Duval School Board Race Focuses on Violence Despite Five-Year Decline in Fighting

The race to replace Charlotte Joyce on the Duval County School Board has emerged as a contest centered on student discipline and classroom violence, with three Republican frontrunners making the issue their primary campaign focus. But Florida Department of Education data shows fighting across Duval County Public Schools has actually declined over the past five years, dropping from a peak of 2,224 incidents in the 2021-2022 school year to 1,870 incidents in 2024-2025 — a 16% decrease.

The disconnect between candidate rhetoric and state-reported trends comes as the district faces arguably more pressing challenges: a 59-point improvement needed to maintain its A-rating, declining student enrollment, and a millage tax renewal critical to funding teacher pay increases and arts programming. The outcome of the District 6 race will help determine how the board navigates an era of shrinking enrollment and expanded school choice that is diverting public funding across Florida.

What the candidates are saying

Lindsey Denmark, Clarence James, and Michelle Petty — all registered Republicans with backing from local conservative groups — have built their campaigns around promises to crack down on fighting and student misbehavior. The three candidates cite figures on violence and staff assaults that district officials say they are unfamiliar with.

James, a police sergeant with the Duval County Public Schools Police Department, has claimed "1,500 fights per year, over 400 school staff members assaulted per year" during his campaign. District spokesperson Laureen Ricks said officials were not familiar with the specific data sources behind these numbers. James has raised over $100,000 in contributions and earned endorsements from the Jacksonville Fraternal Order of Police, the Jacksonville Association of Firefighters, City Council members Kevin Carrico and Rory Diamond, and other conservative-aligned groups.

Denmark, a realtor with Watson Realty Corporation, has echoed similar concerns. "My primary goal is to bring order back into our classrooms. We're seeing so many disciplinary issues," Denmark said. She has garnered support from outgoing District 6 board member Joyce, school board vice-chair April Carney, and state Senator Clay Yarborough — all of whom have received financial or public endorsements from Moms for Liberty.

Petty, a paralegal, connects discipline issues to teacher retention. "I think a lot of the teacher retention issues go back to the disciplinary issues that we're facing. The teachers are having to pretty much be like a prison warden, so to speak. They're having to deal with these students that are just being disruptive," Petty said. Before her paralegal career, Petty worked as a community engagement associate for JEA. In 2018, she was arrested for grand theft related to misappropriating funds from an employee-operated JEA gym — charges that were later dropped after she completed a felony pre-trial intervention program and repaid the funds.

A fourth candidate, Robert Stafford, the NAACP representative on the district's tax oversight committee, has emphasized fiscal management as his strength. "The two most important responsibilities of the board are policy and budget, because those are the driving documents for everything that should be happening in a district," Stafford said, quoting Andrea Messina, president of the Florida School Boards Association.

What the data shows

According to incident reporting data that all Florida school districts provide to the state Department of Education, Duval County Public Schools recorded 1,870 fighting incidents during the 2024-25 academic year. The reporting system defines fighting as two or more people using force or physical violence that requires intervention or results in injury.

That figure represents a decline from recent years. Fighting incidents peaked at 2,224 in 2021-2022, then fell to 1,870 last year. For comparison, Broward County Public Schools reported 1,768 fighting incidents in 2024-2025, while Hillsborough County Public Schools reported 2,380.

Violence remains a concern at individual schools within District 6. Chaffee Trail Middle School reported 117 fights last year — the highest number of any school at any grade level statewide, according to a News4Jax investigation. Principal Cicely Tyson-White attributed the spike to overcrowding caused by school consolidations in 2024. With enrollment adjustments and changes to class transition patterns, fighting incidents at Chaffee Trail dropped by nearly 50% in the following school year, district officials said.

District spokesperson Ricks acknowledged the seriousness of the issue while noting progress. "Every fight on campus is one too many. Any fight can disrupt learning and create an unsafe environment for students and staff," Ricks said. "We take these incidents seriously and use a comprehensive approach to both prevention and response."

The discipline debate and teacher retention

The candidates' focus on discipline taps into a widespread concern among teachers and parents about classroom disruption, even if the overall trend shows improvement. Duval, like school districts across Florida and the nation, has struggled with teacher retention, and classroom management challenges are frequently cited by educators as a factor in burnout and turnover.

James has proposed reinstating mentorship programs between school resource officers and "at-risk youth" as one approach to addressing student discipline. Denmark and Petty have both emphasized the need to empower teachers to maintain order and reduce time spent managing behavior rather than teaching.

The focus on discipline has overshadowed discussion of other challenges the board must navigate. Florida's expansion of school choice programs — including vouchers, charter schools, and education savings accounts — has diverted per-pupil funding from traditional public school districts. Declining enrollment compounds the budget pressure, as state funding follows the student. Duval's upcoming millage renewal vote will determine whether the district can maintain competitive teacher salaries and preserve programs like arts education, both critical to recruitment and retention in a tight labor market.

What the district faces beyond discipline

While the District 6 candidates debate violence in schools, Duval County Public Schools is managing a complex set of operational and financial challenges. The district needs to achieve a 59-point improvement in its state accountability score to maintain an A-rating — a designation that influences property values, business recruitment, and family relocation decisions in Jacksonville and across Duval County.

Student enrollment has been declining, a trend affecting most traditional public school districts in Florida as families opt for charters, private schools with vouchers, and homeschooling. Lower enrollment means less per-pupil state funding, forcing districts to trim budgets or seek local revenue increases. School board members do not need business backgrounds, but the board's policy and budget decisions drive district operations, and navigating this financial landscape requires careful management.

The millage tax renewal on the ballot will directly affect the district's ability to compete for teachers. Teacher pay is a perennial issue in Florida, where educator salaries lag national averages. Duval has struggled to fill positions in critical shortage areas, and pay increases funded by local millage revenue have been a key recruitment and retention tool. The renewal would also fund arts programs, which research links to student engagement and academic performance but which often face cuts when budgets tighten.

Andrea Messina, president of the Florida School Boards Association, emphasized the centrality of these responsibilities. "The two most important responsibilities of the board are policy and budget, because those are the driving documents for everything that should be happening in a district," Messina said.

Community and political dynamics

The District 6 race has also exposed divisions within Duval County's Republican ranks. Multiple conservative-aligned candidates have split endorsements and financial backing from local GOP figures, with Denmark securing support from establishment Republicans like Joyce, Carney, and Yarborough, while James has drawn backing from law enforcement and City Council conservatives like Carrico and Diamond. Both camps have ties to Moms for Liberty, a conservative education advocacy group active in Florida school board races statewide.

James's campaign drew scrutiny when two AI-generated images circulated on social media — one of which digitally added Black supporters to a campaign photo. James said the images were created by campaign staff without his approval, but the incident highlighted the intensity and professionalization of what are officially nonpartisan school board contests.

District officials have emphasized that addressing school violence requires collaboration beyond the classroom. "Schools cannot solve this challenge alone. This is a shared responsibility – one in which students, families, and the community play an important role," Ricks said. "Many conflicts begin online or outside of school, and early communication gives us an opportunity to intervene before a disagreement becomes a fight."

What happens next

The District 6 race will be decided in the upcoming election, with the winner replacing Joyce and joining a board that will shape district policy on discipline, budget priorities, and how Duval responds to Florida's shifting education landscape. The winner will take office as the board considers the millage renewal and makes decisions that could determine whether Duval maintains its competitive position among Florida's large urban districts.

Whoever wins will inherit a district where the data suggests fighting is trending downward, but where perception and lived experience in individual schools — particularly in overcrowded buildings like Chaffee Trail — tell a more complicated story. Balancing those realities with fiscal constraints and the push to maintain academic performance will test the board's ability to govern a district serving over 120,000 students across one of Florida's fastest-growing metro areas. The outcome will shape not just classroom discipline policies, but the long-term trajectory of public education funding and quality across Duval County.

The race reflects broader tensions in Northeast Florida education: how to address parents' and teachers' real concerns about safety and order, how to manage budgets in an era of diverted funding, and how to keep traditional public schools competitive as families gain more alternatives. The answers Duval's school board provides will influence development and real estate patterns across the region, as school quality remains a top factor in where families with children choose to buy homes.