JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Students and parents at Baldwin Middle-Senior High School raised concerns that alleged inappropriate behavior by a longtime teacher may have gone unchecked before his arrest Friday on charges involving a student.
James Mulvey, 47, a social studies teacher at the school, was arrested Friday morning by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office on a charge involving offenses against students by authority figures. According to jail records, Mulvey bonded out of jail Saturday.
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In the days following the arrest, students began circulating what one student called “The Mulvey Files” - a Google Drive compiling what appeared to be inappropriate emails exchanged between Mulvey and a student.
News4JAX reviewed portions of the website but is not publishing the contents of the messages because the investigation is ongoing, and the student involved may be a minor.
The student who created the website said the goal was to organize information that had already been circulating among students.
“I want people to see the things that he was saying and doing,” the student told News4JAX.
The student previously had Mulvey as a teacher and described him as someone students generally trusted.
“He was the chill teacher who everyone thought of as a ‘dad,’” the student said.
The student who reviewed the alleged messages said they initially tried to interpret the conversations as innocent before becoming alarmed.
“I was trying to play it off as a father-daughter relationship,” the student said. “But after I read through them, it was like, OK, this is weird.”
In a message sent to families Friday, Principal Mike Townsend described the allegations as “deeply concerning” while emphasizing that Mulvey is presumed innocent as investigations continue.
Townsend told parents Mulvey had been removed from campus and reassigned to a position without student contact pending both a criminal investigation and an internal district investigation.
Duval County Public Schools confirmed Mulvey remained employed by the district but was reassigned away from students while the investigations are active.
News4JAX shared the student-created “Mulvey Files” website with the district and asked officials to confirm whether the communications occurred on a school platform. The district has not yet responded to those questions.
On Monday afternoon, News4JAX obtained Mulvey’s arrest report. Much of the report was redacted, but it states that Mulvey and the student exchanged emails and that Mulvey asked for an additional email address so they could continue communicating over the summer.
News4JAX has also requested Mulvey’s personnel file and additional records from the school district, but has not yet received them.