JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A beloved Atlantic Coast High School science teacher is being remembered by family, students, fellow teachers after she was found dead over the weekend in her home on Jacksonville’s Westside.
Police said it’s believed 49-year-old Vivian James had been dead for 48 hours before her body was found Saturday morning in the home on Glen Alan Court near 103rd Street. Investigators told News4Jax the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office was notified after a friend came to check on her, and that person called 911.
James lived alone, but her brother-in-law Ricardo Wiley said she had a loving family and an extended family of students that she often called her children.
“For her students, I’ll say she genuinely loved the kids. It wasn’t about the pay," Wiley told News4Jax by phone on Monday. "We know that she loved life and she loved her family and she loved her friends.”
Atlantic Coast High TV production instructor Chad Cushnir worked with James and put together a video to her life.
“We just want to get through this tough time because it’s shocking and sad,” Cushnir said. “But she will not be forgotten.”
James, who was described as a bubbly, dancing, passionate teacher, had taught Duval County students for more than two decades. Cushnir said she was known as a compassionate teacher who required excellence from her students.
“She loved life and everyone knew it,” he said.
Students and parents said James’ legacy will not be the way she died, but the way she lived and taught. Her impact reached one Jacksonville City Council member not as a politician, but as a mother.
“I felt a strong sense of loss. She was such a blessing to the students she taught, but on a very personal level, she was a blessing to our daughters,” City Councilwoman Brenda Priestly Jackson told News4Jax on Monday.
When the councilwoman’s otherwise stellar student was struggling in a chemistry class, like many do, she said that James made all the difference.
“To be able to teach our young people and also meet them where they were with the knowledge, but also to have that caring and compassionate spirit she really showed with our younger daughter,” Priestly Jackson said.
Priestly Jackson agreed with others, saying James’ legacy extends to every single student she taught.
“She is not a nameless face in Jacksonville. That is not who she is. I refuse to settle that her life be overshadowed by the way she died. She contributed to these young people,” Priestly Jackson said. “She taught at Jackson. Then she was one of the first faculty members that Principal Debra Lynch brought to the Atlantic Coast at the time she was there. She taught summer school at Bethel before the district offered it. She tutored and she was a good neighbor.”
Good teachers are blessings that remain with us throughout our lives...and every now and then divine fate brings a teacher into our lives who will be an angel and a light. Ms. Vivian James was that for our daughters, Imani and Kya. She was a chemistry teacher of ...
— B.A.Priestly Jackson (@Priestjax) December 29, 2019
On Monday, there were still signs of an investigation at James’ home. Evidence markers could be seen on her windows and garage. People in the community said that it is typically quiet, but, according to the Sheriff’s Office crime map, there have been at least two burglaries near James’ home in the last four weeks.
Police records show James’ death is being investigated as a murder, and no arrests had been announced as of early Monday evening. News4Jax crime and safety expert Ken Jefferson said that without knowing any suspect information, it’s hard to conclude why she was killed.
“They have to search for a motive. They have to search for a likely suspect that would do something of that nature,” Jefferson said. “Even though they suspect foul play, that means they know someone killed her."
Family members said they hope whoever took her life is found soon.
“We’re robbed of many years,” Wiley said. “My son only had one auntie and he is robbed of her.”
Atlantic Coast High students will return from winter break on Jan. 7. According to the Atlantic Coast High School PTSA, grief counselors will available to students and faculty on campus next week.
Anyone with information about the investigation into James’ death is asked to call the Sheriff’s Office at 904-630-0500 or Crime Stoppers at 1-866-845-TIPS (8477).