After the murder of a San Jose Elementary music teacher, her Duval County colleagues are working hard to keep her legacy alive by continuing an arts event she created.
The murder happened March 23. Deborah Liles, a 62-year-old music teacher, wife and mother had been found in her home beaten and killed in a home invasion.
Terri Baldwin, a first-year teacher at San Jose, said San Jose students have been feeling the loss of Liles.
“Every time you see her she was dancing or singing or laughing just full of life, full of energy,” Baldwin said. “The kids knew that they were loved.”
Even though Baldwin didn’t know Liles for long, she said Liles helped her find her place at the school.
“Mrs. Liles came to my classroom pretty much every morning. (She) would come by my door and ask me how I was and check in to make sure I was OK,” Baldwin said. “And (she would) talk about Day of the Arts, almost every day."
Day of the Arts is a San Jose tradition, one Liles started more than a decade ago. Every year, students get to see dancers, musicians, crafters and painters perform and talk about their work.
Kindergarten teacher Elizabeth Herrmann said the event is a big deal at the school.
“Being a Title I school, they were being exposed to things that they’re typically not: — the ballet, you know different types of music,” Herrmann said. “You know her son would come in and do Guitar Hero with them while he was in middle and high school.”
Schools are considered Title I for serving large amounts of students who qualify for free and reduced lunch. The schools get extra federal funding.
Herrmann worked with Liles for 12 years and, along with Baldwin and other teachers, they are making sure Day of the Arts goes on.
“It’s a part of that healing process I think,” Herrmann said. “She was my friend so it was really important for me to help in any way that I could.”
Hermann said she doesn't know how Liles put on the event by herself because it’s been a struggle for 15 people to plan.
Baldwin, who is a musician, has been using her connections to the arts community to book them, and Herrmann is offering up her knowledge of how the events been run in the past.
Liles is still all over the elementary school campus. Her photo hangs on the “Teacher of the Year” wall and a “Random Acts of Kindness” bulletin board has been created in her honor. There's also a poster still hanging in her classroom that reads “Don’t stop the music.”
Herrmann said it’s sort of inspired the group.
“And we won’t,” Herrmann said. “This year will not be the end of it.”
Fifteen artists are booked for the festival on May 12. The event is themed “New York,” the last trip Liles took before her tragic death.
Reporter Lindsey Kilbride can be reached at lkilbride@wjct.org, 904-358-6359 or on Twitter at@lindskilbride.
