The question of whether Duval Schools employees should be allowed to keep guns in their cars on district property will have to wait a few months for an answer.
The Duval County School Board voted Monday to delay a vote on a policy proposal to allow adults to keep guns in their cars on school campuses. During the same meeting, the board also voted to approve the termination of former Baldwin Principal Michael Smith, whose removal in September prompted two board members to push for the policy change.
Duval Schools currently does not allow anyone but law enforcement officers to bring weapons onto school property — so it’s illegal for employees reporting to work, and for parents picking up kids, to have guns in their vehicles. Though state statute allows open carry in most public places, the state does allow local government buildings and school districts to enforce the prohibition. (Duval’s neighboring districts Clay and St. Johns both have similar prohibitions.)
Baldwin principal removed
On Sept. 15, district police received an anonymous tip that Smith had a gun in his truck. His removal came the week after Jacksonville Today had reported on misconduct allegations in his personnel file.
According to the board agenda, Smith’s termination was based on the board’s policy that prohibits employees from having guns in their cars, and also on state administrative codes that say educators should “strive for professional growth,” “exercise the best professional judgment and integrity,” and “achieve and sustain the highest degree of ethical conduct.”
Records of text messages Jacksonville Today received from the district through a public records request show Smith did not consent to a voluntary search of his truck, and so Duval Schools Police used its specially trained weapons-detecting dog Maverick to search Smith’s vehicle. A loaded handgun was found in the center console of the truck.
Court records show his criminal charges were dismissed last week because he successfully completed a pretrial intervention program.
On the day the gun was found, Superintendent Christopher Bernier texted the board, “As in keeping with our protocols in all cases with handguns on a campus with employees the likely result will be employee dismissal. I cannot speak more definitively because it would cloud the objectivity and his due process rights.”
Bernier said at a press conference that afternoon, “At no time is it safe for anyone to be on our campuses with a gun.”
The next morning, Board Chair Charlotte Joyce sent a series of texts to DCPS policy director Cami Sams. “Can we talk about this?” Joyce wrote. “I’m working on the legislature to change the law and stop districts from doing this to teachers and admin. In the interim, are you willing to discuss changing the school policy to only apply to students…?”
It’s unclear what Joyce meant by “working on the legislature.” She did not respond to Jacksonville Today’s question. Former state Rep. Wyman Duggan, R-Jacksonville, the outgoing House Speaker pro tempore who is now running for Jacksonville mayor, said no one from Duval Schools had approached him about such a policy change.
Documents received from Duval Schools
The following day, board member Tony Ricardo also asked Sams to craft a revised policy that would allow adults to keep guns in their cars on school property.
“In light of the recent issue at Baldwin HS (as well as a few others), I would like to propose a change in Policy 3.40…” Ricardo wrote, adding that he favored allowing administrators, employees, contractors and parents “(NO students)” to keep guns in their cars.
Documents received from Duval Schools
District staff presented to the board at a workshop in October a revised version of the policy that incorporated the changes Joyce and Ricardo had asked for.
Board members’ questions ranged from the potential legal risk of allowing guns in cars to the possible need for additional parking lot security.
“I don’t want to see this on the November agenda,” school board member Cindy Pearson said at the October workshop. “I think for something with unanswered questions, that would be a serious change in board policy, I do not want to fast track this.”
Charlotte Joyce at the School Board’s Oct. 1, 2026, workshop to discuss policy updates. | Megan Mallicoat, Jacksonville Today
The policy change did, however, go up for a vote at the Nov. 9 meeting.
On Monday, some board members said they were concerned and confused by the speed with which the item was brought up for a vote. Members of the public, too, asked the board to reconsider.
“I also want to address guns on school campuses. You can’t claim to prioritize student safety while allowing unnecessary risk into our school environments,” one commenter said. “Our students deserve to feel safe and respected and protected. Leadership should bring communities together, not divide them, and the safety of our students should never be negotiated.”
Ricardo later made the incorrect claim that “more kids will die from car accidents than from firearms accidents, mass shootings” — the American Academy of Pediatrics reports the leading cause of death for children in the U.S. is firearms injuries.
Board member Melody Bolduc suggested the board pause its approval vote and instead vote to wait for another round of revisions.
“I really wanted to vote on it tonight,” said Charlotte Joyce as she entered her vote against the delay. Joyce is term-limited; Monday’s meeting was her last.
Bolduc’s motion to delay the vote passed 5-2, with Joyce and April Carney voting against it. The board will review the policy again at a workshop later this month, and the policy could come up for a vote again as soon as January. By then, the board will have three new members, replacing Carney, Joyce and Darryl Willie.
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