DUVAL COUNTY, Fla. – A police report is revealing new details about a weapons charge against a Duval County principal.
Michael Smith, principal at Baldwin Middle-Senior High School, was issued a Notice to Appear on Sept. 15 on a charge of possession of a firearm on school property, a second-degree misdemeanor. He was not taken into custody.
Tip leads to K-9 deployment
According to his arrest report, Duval County School Police received a tip that a firearm was present on school grounds, prompting Chief of Police Jackson Short and another officer to respond to the school in Baldwin.
Officers met with Smith in his office, where Chief Short read him his constitutional rights from a printed form. Smith signed the form, acknowledging he understood those rights, according to the report.
Chief Short told Smith that a tip had been received alleging he had a handgun inside his vehicle, which was parked on school property. According to the report, Smith acknowledged owning a firearm but declined to consent to a search of his vehicle, saying his firearms were kept at his home.
K-9 Maverick deployed
Officers then deployed K-9 Maverick, a trained and certified firearms-detection canine, to conduct an exterior sniff of approximately 11 vehicles parked in the school’s front parking lot. Smith was only asked to identify the general area where his vehicle was parked — officers said they intentionally did not want to know which specific vehicle was his in order to protect the integrity of the sniff.
As Maverick worked his way around the vehicles, the dog displayed a distinct change in behavior near the driver’s-side door of one truck — focusing intensely on the bottom seam of the door, changing his breathing pattern and ultimately sitting, which is his trained final indication for the odor of a firearm.
At Smith’s request, Maverick was deployed a second time. The K-9 repeated the same behavior and gave the same indication at the same location.
Following the second positive indication, Smith provided consent to search his vehicle, according to police. Chief Short says he located a Sig Sauer P226 .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun inside the center console, stored in a cloth holster with a loaded magazine containing 13 rounds of live ammunition. The firearm and all associated items were secured as evidence.
Photo included in DCPS police report shows handgun in center console (DCPS Police)School board policy prohibits firearms on campus
The Duval County School Board has waived a provision that would otherwise allow certain individuals to possess a firearm on school property. As a result, no one — including employees — may possess a firearm in any vehicle parked on school grounds, whether the vehicle is locked or unlocked.
Smith was then issued a Notice to Appear.
According to the report, K-9 Maverick indicated the presence of firearm odor on two additional vehicles during the sniff. Both were searched and found to contain no firearms. The owners of those vehicles acknowledged having recently possessed firearms inside the vehicles while off school property.
Smith reassigned by school district
Smith has been removed from campus and reassigned to his home while a criminal investigation and a district investigation are conducted. He is not permitted to report to any school or other district work location during the investigation.
“At no time is it safe for anyone to be on our campuses with a gun,” DCPS Superintendent. Dr. Christopher Bernier said. “Whether that has been done in the past or whether that’s part of the nature of an individual, that’s certainly not part of our hiring process. But somebody who violates the safety and the sanctity of our school buildings like this deserves our full attention.”
Bernier said the district could not yet say what disciplinary action Smith may face because officials must follow his due process rights. He said the district will ensure appropriate action is taken after the investigation is complete.
Parents and family members of Baldwin students said they were shocked by the allegations. Both people interviewed by News4JAX asked to remain anonymous.
“At that level of a responsibility to the school, you should know that you can’t have firearms on property,” one family member said.
A Baldwin parent added, “It’s kind of shocking and unbelievable. You’d think the leader of the school would know better.”
Scrutiny over leadership at Baldwin
The announcement comes as the district faces continued scrutiny over leadership at Baldwin. Former Principal Michael Townsend was arrested in June and charged with failing to report suspected child abuse connected to an investigation involving former teacher James Mulvey.
Mulvey was arrested in May on a felony charge involving a student. He is accused of offenses against students by an authority figure.
Smith was appointed principal after Townsend’s arrest. Recent records obtained by Jacksonville Today and shared with News4JAX detailed previous complaints involving Smith, including one substantiated complaint from 2016 and two others that were not substantiated.
Bernier said the previous allegations involving Smith did not involve weapons possession and that the district had no information indicating a firearm could be in Smith’s vehicle.
He also said the district is reviewing its hiring process, including how hiring managers work with Human Resources and the Professional Standards department.
“We’ve been looking at our hiring process,” Bernier said. “There’s no way in a hiring process you could foresee this poor judgment. But the reality of it — see something, say something — worked. Somebody turned this in, we acted on it immediately.”
Bernier, Wright and Regional Superintendent Tim Simmons will serve as the interim leadership team at Baldwin while the district works with the school community and considers a permanent replacement.
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