The removal of a school resource officer assigned to Medford schools since 2022 has prompted community outcry.

Medford School District and Medford Police Department officials said last week that Officer Josh Doney had recently been reassigned to patrol. School district officials — save for one board member — said the reassignment was a mutual decision between the school district and police, while community members, in a flurry of social media posts, claim it was retaliatory.

Several school district faculty members and Michael Williams, a school board member who spoke out on the issue, say Doney clashed with the district’s director of security, Ron Havniear, after pointing out that the district’s interpretation of policies pertaining to students bringing firearms to school did not align with state statute.

The school district and police department recently issued a couple of joint statements attempting to assuage concerns that Doney’s reassignment was anything other than routine.

“Officer Doney’s reassignment to Patrol was not disciplinary. We want to reiterate it is common for officers to be reassigned to different areas within the department,” the statement read.

“The rumors that Officer Doney was transferred from SRO back to patrol because he voiced safety concerns that the district and the police department did not want to address are not true.”

Superintendent Bret Champion later sent an email to faculty and families stating that Doney’s transfer was “due to an accumulation of concerns with regard to (district) SRO Standards and Expectations.”

Williams, who said he was speaking on his own behalf and not for the school board, said Champion’s statement contrasted with claims that Doney’s reassignment was merely routine.

Elected to the school board last year, Williams said his efforts to talk to teachers included a conversation with Doney in which the officer voiced concerns about district policy pertaining to firearms in schools and how such incidents were handled.

State statute calls for a minimum one-year expulsion and other considerations prior to allowing re-enrollment in the district. Williams said district guidelines were not as rigid, but district officials said they upheld the one-year rule.

Williams said Doney drew heat for shining a light on the “district’s failure to protect students” and that Havniear took issue with Williams talking to faculty.

“The push for Doney to be removed was unilateral. It was the district. And now the district is trying to scoot up next to MPD to make it look like it was a joint decision,” Williams said.

“They’re trying to make it seem like SROs are transferred all the time, no big deal, which is not the case. This sends a message to the other SROs: ‘If you don’t want to get reassigned, don’t talk.’”

Williams said Doney’s reassignment “created more of a safety issue for our kids by removing a person who was very, very good at keeping our kids safe. The fact of the matter is that one person’s ego put kids at risk.”

Four firearm incidents in two years

The district reported four firearm incidents in Medford schools in the past two years: in October 2022, December 2022, November 2023 and February 2024. Havniear told the Rogue Valley Times that the incidents were handled appropriately in terms of notifying faculty and families, and that the students involved were handled according to district guidelines; the students were offered online enrollment or tutoring, not enrolled elsewhere, he said.

Champion acknowledged that Doney had concerns, which the district shared, about student expulsions related to weapons and that Doney contributed to stronger policies, including “more frequent check-ins” and a checklist of requirements for students to reenter the district.

Havniear said Williams’ claim that SROs were instructed not to speak to board members is “unequivocally untrue.”

“I discuss standards and expectations with our SROs, and I pre-discuss that with their leadership … Michael Williams was not present for that conversation nor any other conversation that we had with them,” Havniear said.

“I never stated that they cannot have a conversation with a board member. We talked about ‘context matters,’ no matter who you’re talking to, especially when it comes to confidentiality of student information.”

Medford School Board Chair Cynthia Wright suggested that Williams is unclear about his responsibilities as a board member.

“I remember one time having a conversation with (Williams) and him saying, ‘I really like being in the details and going in there and really being a part of the school community,’” Wright said.

Wright said that, according to training that board members receive through the Oregon School Boards Association, “that is exactly the opposite of what the role of a board member is.”

“We have to stay a little farther from those things so that we can be impartial and neutral if things should come back to us,” she said. “I think part of his problem is not understanding his role and getting too emotionally involved to be impartial.”

Williams said he challenged fellow board members to speak up on safety issues and voiced frustration with what he called a “culture of silence.”

“The fact they’re saying (Doney’s reassignment) wasn’t disciplinary only shines a light on the fact it was something else. It wasn’t personnel-related. It was personal.”

Faculty say Doney made schools safer

In addition to concerns raised by Williams, more than a dozen district employees and former employees reached out to the Times about the loss of Doney.

Former South Medford High School teacher Mike Calhoun resigned his teaching position at the end of the most recent school year, he alleged, due to safety issues in the district and a lack of response to a firearm discovered in his classroom. The incident was reported by the Times Nov. 15.

Calhoun, a retired fire chief recruited to teach fire science in 2022, 2023 and 2024, said he wasn’t notified that a loaded firearm was discovered by students in his classroom until a staff meeting the next day. Calhoun said the lack of support for faculty and students following the incident “told me everything I needed to know about the district and how much they value employees.”

He said he felt too much emphasis was placed on large-scale incidents “like the active-shooter stuff, where a kid comes in with a long rifle, in body armor and people hide out and all that. They don’t train for the scenarios where it’s coming through the front door.”

He said the student from the November incident was “jumped by gang kids three weeks prior.”

“I pulled him out of a fight,” said Calhoun, who believes the student brought the gun to school for self-defense.

Calhoun faults the district for what he said is a lack of regard for the staff and students and an attempt to downplay the incident, which he said staff were told to keep under wraps.

Loss of Doney ‘shocking and concerning’

Calhoun confirmed that district officials took issue with Williams’ talking to faculty, and said Doney’s departure would be difficult for students.

“Whatever the circumstances are for Josh Doney to be getting run off, I can’t even guess. What I know about Josh Doney is this: He ain’t the problem,” Calhoun said.

“There’s not a teacher at that school that won’t sing Josh Doney’s praises.”

Paul Cynar, who teaches criminal law and constitutional law at South Medford High, called losing Doney as an SRO “shocking and concerning.”

Doney was a guest speaker in Cynar’s classroom and began teaching a law enforcement class in spring.

“You don’t put an SRO in a classroom unless you know students will respond well to them. That, I think, is the biggest character reference for him of all,” Cynar said.

“Josh Doney has been better with kids than anyone I’ve seen. Students loved him. He took care of business, but he did it in a way students felt respected. … I find what the district said to be disingenuous. The idea that SROs get reassigned all the time — that falls pretty flat.”

That Doney took the time to create his law enforcement class indicates that he “wasn’t planning on going anywhere,” Cynar said.

Cynar, who serves as grievance chair for the Medford Education Association, supported Williams’ statement that faculty were told not to talk to school board members.

“What Michael Williams is saying about the district is legitimate. Every time somebody goes out of their way to talk to him, they’re blacklisted. We told members to be careful, that every time he talks to someone, the district finds a way to make it a problem,” Cynar said.

“Michael Williams has been consistently one of the few people who pushes back and who speaks up. He asks hard questions. He doesn’t just get in line. … When Michael Williams starts digging, the district gets really worried for some reason.”

Cynar said ongoing safety concerns voiced by faculty had gone unanswered. He worried for students losing Doney as a trusted adult.

“You undermine the culture of the school when you make decisions like these. Every teacher has those students who would like nothing better than to sit in that teacher’s room for 45 minutes and just talk to them. We have kids who are going to come back in the fall, expecting to see Doney, and he’ll be gone,” Cynar said.

“Doney worked with the kids who had the most challenging backgrounds — family issues, violence issues, personal records. You’re going to tear the rug out from under those students’ feet?”

Champion took issue with rumors about Doney’s reassignment and reports that the district and police’s statements were false.

“That the chief of police and the superintendent of schools is putting out false statements about safety and security — it’s egregious to me that would ever be stated,” Champion said.

“We are not interested in being anything but transparent and doing everything in our power to provide the safest learning environment for our students and our staff.”

Despite facing pushback, Williams said he would continue to press for improved communication and safety in the district.

“The more gun issues are discussed and brought to light, the greater the concern is that people might not want their kids in public school. I suspect it was tamped down for that reason,” Williams said.

“The bottom line is that proper tracking of those students who brought guns into our schools did not happen until Josh Doney brought up the issue … and now they’re getting rid of somebody who kept our kids safe.”

With Doney unable to speak out, Williams said he decided to do so.

“Josh Doney is not a whistleblower. He was only trying to highlight a potential oversight in the district, not saying the district intentionally did this, that ‘I think the district is malicious,’” Williams said.

“Josh Doney is the hero of this story. He’s not the villain. Doney is a good guy who stands by his principles. He’s an example for our community, and I stand with Doney.”

Editor’s note: This article has been updated to add Medford School District officials’ claim that the district upheld the state’s minimum one-year expulsion rule for students caught bringing a firearm to school.