Jonathan Lyons has been hired as principal at South Medford High School, replacing Jeremy Hamasu, who resigned. Lyons and Bret Champion, school district superintendent, met with concerned staff members in recent days to answer questions related to the changeover.

A partially redacted investigative report sheds light on why Jonathan Lyons, who was announced last week as the incoming principal at South Medford High School, was removed from his last job as principal of Carmel High School in California.

The report details how five employees at his former school district had concerns about how he handled a case of possible sexual harassment involving two students and how he told the employees during a meeting that the incident was “boys acting like … boys.”

According to reporting in the Monterey Herald, Lyons denied making the “boys acting like … boys” statement.

On Tuesday, Lyons sent the following statement to the Rogue Valley Times about the “boys” comment attributed to him.

“Regarding the report by the attorneys for the Carmel School District, I did not say, ‘boys will be boys,’” Lyons wrote. “Instead, I said the comments issued by one of the students could be characterized as ‘sophomoric boy b.s.’

“My comment was made to administrators in a closed meeting, not to students and not in reference to the student himself. I apologize for any hurt this language may have caused.”

According to the Herald, which extensively covered the issue, Lyons was placed on leave Dec. 16 and then reassigned Feb. 7 from the principal’s job at Carmel High School, pending the results of an investigation, which was conducted by the law firm of Dannis Woliver Kelly of San Francisco.

That report, dated Feb. 23, was sent to the Carmel school district by attorney Barbara J. Vrankovich of the firm and forwarded to Lyons’ attorney Barry J. Bennett of Fresno. The report is available on the Carmel school district’s website (https://tinyurl.com/mvtptvs6).

The report is four pages long. Redactions make it difficult to follow at times, but highlights include the following:

• Staff members at the Carmel district met in December to discuss the behavior of a particular student and a related individualized educational program. At the meeting was the district’s director of student services, director of special education, a board-certified behavior analyst, a Carmel High School assistant principal and a resource specialist. Lyons later joined the meeting.

Afterward, three of the attendees later met with the district’s personnel director, Craig Chavez, “regarding their concerns about Mr. Lyons.” Chavez then reported those concerns to Supt. Ted Knight, who placed Lyons on paid administrative leave.

• Lyons spoke for about 20 minutes during the December meeting about an incident that occurred about two months prior when he saw a student in the hallway visibly upset and asked the student what was wrong. The student said another student had approached him and said something like, “My friend over there has a big d—. You should go get some.”

The student told Lyons he wanted the behavior to stop and asked if it was sexual harassment, but Lyons told the student he wasn’t sure, and asked the student if he had reported the incident to his teacher, which he had done.

Lyons suggested to the student that he drop the class, but the student refused. Lyons also asked him if he wanted to participate in a conflict resolution session with the other student, but the student also refused.

Lyons said he himself then went on to a meeting and never heard from the student again. He said he did not believe that the behavior in question constituted sexual harassment or bullying because it wasn’t pervasive or repetitive.

• Some attendees at the meeting expressed concern about Lyons, who said there should have been a meeting between the students, but he said because one student did not want to do so, “that was that.”

“Some felt that Mr. Lyons was dismissing this incident between the students and ignoring the potential future problems between the two students,” according to the report. “Mr. Lyons stated that he meant that was ‘the end of the conversation for now’ but not the end of the matter.”

• The five people in attendance at the December meeting had strong reactions to one particular comment made by Lyons at the meeting.

“Mr. Lyons’ second comment that this incident was “(redacted) boys acting like (redacted) boys” elicited a strong reaction from everyone in attendance at the meeting,” according to the report. “It was described as ‘atrocious given this day and age,’ ‘appalling,’ ‘dismissive’ and ‘insensitive.’

“When asked about this during his interview, Mr. Lyons responded that it was possible that he had said that,” according to the report.

• Deborah Puente, the assistant principal who attended the meeting in Carmel, stated that Lyons “did not investigate” the conduct between the students and did not document the incident in the district’s management base.

• The report noted that Lyons had received extensive training regarding reporting requirements in cases of sexual harassment, and that lack of training wasn’t an issue.

“It appears, instead, to be either a lack of understanding of what constitutes sexual harassment itself or an inability, at least in this instance, to slow down, step back, investigate what had occurred, and arrive at a conclusion that is based on the information gathered during the investigation.”

“Based on the information obtained during this investigation, Mr. Lyons did not follow established procedures to investigate the incident … .”

Bret Champion, superintendent of the Medford School District, wrote in a June 5 email to the local school community that the issue leading to Lyons leaving his last job “centered around a technical reporting concern surrounding a student investigation.” Lyons, in the same email, wrote, “There was a question about whether I appropriately notified our superintendent about a student investigation; the concerns were not about the investigation itself.”

Cynthia Wright, vice chairwoman of the Medford School District, said in a phone interview last week that she had not seen the investigative report prior to the Medford board voting last week to approve the hiring of Lyons.

The Medford school board was notified via email June 2 about the hiring of Lyons. The notice was sent by Jeanne Grazioli, deputy superintendent:

“We wanted you to be aware that there are some rumors floating around based on media reports that Jon was let go from his position as principal at Carmel High School,” Grazioli wrote. “Please know that we completed an extensive background check, and have no concerns about his ability to lead South. Jon will be an excellent fit, and we look forward to introducing him to you soon!”

According to his resume, Lyons has been an assistant principal or principal at six California high schools since 2006. He took the Carmel job in 2019.

Lyons has a bachelor’s degree in communication and a masters degree in educational leadership. He is married and has three children.

Carmel High School has a 98% graduation rate and 862 students, compared with a 90% graduation rate and 1,750 students at South Medford High School, according to U.S. News & World Report.

South Medford High School Principal Jeremy Hamasu is resigning to take an assistant principal position at Scenic Middle School in Central Point, but he was still on the job Monday. He did not reply to a request for comment.