NEWS

Nashville teacher charged in child porn case taught at another elementary

Jason Gonzales, and Natalie Neysa Alund
The Tennessean

A Nashville teacher arrested on child porn charges this week also worked part-time at another elementary last school year,  a Metro Nashville Public Schools spokesman said Thursday.

Jarrett Jones, 30, who is accused of recording elementary school girls undressing, worked part-time as a music teacher at Mt. View Elementary school during  the 2015-16 school year while also working part-time at Antioch High School.

Jarrett Jones

Jones was a full-time music teacher at Napier Elementary from the fall of 2011 to 2015. During that period, Metro police say he secretly recorded 40 girls as they changed clothes in a closet in the school's music room.

Metro Schools spokesman Joe Bass said Jones was not rehired by Napier's new principal in 2015 after she was allowed to hire an entirely new staff.

Jones, arrested Monday at his Nashville home, faces two counts of especially aggravated sexual exploitation of minors and three counts of sexual exploitation of minors after Metro police say he admitted Sept. 8 to making the secret recordings at Napier.

Police say they discovered a hard drive with more than 50 videos in a folder titled “Napier.” Videos of 40 girls— all identified as his students — were labeled by their first names.

Nashville parents seek answers after teacher charged in child porn case

Also on the hard drive, police say, were more than 1,000 sexually explicit images of minors that appear to have been downloaded from an external source unrelated to Napier Elementary..

Metro Schools officials placed Jones on administrative leave Sept. 9 and plan to fire the music teacher. The district also will\ report the arrest to the Tennessee State Board of Education for a teacher license revocation hearing.

Personnel records show Jones has never been in trouble with the district.

Jones could face a lengthy sentence if convicted and prosecutors on Wednesday filed a motion to increase his bail. He is currently jailed on a $100,000 bail. A court hearing is set Monday.

Under the law, Jones' current charges are felonies that require mandatory sentences of eight to 12 years per count.

If convicted consecutively of the charges he faces a possible life prison sentence, prosecutors said.

Reach Jason Gonzales at 615-259-8047 and on Twitter @ByJasonGonzales.

Court papers: Nashville teacher labeled porn videos with girls' first names