Jacksonville, Florida. —The Duval County Schools superintendent’s job could be in jeopardy, according to three News4JAX I-TEAM sources familiar with the matter.
It comes amid a scandal at the Douglas Anderson School of Art, which saw longtime teacher Geoffrey Clayton arrested last month and charged with lewd behavior involving a student.
Clayton’s personal records released yesterday show that school leaders have been aware of complaints about him for years.
The DCPS chairwoman said she was appalled by what these records revealed. In response, she calls a board meeting next week, where superintendent Dr. Diana Green may face consequences.
In a letter Wednesday to DCPS, the deputy head of the Florida Department of Education’s Office of Safe Schools alleged that DCPS failed to report the cases of sexual harassment named in Clayton’s termination notice. OSS gave the district five days after receiving the letter to provide an explanation for the report it says was removed from the state’s crime reporting system.
Nearly 200 pages of Jeffrey Clayton’s staff and disciplinary records show he is accused of groping students at least three times prior to his arrest.
Now, Clayton is accused of kissing a student during a singing lesson at his school office in March. Records show Clayton was previously reprimanded for using his office for private lessons in 2006 and for locking the door during student/teacher meetings in 2008.
The lawyer representing student Clayton accused of groping provided a text exchange to I-TEAM – he says it was between Clayton and the student a few hours after the March 17 class where police say Clayton kissed her.
Clayton apparently wrote to the girl about aphrodisiac foods.
The scripts also say, “I keep thinking of you” and “I’m dying to hear what you really think about what happened this afternoon.”
2002 Sheila Jenkins Douglas Anderson grad was disgusted when we showed her the scripts. She said, “I’m blown away.”
Jenkins also said that Clayton had treated students badly for years. “There was no accountability for this man’s actions,” she said.
Clayton’s personnel records show he was berated in 2016 after a student reported that he “made her feel uncomfortable when he patted her back, rubbed her shoulder and said, ‘Wow, you look so pretty today’.”
School district investigators found that Clayton did the same thing in 2024 — “put his arm on a student’s shoulder, rubbed her back, and told her she was pretty.”
Jenkins said, “I really don’t get how he had to stay because I haven’t seen a teacher who has so many complaints and still teaches. Like, it just blows my mind. So it’s about … a greater culture that was there.”
The school district has also been accused by the Florida Department of Education of not reporting a 2024 touchdown incident involving Clayton to the state, as they were required to do.
A spokesperson for the district says they will respond to the state’s request for more information.
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