'The Clay Way': Tales From Inside the Clay County School District Police Department

This article was originally published on the Clay County Beacon in January 2021. Minor edits have been made for grammar and clarity.

Let’s travel back in time to 2018. At that time, Addison Davis was in his second year as the Superintendent of Clay County Schools. In his second year of office, Davis was marching full speed ahead to model Clay County Schools after larger districts like Duval County.

A central tenet of Davis’ plan for Clay County was creating a School District Police Department. Davis made a fully detailed police department model in conjunction with the senior members of his district leadership.

The model included all the aspects needed to start a new law enforcement agency. Cars, officers, equipment, weaponry, and ammo were all mapped out and budgeted. In conjunction with these plans, Davis and his staff discussed how best to achieve his goal with at least three school board members. These conversations were, of course, verbal and off the record.

Eventually, Davis realized the creation of a School District Police Department presented an opportunity to levy additional taxes for the district. The plan for a School District PD meshed into Davis’ other strategies to increase district funding, including a new 1/2 cent sales tax.

In 2019, a perfect storm of circumstances helped Addison Davis close the deal on a Police Department for the Clay County School District. And closing the deal is just what Addison Davis did. Moving at what some people called a reckless speed, Davis received approval from the School Board, and the Clay County School District Police Department (CCSDPD) was created. Long-tenured police officer Kenneth Wagner was tapped as the first-ever CCSDPD Chief.

Many in the community were concerned about the creation of the department. Citizens spoke out at School Board meetings and online and were largely ignored or ridiculed by Davis and the School Board.

Despite how the department came into being and the community’s concerns, the School District PD has mostly avoided negative press. That is, until recently.

A few weeks ago, a video featuring a Clay County School District Police Officer appeared on Facebook. The video featured a confrontation between a man and the officer, wherein the man accused the officer of sending inappropriate text messages to a child.

As it turns out, the man in the video is named Zane Waits. Waits, who runs an organization called “Wait’s List,” was posing as a child in the conversation with the officer in the text message. Wait’s List has a long track record of outing child predators and working with law enforcement agencies nationwide to bring the predators to justice.

The video exchange between Waits and the CCSDPD officer led to an Action News Jax story. That story led to questions from the Clay County community regarding how the Clay County Sheriff’s Office and the Clay County School District Police Department handled the allegations.

As time passed, it was determined and confirmed by the Clay County Sheriff’s Office and the Clay County School District Police Department that appropriate action is being taken. The investigation into the officer who allegedly had inappropriate contact with children is ongoing and taken very seriously by both organizations.

In the weeks following, the Clay County Beacon has uncovered more allegations and questions surrounding the Clay County School District Police Department. Claims of harassment, EEOC complaints, wrongful termination lawsuits, and an alleged climate of fear and intimidation have surfaced from current and former officers.

Since September 2020, The Clay County Beacon has been investigating claims brought by current and former CCSDPD Officers. We uncovered at least 12 officers who resigned from the police department since its inception, which amounts to a 26% turnover rate.

One former employee is suing the CCSDPD, and several others are considering legal action. The people who spoke with the Clay County Beacon wished to remain anonymous. The current and former officers all tell similar tales of police department leadership who operate in an allegedly toxic fashion.

The CCSDPD leadership team contains a Police Chief, two Lieutenants, and four Sergeants. Former Superintendent Addison Davis hired Police Chief Kenneth Wagner and has run the CCSDPD since its creation. Chief Wagner hired the two Lieutenants who report to him and Sergeants who report to the Lieutenants.

And that is where the folks we spoke with say the problems start. After Wagner took on the Chief of Police’s mantle, our sources claim Wagner brought in his friends from previous agencies. They believe friends had no prior experience managing people or large law enforcement agencies.

After the department’s leadership team was in place, the Clay County School District Police Department recruited officers new and experienced to fill the agency’s open positions. Many officers with decades of experience in law enforcement flocked to the department for a chance to protect students and keep schools safe. Many saw the jobs as an opportunity to foster positive community and law enforcement relationships.

But now, some of these officers allege their hopes of CCSDPD becoming their dream job soon vanished. The officers claim that from the outset, promises that were made have not been kept. Initially, the officers were promised schedules that would match the school’s hours they worked.
Once hired, the hours changed, and some officers were required to work nights and weekends.

Sources also allege that their relationships with leadership turned sour after being hired. One person described the climate as “oppressive and motivated by fear.” Another said that complaints or questions were met with derision and shouting matches. The Lieutenants and Sergeants are alleged to have pressured officers to operate “The Clay Way” whenever processes or procedures were questioned or not followed.

Other officers claim leadership within the CCSDPD has enacted retaliation against officers who buck the system or ask questions. One source told a tale of being aggressively harassed by the department’s Lieutenants while shopping for their eventual replacement.

There are also claims of women and minority officers being targets for replacement. One source went as far as to allege all of the CCSDPD leadership members colluded to push minority and women officers out of the department.

Another point of contention amongst the officers is how policies are created and disseminated. They allege that policies are created and sent out via email and change frequently. The problem, allegedly, is that it is impossible to keep track of the policies and updates. Lack of training and discussion on new policies is also problematic for some.

Officers point to the Sergeant ranks’ turmoil as evidence of their claims of a toxic work environment. At least three officers have voluntarily given up their Sergeant stripes. The sergeants have allegedly received the same aggressive and hostile treatment from Lieutenants as the rank-and-file officers.

As officers sought advice on handling the alleged abuse, they turned to friends and colleagues outside the CCSDPD. And that, according to the officers, only made the relationship with the Lieutenants more contentious. One source recalled a training session wherein the two CCSDPD Lieutenants ambushed officers who, according to the Lieutenants, had been speaking too freely about the CCSDPD to outside people. In the Lieutenants' mind, this behavior was not the “Clay Way”. In these meetings with officers, the Lieutenants allegedly intimated that officers not in line with the “Clay Way” would soon find themselves on the way out the door.

The last and most disturbing allegation relates to the treatment of female officers in the department. Many sources spoke under strict anonymity, and they described an environment where female officers are subjected to inappropriate comments about their bodies and gender by leadership in the department.

These allegations have made officers uncomfortable, bringing problems to their leadership. The impression is that the Chief and Lieutenants work as a team.

But CCSDPD Chief Kenneth Wagners states that these allegations are not valid. Chief Wagner says that most of the allegations are misunderstandings or the complaints of disgruntled former employees. Wagner was gracious enough to speak openly about the allegations and how he runs the Clay County School District Police Department.

Chief Wagner states his door is always open for any concerns or questions his officers may have. He also said that he had not been made aware of any unaddressed allegations of harassment, intimidation, or improper interactions between his officers and his leadership staff.

Chief Wagner said he expects his officers to act professionally toward one another and the community at large. Chief Wagner ended our conversation with the sincere hope that any department member would come to him directly for help with any questions and concerns.

The Beacon also contacted the Clay County School District’s Human Resources department for verification of details related to the department's turnover, hiring, firing, discipline, and whistleblower policies. After an initial email from Brenda Troutman, Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources, we have yet to have an in-depth correspondence with the district’s HR staff.

If any allegations brought forth by current and former officers are true, the taxpayers may be on the hook for the consequences. The Clay County Beacon has confirmed that there is at least one active lawsuit against the CCSDPD, and more are on the horizon. Additionally, there are several pending EEOC complaints against the district.

The best-case scenario would be that these conflict points are indeed misunderstandings that can hopefully be cleared up as time passes. The worst-case scenario is the CCSDPD has serious issues that may lead to taxpayers being on the hook for the fix. Time will tell which scenario will come true.