JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — More than 50 pages of emails obtained by Action News Jax appear to show highly personal conversations between a Duval County Public Schools teacher and someone who appears to be a student at Baldwin Middle-Senior High School.
The so-called “Mulvey Files” were released, reportedly by a student at the school. The district did not verify the authenticity of the emails, and it is still unclear how the messages relate to the criminal case against 47-year-old James Mulvey.
Mulvey, a social studies teacher at Baldwin Middle-Senior High School, was arrested on May 22nd and charged with offenses against a student by an authority figure. Jail records show he was booked into the Duval County Jail before later bailing out.
The emails, which appear to be sent between district-issued school accounts, show conversations spanning from May 13th through May 19th. In the messages, Mulvey appears to send birthday wishes to the student, while other exchanges show the student venting about her relationship with her mother.
Throughout the documents, the student repeatedly refers to Mulvey as “dad,” while Mulvey refers to the student as “daughter.” The messages also contain multiple exchanges of “I love you.”
The first page of the files describes Mulvey as a “father figure” during his time at the high school.
The arrest comes about a year after the Duval County School Board approved new rules requiring teachers to communicate with students through district-approved platforms only. The policy change followed a year-long scandal involving a former Douglas Anderson School of the Arts teacher accused of crimes against children.
With questions now surrounding Mulvey’s use of his school email account, we asked district leaders whether there are safeguards in place to flag potentially inappropriate communication between teachers and students.
In a statement, the district said in part, “The district utilizes online safety and visibility tools designed to help protect students and support secure digital learning environments. These platforms help filter and monitor internet activity to meet federal student safety and compliance requirements; identify and escalate potential student safety concerns; maintain visibility into device and application usage across district-issued technology.”
The statement continues, saying, “The district’s highest priority is protecting and safeguarding students, and Duval County Public Schools maintains high expectations for professional and ethical employee conduct in alignment with the Principles of Professional Conduct for the Education Profession in Florida.
These expectations are outlined in Board Policy 6.83 (Employee Conduct) and Board Policy 6.84 (Fraternization and Communication with Students and Parents), both of which received comprehensive updates last year that extended far beyond communication methods alone, with a broader focus on student safety, professional boundaries, and appropriate employee conduct. The updated policies emphasize, among other expectations, that:
- Employees should avoid even the appearance of impropriety.
- Employees should refrain from private messaging with students.
- Staff members must not accept or engage with documentation, information, or materials from students that may be obscene, vulgar, or sexually suggestive, and must immediately report such incidents to the Office of Professional Standards, ADA, and Title IX.
- Employees are expected to maintain professional boundaries and avoid being alone with students whenever possible.
- In situations where being alone with a student may be unavoidable, employees should ensure they remain within another adult’s line of sight."
Mulvey has since been reassigned to work outside of the school and no longer has contact with students.
We also reached out to Duval County School Board Chair Charlotte Joyce, whose district includes Baldwin Middle-Senior High School, but she did not respond.
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