JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Duval County Superintendent Dr. Christopher Bernie issued a stark warning Friday to employees after two more arrests this week of a district teacher or substitute teacher for child abuse or sexual misconduct involving a student.<\/p>\n
\u201cEnough is enough!\u201d Bernier said in a video sent to employees. \u201cI cannot tolerate behavior that puts a student\u2019s safety or well-being at risk … When misconduct occurs, we will take immediate action.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 3-minute video was sent a day after Brian Orr, a Darnell-Cookman Middle School math teacher, was charged with lewd or lascivious touching of a minor. <\/p>\n
It was the seventh arrest so far this school year of a teacher or substitute for child abuse or sexual misconduct involving a student<\/a>. It was the second this week after First Coast High School substitute teacher Cameron Coverson\u2019s arrest Monday for sexual activity with a student.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have one of society\u2019s highest responsibilities. And that is to protect and care for children,\u201d Bernier said early in the video. \u201cOur children deserve to feel safe and to be surrounded by trusted adults who prioritize their learning, safety and well-being.\u201d<\/p>\n The superintendent also sent a video Friday to students, parents and family that can be seen here<\/a>. \u201cYour child deserves to be safe. They need the opportunity to learn,\u201d Bernier said in that video.<\/p>\n To employees, Bernier warned them to uphold the high calling of their profession working with children.<\/p>\n \u201cI cannot tolerate behavior that puts a student\u2019s safety or well-being at risk,\u201d he said. \u201cAny violation is one too many. And in the recent weeks, we\u2019ve seen far too many.\u201d<\/p>\n He said school employees have an obligation to speak up if they observe any troubling behavior.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you suspect misconduct or have concerns about a child\u2019s safety,\u201d Bernier said, \u201cyou cannot and will not be silent. Do not wait… it\u2019s your responsibility and your legal obligation.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cRemember who we serve,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n >>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<<\/a><\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/a>]<\/p>\n [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/a>] <\/p>\n Click here<\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here<\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here<\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/p>\n Action News Jax Top Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 Duval County Superintendent Dr. Christopher Bernie issued a stark warning Friday to employees after two…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":411271,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[344,347,163113,28,348,116,351,118,117,349,350,121310,346,345],"class_list":["post-411270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-action-news-jax","tag-cbs47","tag-duval-county-public-school","tag-florida","tag-fox30","tag-jacksonville","tag-jacksonville-fl","tag-jacksonville-headlines","tag-jacksonville-news","tag-northeast-florida","tag-southeast-georgia","tag-superintendent-dr-christopher-bernier","tag-wfox","tag-wjax"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411270","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=411270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/411271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=411270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=411270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=411270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}