Baldwin Middle-Senior High School. | Google
Published on June 30, 2026 at 1:16 pm
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The principal of Baldwin Middle-Senior High School was arrested Monday on a charge of failing to report child abuse in connection with the arrest of a teacher last month.
Michael Aaron Townsend, 48, was released from jail Tuesday, a day after he was jailed on $10,000 bond, according to jail records.
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Townsend had recently been reassigned after the school district began an internal investigation into him earlier this month, in connection with the arrest May 22 of teacher James Mulvey.
Mulvey was charged with offenses on students by authority figures, according to jail records. Mulvey’s arrest report said “a concerned student” brought a series of emails between Mulvey and a juvenile victim to the attention of police due to what was called “an ongoing relationship.”
The report includes excerpts of emails from Mulvey that said in part,” I don’t want to forget about you.” The student responds, in part, that “I can’t stop thinking you’re going to leave me.”
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The arresting officer stated that Mulvey was arrested because it was reasonable to believe he “has been engaged in a romantic, although not physical, relationship with the juvenile victim” during the school year, the report said.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office says Townsend knew about the teacher’s issues and violated a statute that says the principal was “required to report immediately to the central abuse hotline …. if he or she knows, or has reasonable cause to suspect child abuse.”
The Sheriff’s Office was called into the case at the district’s request. The State Attorney’s Office determined there was sufficient evidence to issue an arrest warrant, the school district said.
Townsend’s arrest report, released after a request by Jacksonville Today, said Townsend spoke to multiple people in his office in early May after he was approached by someone with concerns “about Mulvey’s behavior.”
One person said she was told to speak with Townsend but “felt blown off and not taken seriously” by him, the report says.
The assistant superintendent in charge of the school sent a message Monday to Baldwin Middle-Senior parents, alerting them to Townsend’s arrest.
The message said it was “important that we remain transparent with our school communities,” but it included no other information about what led to Townsend’s incarceration.
