Days after a separate arrest, another Duval County Public Schools teacher is facing felony misconduct charges involving his treatment of a female student.
“I was unable to keep my hands, feet and objects to myself,” Darnell-Cookman School of the Medical Arts
teacher Brian Wilker Orr, 42, wrote in a September 24 email to “numerous students” and school district employees, according to a September 25 arrest report.Orr was charged with engaging in lewd conduct as an authority figure, child abuse and lewd or lascivious touching of a minor. The first charge is a second-degree felony punishable by up to 15 years behind bars if he’s convicted. The others carry terms up to five years.
Orr was released from the Duval County jail after posting $275,009 in bail
and being placed under electronic monitoring with orders not to have contact with minors or enter any Duval County school, according to court and jail records.
A DCPS employee roster lists Orr as a high school math teacher on “temporary reassignment.”
The arrest report said police were called “in reference to a teacher slapping/striking a student,” and that an officer met a girl who described Orr slapping her butt and telling her “I’m just playing.”
The report said Orr also sent an email titled “My day of harassment and terror” where he wrote “I have decided to out myself as a serial rapist and abuser.”
According to the arrest report, the email said “[t]oday I decided to grab, squeeze, stroke and simply playing abusive father to my congregation of young black girls. These are the most vulnerable young females,” then used a vulgar term to indicate the email writer wanted to ejaculate.
An arrest warrant for Orr was issued the same day, according to the report.
Orr was jailed three days after substitute teacher Cameron Arnez Coverson was arrested on charges that included unlawful sexual activity with a minor and extended a run of instances when teachers and school district employees have been accused of misconduct.
Superintendent Christopher Bernier issued separate video statements to parents and to school district staff that talked about misconduct but didn’t mention specifics of any recent cases.
In the employee video, Bernier delivered “a very difficult message but one that must be said and heard loud and clear: Enough is enough. We have one of society’s highest responsibilities, and that is to protect and care for children.”
In the remarks, which lasted about three minutes, Bernier talked about anger and heartbreak among employees and said that “as superintendent, I cannot tolerate behavior that puts a student’s safety or wellbeing at risk. Any violation is one too many, and in the recent weeks, we’ve seen far too many. These incidents have been painful and hurtful for our children, staff, families and schools.
“…And remember above all what is expected of us as we take care of our community’s most precious resource. Speak up, follow the law, uphold our standards and do everything in your power to keep our children safe.”
Court records don’t reflect Orr having been arraigned yet but show that his attorney, Mitch Stone, asked September 28 for a “statement of particulars” identifying a date, time and place that events Orr is charged with are supposed to have happened.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Duval teacher jailed on child abuse, lewd touching charges
