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Florida school district ignored warnings that teacher, Jason Meyers [photo], was having sexual relationships with at least eight students known as ‘Jason’s Girls’

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"109460728"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"1">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div><div id&equals;"article&lowbar;0&lowbar;headline&lowbar;byline" class&equals;"headline&lowbar;region">&NewLine;<h6 class&equals;"subtitle">Miami-Dade School Board in court fights accused of not doing enough to protect students from a predator teacher accused of seri<span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;261f1f&semi;">al sexual misconduct<&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6 class&equals;"subtitle"><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;261f1f&semi;">Jason Meyers&comma; 42&comma; taught students at Krop and Palmetto high schools in Miami-Dade County for 14 years&comma; but his career was put indefinitely on hold in 2016<&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6 class&equals;"subtitle"><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;261f1f&semi;">Ex-Teacher Denies Being Aggressor in Relationship With Student<&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6 class&equals;"subtitle"><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;261f1f&semi;">Jason Meyers taught English and creative writing to students at Krop and Palmetto high schools in Miami-Dade County for more than a decade<&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6 class&equals;"subtitle"><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;261f1f&semi;">He was suspended in 2016 when he was arrested  after a student told police she had sex with Meyers inside a classroom at Palmetto Senior High School<&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6 class&equals;"subtitle"><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;261f1f&semi;">He was charged with sexual battery of a female student<&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6 class&equals;"subtitle"><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;261f1f&semi;">A total of eight former students have come forward accusing the former teacher of misconduct<&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6 class&equals;"subtitle"><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;261f1f&semi;">While the school district is fighting the civil case this week in court&comma; new details of the glaring pointers ignored by school authorities that the teacher was having improper relations with students<&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6 class&equals;"subtitle"><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;261f1f&semi;">The school got a warning about Meyers years before his arrest &&num;8211&semi;  a 2008 email sent to Krop Senior High School&&num;8217&semi;s administrators accusing him of &&num;8220&semi;having sex with students&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6 class&equals;"subtitle"><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;261f1f&semi;">In another instance&comma; a male student informed school authorities that Meyers  had &&num;8220&semi;having sex with past and present students&&num;8221&semi; at the school&comma; but they simply were not interested<&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6 class&equals;"subtitle"><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;261f1f&semi;">The allegations range from inappropriate assignments like writing about intimacy to sexual relationships<&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6 class&equals;"subtitle"><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;261f1f&semi;">In court filings&comma; the Miami-Dade School district denied the student&&num;8217&semi;s allegations&comma;<&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6 class&equals;"subtitle"><span style&equals;"color&colon; &num;261f1f&semi;">&&num;8220&semi;There were never any other complaints reported at Krop involving a teacher having inappropriate relations with a student&&num;8221&semi; during Meyers&&num;8217&semi; tenure at the school<&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6 class&equals;"subtitle"><img class&equals;"" style&equals;"color&colon; var&lpar;--color-text&rpar;&semi; font-weight&colon; 400&semi;" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;i1&period;wp&period;com&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;08&sol;jason-mayers-1&period;png&quest;zoom&equals;1&period;25&amp&semi;resize&equals;620&percnt;2C769&amp&semi;ssl&equals;1" alt&equals;"Jason Mayers 1" width&equals;"648" height&equals;"803" &sol;>Former <strong style&equals;"color&colon; var&lpar;--color-text&rpar;&semi;">Miami-Dade high school teacher Jason Meyers &lbrack;photo&rsqb;&comma; in 2017 was accused of engaging in inappropriate relationships with several students<&sol;strong><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<div id&equals;"at&lowbar;0" class&equals;"articleText">&NewLine;<p class&equals;"paragraph" data-pnum&equals;"1">As the Miami-Dade School Board fights allegations in court that it didn&&num;8217&semi;t do enough to protect students from Jason Meyers&comma; a teacher accused of sexual misconduct&comma;<a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;The allegations range from inappropriate assignments like writing about intimacy to sexual relationships&period; NBC 6 Investigators spoke exclusively with the father of one of those students&period; We will refer to him as Robert&period; Robert says Meyers took advantage of his daughter when she was a 16-year-old student at Palmetto&period;"> NBC 6<&sol;a>  uncovered new details about accusations made during the teacher&&num;8217&semi;s career&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;As the Miami-Dade School Board fights allegations in court that it didn&&num;8217&semi;t do enough to protect students from a teacher accused of sexual misconduct&comma; the NBC 6 Investigators have uncovered new details about accusations made during the teacher&&num;8217&semi;s career&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Jason Meyers taught students at Krop and Palmetto high schools in Miami-Dade County for more than a decade&comma; but his career was put indefinitely on hold in 2016&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Meyers was <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;2017&sol;08&sol;05&sol;miami-high-school-teacher-jason-meyers-accused-of-sexual-relationships-with-at-least-eight-students-known-as-jasons-girls&sol;">arrested and charged that year<&sol;a> after a student told police she had sex with Meyers inside a classroom at Palmetto Senior High School&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;A total of eight former students have now come forward accusing the former teacher of misconduct&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;<span style&equals;"color&colon; var&lpar;--color-text&rpar;&semi;">The allegations range from inappropriate assignments like writing about intimacy to sexual relationships&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;<&sol;span>One victim&&num;8217&semi;s father accused Meyers took advantage of his daughter when she was a 16-year-old student at Palmetto&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;I thought my daughter was safe&comma;&&num;8221&semi; he said&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The victim didn&&num;8217&semi;t come clean about the alleged relationship&comma; which involved kissing and inappropriate touching&comma; until Meyers was arrested&comma; her father said&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;In the meantime&comma; she was just going down and telling me things like that she didn&&num;8217&semi;t care to live and I didn&&num;8217&semi;t put it together&comma;&&num;8221&semi; he said&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;I&&num;8217&semi;ve not forgiven myself for not seeing that&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h6 class&equals;"paragraph" data-pnum&equals;"1"><img class&equals;"alignnone wp-image-323250" style&equals;"color&colon; var&lpar;--color-text&rpar;&semi;" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2019&sol;07&sol;Jason-Meyers-2&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Jason Meyers 2" width&equals;"799" height&equals;"457" &sol;><strong style&equals;"color&colon; var&lpar;--color-text&rpar;&semi;">Jason Meyers makes his court appearance after accusations of sexual battery against a student led to his arrest two years ago<&sol;strong><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"paragraph" data-pnum&equals;"11">Meyers&comma; who is not facing criminal charges in the case of enraged father&&num;8217&semi;s daughter&comma; repeatedly denied any wrongdoing at a school district hearing following his arrest and termination saying students conspired against him because he rescinded a college recommendation letter he&&num;8217&semi;d written for one of them&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;There was a clique&comma;&&num;8221&semi; he said&period; &&num;8220&semi;I was terminated without anyone ever hearing&comma; to this day&comma; my side of the story&period;&&num;8221&semi;<br &sol;>&NewLine;At the same hearing&comma; the Miami-Dade Schools detective who investigated the case that led to his arrest admitted he didn&&num;8217&semi;t check &&num;8220&semi;identifying marks&&num;8221&semi; in Meyer&&num;8217&semi;s body&comma; which were described by the student listed as the victim in the criminal case&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;That was drop ball on my end&comma;&&num;8221&semi; the MDSP detective candidly admitted&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;That was just something that she had mentioned to me that I felt it was pretty important&period;&&num;8221&semi;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Meyers who has declined to speak with the media &&num;8220&semi;adamantly&&num;8221&semi; denies the allegations and has great concerns about the police investigation calling it &&num;8220&semi;inadequate&period;&&num;8221&semi;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Under the pseudonym Jane Doe&comma; the victim has filed a lawsuit against the Miami-Dade School Board claiming they failed to protect her and others&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The former student who took she took Jason Meyers’ class at Palmetto Senior High School when she was 16&comma; says that’s the topic her English teacher asked her to write about were inappropriate noting that <span style&equals;"color&colon; var&lpar;--color-text&rpar;&semi;">&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;He would tell me about like ex-girlfriends that he had and like their physical relationships and then parallel that to with what he may do with me&comma;” she said&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I was paralyzed but at that age&comma; again&comma; what do you do&quest;”<br &sol;>&NewLine;She <&sol;span><span style&equals;"color&colon; var&lpar;--color-text&rpar;&semi;">started to meet her teacher secretly inside his classroom and it turned physical&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;<&sol;span>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;He grabbed my face and kissed me&comma;” she said&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I stood up and ran out of the room to my mom’s car&period;”<br &sol;>&NewLine;That happened twice she says it happened twice&comma; but an inappropriate relationship developed that went on for a year&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;At one point&comma; Meyers asked her to take nude photos and show them to him&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;But she did not report Meyers to school officials&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I didn’t know just how wrong it was&comma;” she said&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I always thought that I&&num;8217&semi;ve been the only one&period;”<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;He wasn&&num;8217&semi;t stopped&&num;8230&semi;and there were so many opportunities to stop him&comma;&&num;8221&semi; her father said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h6 class&equals;"subtitle"><img class&equals;"alignnone wp-image-323252" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2019&sol;07&sol;Palmetto-Senior-High-School-Miami-dade-County-Florida-1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Palmetto Senior High School&comma; Miami-dade County&comma; Florida 1&period;JPG" width&equals;"757" height&equals;"439" &sol;>Jason Meyers taught English and Creative writing to students at Krop and Palmetto high schools in Miami-Dade County for 14 years&comma; until he was arrested and charged in 2016 with sexual battery against a female student<&sol;h6>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"paragraph" data-pnum&equals;"11">Police say the former student who filed the lawsuit wasn’t the only one&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;NBC had <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;nbcmiami&period;com&sol;news&sol;local&sol;Teachers-Accused-of-Sexual-Misconduct-Remained-in-School-500874661&period;html" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener noreferrer">reported<&sol;a> that the school got a warning about Meyers years before his arrest&colon; a 2008 email sent to Krop Senior High School&&num;8217&semi;s administrators accusing him of &&num;8220&semi;having sex with students&period;&&num;8221&semi;<br &sol;>&NewLine;At the time&comma; the district <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;nbcmiami&period;com&sol;news&sol;local&sol;Teachers-Accused-of-Sexual-Misconduct-Remained-in-School-500874661&period;html" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener noreferrer">told<&sol;a> the station that the case was investigated and closed &&num;8220&semi;due to a lack of credible evidence&&num;8221&semi; but the school officers assigned to the investigation have since said in court proceedings they don&&num;8217&semi;t remember details of it or didn&&num;8217&semi;t do it at all&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;I don&&num;8217&semi;t recall ever being notified about this because I wasn&&num;8217&semi;t in the investigative division at the time&comma;&&num;8221&semi; said a sergeant listed in the police report filed as a result of the 2008 email&period; &&num;8220&semi;Just because it says it&comma; doesn&&num;8217&semi;t mean I actually was notified&comma;&&num;8221&semi; he added&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Another office told NBC &&num;8220&semi;according to the &lbrack;police&rsqb; report&comma; it was assigned to me but I wasn&&num;8217&semi;t &&num;8211&semi; I didn&&num;8217&semi;t investigate the case&period;&&num;8221&semi;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;They have no memory of this case and what&&num;8217&semi;s crazy is that they admitted that this is something that is a big deal&comma;&&num;8221&semi; said Iva Ravindran&comma; one of the attorneys representing claimant and her family&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;More than a dozen depositions and police reports were submitted as discovery in the criminal and civil cases involving Meyers&comma; found other alleged incidents involving the former teacher&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;In one case a former student he victimized told attorneys in the civil case that he met with Krop High School&&num;8217&semi;s assistant principal to complain about Meyers and report his inappropriate behavior with students during the 2009-2010 school year&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The assistant principal &&num;8220&semi;didn&&num;8217&semi;t seem to be interested&comma;&&num;8221&semi; the whistle blower said&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;I expressed to him that I knew multiple &lbrack;former and current&rsqb; students that had relationships with him&comma;&&num;8221&semi; the student said in a deposition&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;I expected him to show concern&comma; expected him to ask more questions&period; I expected him to look into the matter&comma;&&num;8221&semi; he added&period; That didn&&num;8217&semi;t happen&comma; the former student says&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;In court filings&comma; the district denied the student&&num;8217&semi;s allegations&comma; saying&comma; &&num;8220&semi;there were never any other complaints reported at Krop involving a teacher having inappropriate relations with a student&&num;8221&semi; during Meyers&&num;8217&semi; tenure at the school&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;There&&num;8217&semi;s also a police report by a school officer who says back in the 2004-2005 school year she saw Meyers leaning over a student in an &&num;8220&semi;intimate fashion&period;&&num;8221&semi; She didn&&num;8217&semi;t make a report about what she now says she saw until his 2016 arrest more than a decade later&period; According to police records&comma; that student is one of the eight who have accused Meyers of misconduct&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;What happened&comma; it&&num;8217&semi;s unfathomable&comma;&&num;8221&semi; said attorney Ronald Weil&comma; who is also representing claimants&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;It tells me that the systems in place or the disregard of the systems in place was such that many&comma; many girls could be affected&period;&&num;8221&semi;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The district wouldn&&num;8217&semi;t discuss the case but in an <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;nbcmiami&period;com&sol;news&sol;local&sol;Teachers-Accused-of-Sexual-Misconduct-Remained-in-School-500874661&period;html" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener noreferrer">interview<&sol;a> last November&comma; Dr&period; Jimmie Brown defended their investigative process calling it &&num;8220&semi;very solid&period;&&num;8221&semi;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;When we are made aware of allegations&comma; we take them seriously&period; We conduct a very fair and thorough investigation and we take the appropriate disciplinary action&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Brown said&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Meyers transferred from Krop to Palmetto in 2011&period; The person who hired him only heard he was a good teacher but not about any alleged incidents&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;He got braver&comma; you know&comma; cause they didn&&num;8217&semi;t do anything&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Jane Doe&&num;8217&semi;s father said&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;His daughter had to be admitted to a psychiatric ward because she became suicidal&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;That&&num;8217&semi;s the hardest thing I&&num;8217&semi;ve done in my life&comma;&&num;8221&semi; he said&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;He says the case has also taken a heavy toll on his family&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;There is no joy&comma;&&num;8221&semi; he says&period; &&num;8220&semi;He nuked our family&period; He took us apart&period;&&num;8221&semi;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Meyers is awaiting trial and has pleaded not guilty to charges of engaging in sexual activity with a child&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;In January 2019&comma; the district implemented new protocols designed to protect students&comma; including reinforcing training for personnel and reviewing their investigative process&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p data-pnum&equals;"11">&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;

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