June 17, 2026, 5:36 p.m. CT
- The small town of Jay is set to appoint a convicted sex offender as its new town manager.
- April Watson, who in September was made operations manager by unanimous vote of the Jay Town Council, is scheduled to step in as manager July 3, according to Mayor Shon Owens.
- Watson, then a teacher at Jay High School, served a year in prison and was registered as a sexual offender after admitting to having sex with three 17-year-old students.
The small town of Jay is set to appoint a convicted sex offender as its new town manager.
Current Town Manager Eric Seib has been working part time since September and on July 3 will officially retire from the position.
April Watson, who was made operations manager by unanimous vote of the Jay Town Council on the same night Seib stepped back from full time duty, is scheduled to become the next town manager, according to Jay Mayor Shon Owens.
Committing to the higher profile job opened the door to public scrutiny and the revelation that Watson pleaded no contest in 2010 to three charges of engaging in unlawful sexual activity with minors and is a registered Florida sex offender.
Watson was teaching at Jay High School in 2007 when she and another teacher had sex with 17-year-old male students. She was 31 years old at the time.
Owens confirmed he was aware of Watson’s status and the crimes committed “a long, long, long time ago.”
“I’m not familiar with details of the case against her,” Owens said. “I do know that she’s the right person for the job. There is a great deal of confidence within the community in her ability to do the job.”
Watson and cohort Ashley Burkett, both teachers at Jay High School, were arrested by the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office on Aug. 6, 2009, for engaging in sexual intercourse with male students in 2007. The tryst, which involved three teens, occurred on an occasional basis over a four month period, between July 1 and Oct. 31, court records show.
Investigators learned from two of the teenagers involved that they’d had sex with Watson at either her residence or Burkett’s home. The third victim said he was involved in sexual activity with Burkett at her residence and at Watson’s home.
Records indicate the young men typically hooked up with the women after Burkett and Watson had spent off duty time at a location identified only as “the creek.” The teens said they did not receive instruction from either educator and did not engage in sexual intercourse on school grounds or at a school event.
In depositions reviewed by the Pensacola News Journal, two of the young men said that the activity was consensual and they did not want to see the women get in trouble.
Court records indicate that both Watson and Burkett were sentenced to 15 months in prison and served a year of that time.
Both were placed on community control, a form of house arrest, for 18 months, and probation for five years. Watson and Burkett were each released early from both the community control and probationary periods after satisfying requirements imposed by the courts.
Under terms of their plea agreement, both Watson and Burkett were branded by the legal system as sexual offenders.
While the victims in the case said they would have preferred simply to move on from what had occurred, at least one student’s mother told investigators she was upset to learn of her son’s encounters with Watson.
“The mother is upset she is sending her child there (the high school) to go to school and that teachers are having sex with him,” the Sheriff’s Office investigator said in his deposition.
Owens said he was not familiar with any restrictions Watson might be under as she assumes the Town Manager role, but said he is confident she is well aware of any prohibitions remaining against her and will not let them impact the job she does.
“We don’t have these discussions,” he said. “I think everybody understands she is the best person for the position.”
Watson was allowed supervised contact with minor family members and unsupervised contact with her own children under the terms of her plea. An order that she have no contact with the victims, the victims’ families or her co-defendant Burkett held for only as long as she remained under court supervision that expired in 2014.
The Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office investigation that led to the arrests was initiated after an anonymous letter was sent to the Santa Rosa County School District alleging the sexual relationships.
Watson taught math and was the advisor for the junior varsity cheerleaders at the time of her arrest. She was slated to become the varsity cheerleader sponsor. Both she and Burkett lost their jobs with the Santa Rosa School District after being convicted.
Transcripts from the law enforcement officer’s deposition in the Watson case state that she did not attempt to hide what she’d done.
“I think she was extremely upset about the choices she had made. I think she was very regretful about what happened,” the officer testified. Watson told investigators the sex occurred during “a crazy period in her life” when she was experiencing “relationship problems with her husband.”
In a motion seeking Watson’s early release from probation, her attorney, Barry Beroset, wrote that his client had been married for 10 years, was a mother of two and an active member of the Jay Community Methodist Church deeply invested in a Bible study group she’d joined following her release from prison.
He also noted that Watson was an active member of a Friends woman’s group, a community organization, and had successfully completed sexual offender counseling.
Owens protested the News Journal’s intention to report on Watson’s status.
He said negative news would reflect badly on a small town that has made tremendous strides in the last several years and is planning a big celebration to commemorate the opening of Bray-Hendricks Park following completion of a $10 million renovation project. The park opening will occur July 3, coinciding with Seib’s last day with the city.
“People are different, people change,” Owens said. “This is hard for me to swallow.”
Tom McLaughlin covers Santa Rosa County, environmental stories, development and does investigative reporting. He can be reached at tmclaughlin@pnj.com
