspension or termination).
At the end of the district’s investigation, in February 2025, Smith was assigned to another school, Jean Ribault High, and given higher pay. The investigation report references Smith’s reassignment.
Duval Schools reported the incident to its police department, to the state Department of Children and Families, and to the state education department. Jacksonville Today requested a copy of the police report but has not received it as of this story’s publication.
Smith received a rating of “effective” on his 2024-25 evaluation, which was completed in November 2025. “Effective” is the second-highest rating on a four-point scale.
Becoming Baldwin principal
Last month, Smith was assigned to Baldwin Middle-Senior High School as principal after former Principal Michael Townsend was arrested in late June and charged with failing to report possible teacher sexual misconduct after social studies teacher James Mulvey was charged this spring with offenses against a student by an authority figure.
Duval Schools tells Jacksonville Today the circumstances surrounding Townsend’s arrest differ from Smith’s “prior unsubstantiated allegation.”
“The aforementioned incident included a violation of Florida’s mandatory reporter law, which can never be tolerated,” spokesperson Wimberly wrote in an email. “An investigation resulting in an unsubstantiated allegation is materially different from a statutory violation related to a failure to report.”
Jacksonville Today requested clarification, because some of the allegations brought against Smith were substantiated, but did not receive it by this story’s deadline.
Wimberly also said: “Although Dr. Bernier was not Superintendent at the time of the February 2024 allegation, the hiring manager informed him of the allegation during the hiring process and that it had been determined to be unsubstantiated. Video evidence reviewed during the investigation confirmed that finding.”
The district did not provide details of the incident in February 2024, which was not included among the three provided earlier.
Smith’s new job came with a raise of more than 40%, bringing his current annual salary to about $115,000.
Michelle Petty is the chair of Baldwin’s School Advisory Committee and a Baldwin parent. She tells Jacksonville Today that while the district was interviewing candidates for the principal position this summer, parents asked them again and again to be “transparent.”
“We need to know what’s going on, why things are happening the way they’re happening,” she says.
Some of the district’s leaders involved in Smith’s investigations were also “sitting in the room … hearing from all of these parents” about what their community needs from a new principal and from the district.
“They failed to tell us this vital piece of information that, in my opinion, is a huge thing, considering what we just went through,” she says.
That undermines the trust parents need to have in the district, she says.
“I trust that the district would thoroughly review the facts and make decisions with students’ safety as their priority,” Petty says. “And if that didn’t happen here, that’s concerning.”
