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Principal Had Warned Polk Teacher Charged In Sex Case

Tribune photo by BILLY TOWNSEND

The media surrounds Danielle Jones as deputies escort her to a patrol car.

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By VALERIE KALFRIN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 6, 2008

Updated: 06/06/2008 02:41 pm

TAMPA - A Polk County principal months ago warned a teacher now accused of having sex with at least four underage boys to stop the "hugs, tickles and flirtatious non-school related conversations" with male students, records show.

Danielle Jones, 32, a sixth-grade science teacher at Stambaugh Middle School, is being held at the Polk County Jail. Bail was set today at $200,000.

Assistant State Attorney Mark Levine said there are "multiple, multiple victims" in this investigation and that more charges are pending.

Jones' attorney, mother and sister did not speak to reporters.

The Polk County Sheriff's Office on Thursday charged Jones with lewd and lascivious battery and unlawful sexual activity with minors. The sheriff's office said Jones, of Auburndale, had sex over a two-month period with at least four boys, two of them brothers who had been her students. When the encounters occurred, one was 14, one was 15 and two were 16.

Personnel records obtained today show Stambaugh Principal Allison Kalbfleisch in January warned Jones against having students at her home alone. Kalbfleisch also told Jones to avoid socializing alone with young male teens, to deactivate her MySpace page and to stop "hugs, tickles and flirtatious non-school related conversations" with students.

"If you do not make requested changes in your professional lifestyle, you risk ruining your career and bringing negative and unwanted attention to Stambaugh Middle School and the School Board of Polk County," Kalbfleisch wrote.

The school district suspended Jones on May 19 during an investigation after the first boy came forward, the sheriff's office said.

In an interview with News Channel 8 on Thursday, Kalbfleisch said the school was not told the reason for the suspension. She called the allegations "shocking, very sad, terrible," and said, "This is out of left field for me."

Kalbfleisch was out of the office today and unavailable for comment.

Her "letter of concern" from Jan. 23 in Jones' personnel file, however, references an e-mail sent Dec. 5 about classroom visitations and a conversation on Jan. 22.

In the letter, Kalbfleisch says she and a school board investigator had learned that Jones had "established a pattern of allowing young male students, some of whom you do not currently teach, to enter your classroom before, during and after school hours for visitation, hugs, tickles and flirtatious non-school related conversations."

Kalbfleisch also wrote that Jones had been seen walking arm-in-arm with male students.

The principal wrote that she insisted Jones never have casual, non-school-related physical or verbal contact with students or be alone in a classroom with any male students "in an effort to protect your reputation and the reputation of our school."

Sheriff's office investigators said Thursday that Jones would post messages on her MySpace page calling the boys her "sons" and herself their "momma."

Today, the MySpace profile is blocked to anyone not listed as a friend. The home page shows Eeyore, the donkey from the Winnie-the-Pooh books and the quote, "You are my sunshine."

News Channel 8 reporter Jeff Patterson contributed to this report. Reporter Valerie Kalfrin can be reached at (813) 259-7800 or vkalfrin@tampatrib.com.

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