{"id":128264,"date":"2026-01-22T21:02:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T21:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/128264\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T21:02:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T21:02:08","slug":"substitute-teacher-arrested-after-fentanyl-found-inside-jacksonville-middle-school-action-news-jax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/128264\/","title":{"rendered":"Substitute teacher arrested after fentanyl found inside Jacksonville middle school \u2013 Action News Jax"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 A substitute teacher is under arrest after police said fentanyl was found inside a Jacksonville middle school.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">According to police, the incident happened on January 15 at Oceanway Middle School. Officers responded after school staff alerted a school safety officer to a possible medical emergency inside an employee-only bathroom.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">Police said staff noticed a strong burning odor coming from the restroom and later found a woman, identified as Jessica Muncy, slumped over inside. Officers reported that Muncy appeared unsteady and had a purse in her lap.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/live-breaking\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/live-breaking\/\" target=\"_blank\">&gt;&gt;&gt; STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE &lt;&lt;&lt;<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">A search of the purse allegedly uncovered aluminum foil, cut straws, and small baggies containing a blue and white powder. Police say the substance was later field-tested presumptive positive for fentanyl.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">Investigators also searched Muncy\u2019s vehicle, where a K-9 alerted to additional suspected drugs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">Officials said the substitute was arrested before ever entering a classroom and that no students were involved.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">A woman who works across the street from the school, who asked to remain anonymous, said she watched officers search the substitute\u2019s vehicle following the arrest.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">\u201cWe were curious as to what was going on, so we just kind of watched, but they definitely checked the lady\u2019s car. They lifted the hood of the trunk, everything, and then they came out with a bag of stuff and then left,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">The woman said this was not the first time she had seen incidents like this involving school campuses.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s nothing new. The students, the teachers, we see it all the time,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">She believes both the school and the substitute staffing company should be held accountable.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">\u201cIt sucks the school does keep enough control on it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">[DOWNLOAD: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/mobile-apps\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/a>]<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">She also said stronger policies are needed for those allowed to work around students.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">\u201cYou\u2019re teaching our children, you were in control of our children. You\u2019re with our children all day, every day there should be more policy for it for sure,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">Parents were notified in an email from the school\u2019s principal, which confirmed the substitute was found with illegal drugs in an employee-only area, had no contact with students, and will no longer be allowed to work in Duval County Public Schools.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">Muncy was hired through Educational Support Services. Action News Jax reached out to ESS regarding its screening and drug-testing policies, but had not heard back at the time of publication.<\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\">[SIGN UP: <a href=\"https:\/\/membercenter.actionnewsjax.com\/newsletters\/\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/a>] <\/p>\n<p class=\"default__StyledText-sc-tl066j-0 jsuuLb body-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/mobile-apps\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Click here<\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/mobile-apps\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">click here<\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.actionnewsjax.com\/video\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">click here<\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/p>\n<p>Action News Jax Top Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 A substitute teacher is under arrest after police said fentanyl was found inside a Jacksonville&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":128265,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[344,347,28,348,116,351,118,63414,117,349,350,63415,346,345],"class_list":{"0":"post-128264","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jacksonville","8":"tag-action-news-jax","9":"tag-cbs47","10":"tag-florida","11":"tag-fox30","12":"tag-jacksonville","13":"tag-jacksonville-fl","14":"tag-jacksonville-headlines","15":"tag-jacksonville-middle-school","16":"tag-jacksonville-news","17":"tag-northeast-florida","18":"tag-southeast-georgia","19":"tag-substitute","20":"tag-wfox","21":"tag-wjax"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128264\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}