Allegations against Medford School Board member substantiated

Published 9:00 am Sunday, December 8, 2024

Allegations filed in August against embattled Medford School Board member Michael Williams have been substantiated by a third-party investigation.

Board members reviewed the complaint against Williams — one of three filed by district employees since summer — during a three-hour board work session on Thursday.

The investigation, conducted by a Portland-based law firm, reviewed an Aug. 6 complaint by school district security director Ron Havniear alleging Williams violated school board policy by harassing and bullying Havniear and by stepping outside his board member role by intervening in district administration.

Williams first made news headlines in July for speaking out on reassignment of Medford police School Resource Officer Josh Doney. Medford police and the school district initially billed the decision as a routine reassignment. School district officials later cited an “accumulation of concerns.”

Williams spoke out in various media outlets and garnered community support from district teachers and parents of students who voiced safety concerns at district schools.

The 600-plus member Medford teachers’ union in August issued a statement in support of Williams and Doney and notified the district it was “closely following the situation” and was “concerned with the lack of consistency and transparency in the Medford School District’s (MSD).”

Recent months’ discussions by the board have centered around board member policies including visits to district schools, a bone of contention between Williams and the board beyond Doney’s reassignment. Results of the investigation into Havniear’s complaint, which details a series of interactions dating back to February, include a four-hour meeting in which Havniear alleges Williams told him he was “trauma-bonded” with Doney after a racially charged, bullying incident involving a family member of Williams.

Havniear’s complaint alleges that Williams told him, “I want to make it very clear that if you come after Doney, I will die on that hill.” Havniear reiterated Thursday that he made the decision to have Doney reassigned based on performance concerns and that Williams overstepped his role as a board member by attempting to intervene.

“It is gravely concerning to me that a Board Director thinks that it is appropriate to use threats, intimidation and/or manipulation tactics in an attempt to stop a Director of Security from taking appropriate action toward a School Resource Officer (SRO) who was not a good fit for the MSD,” the complaint reads.

While Thursday’s meeting agenda noticed three unresolved complaints for review, board Chair Cynthia Wright said discussion of two complaints filed in November — over safety concerns over Williams bringing prohibited weapons on campus in addition to a heated argument with district Superintendent Bret Champion — will be postponed until a related criminal investigation is completed.

Williams raised his hand prior to the reading of the investigation results on Thursday and said he had been “advised by my attorney to leave the room for this portion of the meeting.” He then left.

While the Aug. 6 complaint had been previously declared against “an unnamed board member,” though community members and district employees presumed the board member to be Williams, Thursday marked the first time board members publicly discussed that the complaint had been made by Havniear against Williams.

Havniear made a lengthy statement following the reading of the report and called for Williams’ resignation due to “unethical leadership.” Havniear said Willams had “zero ability to make any statement of fact surrounding” the SRO situation, noting, “He was not present for any discussions or the meetings that occurred. He’s admitted this on many occasions … and yet he’s continued to perpetuate these lies, again, going on six months now.”

Havniear countered Williams’ claim that the security director had said weapons on campus were “too political and that I asked him to keep this quiet and don’t talk about it.”

“This is 100% unequivocally untrue and never occurred. It is a figment of his imagination. I asked the other witness that was present in the room for the conversation. Those words would never come out of my mouth,” Havniear said, noting that Williams “real issue” was with Champion.

“Michael Williams wrongfully accused me of removing an SRO because I cannot get along with him, and yet this is exactly what he’s doing. He is incapable of finding a way to work with Bret, so he’s resorted to working to remove him,” Havniear said.

Havniear and other board members also criticized Williams’ statements to local media outlets.

On the November complaints, Havniear said Williams had brought weapons on campus “after being told repeatedly not to bring them.”  Williams, who works as an agricultural inspector, has been reported to law enforcement for attending a district open house in recent weeks with his knife sheath on his belt and for visiting schools and district offices doing the same.

“A board member thinking that they are entitled to bring weapons on this campus while speaking that they care about safety and security is asinine,” Havniear said.

“He has lied on countless occasions. He has displayed unhinged and erratic behavior while threatening the superintendent with physical harm, cursing, yelling loudly in the middle of a district office,” Havniear said. “Slamming doors as he left … This insanity of one cannot go on. It is hurting our schools.”

Following Havniear’s statement, Wright told him she wanted to “apologize on behalf of the board for what you’ve had to go through.” Ferguson addressed the sound of audience members who scoffed when Havniear spoke of board members and his own family being harassed in recent months. Ferguson said she’d been followed home.

“I was one of those people. I also received a postcard at my office telling me that if I didn’t change the way I behaved and aligned a specific way, I would be hunted … I turned that card over to Ron. He took it seriously. He turned it over to MPD,” Ferguson said.

“But this is the crap we are dealing with. We should be talking about … why are our kids at one-third (state standard for) reading, why are our kids at one-fifth math. We’re not,” Ferguson said. “We’re dealing with this circus. It needs to stop. We need to come back to the kids.”

Following the recess, Wright detailed a list of restrictions to impose on Williams. They include:

• Effective immediately, all communications and/or questions by Mr. Williams regarding Board or School District business must be sent by email to the Board Leadership (Board Chair and Vice Chair), copying the Superintendent, and they will respond as appropriate. Mr. Williams may respond to the Board Secretary regarding scheduled school tours or other scheduled events. any communication between Mr. Williams, the Superintendent, and other members of the Leadership Team must either be done in writing via text or email, or via recorded zoom conferences.
• Mr. Williams is prohibited from entering any School District building or grounds unless he is given express prior written permission from the Superintendent; school tours may only be done if scheduled by the Board Secretary and accompanied by another board member, with whom he must remain at all times.
• Requests to enter School District building(s) or grounds must be made via email, to the Board Leadership and Superintendent as authorized in paragraph 1. Any violation of this directive will be deemed a trespass and law enforcement will be contacted as a result. There are some exceptions to this: Mr. Williams may enter Oakdale Middle School or grounds for purposes of his attendance as a Board Member at scheduled Board meetings, but he may only enter the building of the scheduled meeting and may arrive no earlier than thirty (30) minutes in advance of the officially noticed start time for the meeting.
• Also, Mr. Williams may enter the schools that his children attend as a parent when necessary for school functions or to pick up/drop off his children attending the school. And finally, Mr. Williams’ participation in school visits, in-person attendance at Board meetings, or any other school district function that the entire board has been invited to participate in, and parent visits are conditional upon his compliance with the same District safety policies that apply to other members of the public entering MSD property, including not carrying any weapons on his person. Law enforcement will be contacted as a result of any violation of this directive.

Wright said restrictions could be reviewed at a 2025 organizational meeting of the board and could potentially be lifted if “no further issues have been reported” at that time. An informal vote was taken to approve the restrictions with Wright directing district legal counsel Thad Pauck to draft a resolution for formal adoption during a Dec. 19 board meeting.

Prior to the vote, Wright states that Williams was “in violation of his oath of office” and that restrictions were warranted to help Williams comply with board member expectations. Board member Suzanne Messer, who made the motion to approve the proposed restrictions, told fellow board members she hoped the board could move forward.

“I just want to make sure that we’re clear as well that, when he’s back and we’re at the table, we’re moving forward looking at students and going in that direction of the best outcome for our kids,” Messer said.

“That he does bring a good voice to the table. He brings another perspective because it’s seven of us together making a decision, period, end of statement,” she said. “It takes seven of us. That’s the goal. That’s when our voice is the strongest.”

To watch the Thursday meeting, visit online.