Clayton News Daily

By Linda Looney-Bond and

Curt Yeomans

lbond@news-daily.com

A North Clayton High School health and physical education teacher is being held in the Clayton County Jail without bond after being charged with felony aggravated stalking.

Derrick Jackson, 50, of Riverdale, was arrested Tuesday for allegedly violating the terms of a temporary protective order issued Oct. 22, according to court records.

The warrant for his arrest alleges that Jackson violated the protective order last week by attempting to contact, by telephone, a woman covered under the protective order.

Jackson also sent flowers and a six-page letter to the woman's employer, according to the warrant. The flowers were in a vase with the word "love" written on it, and the letter appeared to apologize for threats made during the course of his relationship with the woman, according to documents filed in Clayton County Magistrate Court by a sheriff's deputy.

School System Spokesman Charles White said district officials found out about the arrest warrant Tuesday.

Jackson, who is also a former North Clayton High School assistant basketball coach, has been employed by the school system since August 2007, according to White.

He was released from his duties as a basketball coach in February, White said. That was when North Clayton's season came to an end.

Jackson was put on administrative leave without pay Wednesday, while school system officials conduct their own investigation into the matter, White said. White also said the school system has received no previous complaints, and has conducted no previous investigations of Jackson.

"We are going to monitor what's going on in the court system, and with law enforcement, to see what happens, since this did not happen at a school," White said.

White said Jackson had also worked with the school system's success academy, and was previously a paraprofessional at Kemp Primary School when he first came to the district.

Jackson is scheduled to have a preliminary hearing in the case in Clayton County Magistrate Court on March 24. A bond hearing has been set for March 27.