DCPS responds to Florida Education Commissioner’s concerns on its approach to misconduct allegations

Duval County Public Schools is responding to state officials concerned with how quickly the district deals with accusations of teacher misconduct.

Florida Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. was especially troubled by the six-week delay in removing Douglas Anderson School of the Arts teacher Christopher Allen-Black from the classroom after he was arrested and charged with exposing himself at a resort on Disney property in Central Florida.

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On May 9, Diaz wrote, “Rather than immediately removing Mr. Allen-Black from direct contact with students, you elected to allow him to remain in the classroom until April 11, 2024. This is unacceptable.”

The next day, DCPS Interim Superintendent Dr. Dana Kriznar responded with a list of measures taken so far, including:

• An online employee misconduct reporting form on the district’s student safety webpage
• A draft policy mandating rapid removal of any employee arrested or accused of sexual misconduct, child abuse, or illegal drug distribution.
• Electronic submission of employee misconduct reports to the state department of education
• Video lessons for students on identifying and reporting harassment incidents. Students will see these at the start of the new school year.

Kriznar said the district will also add investigators to its office of professional standards.

Read the Kriznar’s full response letter to Diaz below:

Last week, Action News Jax’s Jake Stofan spoke to newly selected DCPS Superintendent Dr. Christopher Bernier. Responding to recent accusations of the district mishandling incidents of alleged misconduct among school staff, Bernier committed to hold district employees at all levels accountable.

“There’s an expectation for all employees who work with students to be above reproach in their personal and private behavior,” Bernier said.

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