JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Duval County School Board voted Tuesday to settle and pay $365,000 to a former Douglas Anderson School of the Arts student. It’s related to sexual misconduct claims against former teacher – Jeffrey Clayton.
The complaint said the student claims Clayton inappropriately touched her and hurt her.
Just last June, Clayton was convicted of sex crimes with minors, and received 10 years in prison.
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This is the fourth settlement the district has reached involving sexual abuse claims with students. The first three from last June totaled $1.5 million.
“No amount of money is going to make this victim whole – or any of the victims whole,” Former DA student Shyla Jenkins said. “They lost a piece of their childhood – they lost that innocence, when that person – that man, really a monster – walked in there and ripped it from them.”
The school board also had a 3rd party investigation into Clayton’s case, but nothing has been released – and it’s been more than a year.
Last year, DCPS launched the ‘Know The Line’ campaign, which helped establish better guidelines between student and teacher interactions.
While this is a step in the right direction, Jenkins, said the board still has a lot of work to do.
“The fact that the board doesn’t seem to be moving or have any urgency to move to release this is frustrating and concerning,” Jenkins said.
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