JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Two Duval County Public Schools employees have been reassigned following their arrests last week in separate incidents, the school district announced Tuesday.
In a statement emailed to Jacksonville media, the school district said the arrests have nothing to do with the employees' work. A spokesperson said both employees were moved into roles in which they’ll have no contact with students until criminal and internal investigations into their behavior are resolved.
“I have four kids going to school, so this is something I’ll definitely be watching out for,” said parent Rhonda Rolando upon learning of the arrests of the employees.
The employees arrested were Demetrius Williams, a paraprofessional at First Coast High School who’s worked on-and-off for the school district since 2009, and Pierre Jean Louis, a physical education teacher with three years' experience working for the district.
Williams, 37, was arrested Friday by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office on suspicion of child abuse, a third-degree felony. Most of the details surrounding that incident were redacted from a copy of the booking report obtained by News4Jax. The report states a weapon known as a “switch” was involved.
The details of Jean Louis' arrest weren’t immediately clear Tuesday. The case didn’t appear in a search of online court records. This report will be updated with the details of that arrest once we learn more.
Williams was initially hired as an athletics coach at William Raines High School in July 2009 before she moved into a paraprofessional role in January 2010, according to the district. She was let go in May 2012 before being rehired as a full-time paraprofessional at Palm Avenue Exceptional Center in January 2017. She began working at First Coast High School in July 2018.
Jean Louis, an adaptive physical education teacher, began working for the district in August 2017 at Garden City Elementary School. Starting in September 2020, his work involved assignments at Loretto Elementary, Mandarin Oaks Elementary and Greenland Pines Elementary.
Tuesday’s news comes about a week after James Coney, a football coach and paraprofessional at Oceanway Middle School, was dismissed after his arrest in a domestic disturbance. Coney is charged with armed burglary and aggravated assault.