Former Terry Parker assistant principal suspended without pay for altercations involving students

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Duval County Assistant Principal will be suspended, without pay, for 15 days. This stems from two 2022 incidents involving Oscar Harris and two students. He is currently serving as a Coordinator in Instructional Technology, a role that does not involve student interaction.

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Action News Jax reported in February of 2022 when three different videos showed a man in a white shirt holding onto a girl in a red shirt. He then pushes the girl, grabs her by the neck and slams her into the fence. Other footage shows the teen being pushed, hard, to the ground.

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In a Duval County Public Schools report, Assistant Principal Oscar Harris allegedly grabbed one of the students -- 17-year-old Alajaah Brown -- by the neck and hit another student when attempting to break up the fight. The district found these claims sustainable.

During a special board meeting, Wednesday, the Duval County School District’s attorney recapped an administrative hearing, where Harris argued he felt attacked. He added, he was trying to restrain the student.

“Oscar Harris weighed about 270,” Chapman said. “[The] Student 117. 5′2″. The size matters”

“Oscar Harris may have been bigger than her, but what he also testified to is that he had had a total knee replacement. His hand was injured from breaking up a fight, just the week prior,” Harris’s attorney, Mr. Poindexter said.

The district also found sufficient evidence against Harris for “grabbing a student by the head/neck area and pushing the student to the floor,” according to an investigative report.

Read: DCPS findings: Jacksonville assistant principal at fault for grabbing two students by neck

In 2015, Action News Jax showed you video of what the district later characterized as “overly aggressive behavior” towards a student. The man in the video is Oscar Harris. He was suspended for 15 days without pay for this incident at Westside High School. Back in 2011, he was suspended for 30 days without pay for lying to law enforcement, when his students stole from the Bradford County football players’ locker room.

Before the unanimous vote to punish Harris, on Wednesday, school board member, Kelly Coker, noted this, “I find it problematic that our district continues to take the same personnel and put them in certain types of schools, because it does increase the likelihood.”

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The district spokesperson said following his suspension he will remain in this instructional technology position. He will not have student interaction. The district is working to confirm the suspension start date.