A Baldwin Middle-High School teacher was arrested May 22 on charges that he sought a romantic relationship with a student, Duval County school officials said.
James Mulvey, 47, was ordered held in the county jail unless he posted $100,000 bond, according to a Sheriff’s Office website.
That website reflected a single charge, a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison. However, a phone message that Principal Mike Townsend sent to homes of Baldwin parents, later shared with reporters by school district officials, said Mulvey was arrested on multiple charges.
Although noting Mulvey was presumed innocent, Townsend called the charge “deeply concerning.”
Details about the accusations against Mulvey weren’t immediately available.
Mulvey appeared on an online Baldwin staff listing as teaching high-school-level social studies.
He has worked for the school district since 2016, except for a few months in 2022 when he resigned for personal reasons and was soon hired back, a school district spokesperson, Laureen Ricks, said by email.
Ricks said the school district was also conducting an internal professional standards investigations and that Mulvey “has been reassigned outside of the school and will have no contact with students pending the outcome of both the internal and external investigations.”
Seeking a relationship with a student is one of the counts that resulted, in 2024, in Douglas Anderson School of the Arts teacher Jeffrey Clayton receiving a 10-year prison sentence. His conviction came from one of a series of misconduct claims that surfaced at Douglas Anderson.
The Duval County School Board tightened its policies against employee misconduct in September 2024 in an attempt to prevent similar misdeeds. The district also launched a public awareness effort labeled “Know the Line” to reinforce boundaries the school district set for contact between students and school district employees.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Jailed Baldwin social studies teacher accused of misconduct with student
Reporting by Steve Patterson, Jacksonville Florida Times-Union / Florida Times-Union
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
