Former Douglas Anderson teacher Jeffrey Clayton pleads guilty to sex misconduct with student

Former Douglas Anderson School of the Arts teacher Jeffrey Clayton pleaded guilty Wednesday to misconduct with a student that could put him behind bars and that sparked a review of years of complaints about faculty behavior at the esteemed Duval County high school.

Jeffrey Clayton, 66, was arrested in March 2023 after the 16-year-old girl showed police records of about 1,700 texts between the two — which a police affidavit said mentioned “your steamy, honey sweet lips” — over eight months.

Clayton pleaded guilty to all four criminal counts he faced and is scheduled for sentencing June 14. The counts could together carry a maximum sentence of 40 years behind bars, and prosecutors said Wednesday that state sentencing guidelines prescribe a term of about 34 months.

Prosecutors charged Clayton with two second-degree felonies (each punishable by 15 years in prison) based on a statute that forbids teachers engaging in sexual conduct with students as well as seeking or engaging in romantic relationships with students.

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He was also charged with lewd or lascivious touching of a 16- or 17-year-old and using a portable phone to carry out the illegal actions. Both are third-degree felonies carrying terms of up to five years behind bars.

A State Attorney's Office statement said that a Douglas Anderson student had gone to a one-on-one singing lesson with Clayton when he "sat next to the student and professed his romantic feelings for her before he rubbed her thighs and leaned in to kiss her multiple times." The girl later told a friend, which led to police and the Department of Children and Families being contacted.

State law doesn't set a minimum mandatory sentence for the charges Clayton admitted to, but an agreement opposing attorneys worked out barred the career educator from seeking a downward departure below sentencing guidelines. In return for that, prosecutrs agreed not to pursue any additional charges tied to his career at Douglas Anderson.

The agreement also lets other female students who talked to investigators about their involverment with Clayton deliver victim impact statements before Circuit Judge Tatiana Salvador sentences him, the State Attorney's Office said.

Summarizing the agreement in court, Salvador mentioned seven of those people, all referred to only by their initials, and said that Clayton's sentence could include restitution to one of them.

The judge also said Clayton's sentence could include some term of probation, asking the defendant to verify that he had seen the list of 18 conditions placed on probation for sex offenders.

The conviction could also cost Clayton his retirement pay. Florida law includes language for forfeiting a teacher’s retirement benefits for some types of misconduct, and Duval County school district attorney Ray Poole said the district reported the facts around Clayton’s arrest to the Florida Ethics Commission to get a review of his case started.

Clayton retired after his arrest last year, but the charges against him triggered waves of reactions by Douglas Anderson alumni and students’ parents who said they had complained before about faculty misconduct but the problem hadn't been addressed.

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School administrators retained a law firm last spring to perform an outside review of issues surrounding teacher conduct and the school system’s handling of complaints.

School officials have worked to rebuild community trust damaged by Clayton’s arrest and the stories of earlier complaints, with School Board member Lori Hershey last year telling an audience at a board meeting that “we are not leaving any stone unturned in this matter.”

School Board Chair Darryl Willie described the investigation as ongoing at a routine board meeting this month.

Board members were briefed individually on the review and "have been advised to not share any information from that briefing with the public at this time because of ongoing litigation," Willie told people at the April 2 meeeting. But he added that "as part of that briefing, we did hear about some suggestions on changes and improvements and so the district admin as well as OGC [Office of General Counsel] are working together to review and implement those appropriate changes."

In addition to his prosecution and the school district review, Clayton’s arrest was followed by a federal lawsuit in November by another former student.

That former student, now an adult, says in her suit against the district — not Clayton — that he had “sexually harassed, degraded and touched her body inappropriately” during school hours. The plaintiff said she and other students had written statements in 2019 to help a school district employee investigating complaints about Clayton but he had been allowed to return to his role at Douglas Anderson.

The lawsuit is still pending.

The suit argued that the school district’s lack of action about the complaint “created an ongoing abusive educational environment.” The school district hasn't filed a response yet.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Former Douglas Anderson teacher pleads to ledness charge with student