James Douglas Jackson, who was convicted in Douglas County in 2001 of several sex crimes against children, was vice principal at Arrowhead Junior High School from 1973 to 1976, according to school yearbooks from the time. Jackson, now 72, also served as vice principal at Northwest Junior High in Kansas City during the 1972-73 school year.

Yearbook picture of James D. Jackson, who had an active teaching license in Kansas from 1960 to 1976. He was also the vice principal of Arrowhead Junior High in Kansas City, Kan., between 1973 and 1976.

James Douglas Jackson

A convicted Lawrence sex offender who was one of 14 Kansas men listed in the recently released “perversion files” kept by the Boy Scouts of America, served as a vice principal in the Kansas City, Kan., school district.

James Douglas Jackson, who was convicted in Douglas County in 2001 of several sex crimes against children, was vice principal at Arrowhead Junior High School from 1973 to 1976, according to school yearbooks from the time. Jackson, now 72, also served as vice principal at Northwest Junior High in Kansas City during the 1972-73 school year.

Jackson had an active teaching license in the state between 1960 and 1976, according to state teaching records. Information about what other schools Jackson may have taught at were not available, according to a representative from the Kansas State Department of Education.

Calls to the Kansas City, Kan., school district were not returned.

Jackson had been registered with a scouting unit in Kansas City since 1981, and records from the Boy Scouts allege that Jackson abused a boy in May 1985. Days following the alleged abuse, Jackson was sent a letter indicating he’d been removed from the Boy Scouts.

Included in Jackson’s file is a three-page letter detailing the abuse. But the letter is handwritten, and some of it is illegible.

In 2001, Jackson, who at the time operated the Mask-Snorkel-Fin scuba gear shop in Lawrence, was convicted in Douglas County of four sex crimes, including two counts of criminal sodomy on a minor and two counts of indecent liberties with a child. Jackson spent more than 10 years in Kansas prisons and was released last April. He is required to register as a sex offender for life.

Reached at his Lawrence home Saturday, Jackson declined an interview request, and said he’s hoping to move on from his past offenses.

“I’m not proud of my past,” he said.