In a little more than an hour on Thursday night, the Medford School Board voted to censure board member Michael Williams, two audience members were escorted out by police, and three teachers spoke out on 18 union grievances headed for arbitration and also raised concerns about district administration.

A Thursday vote of 6-1 to censure Williams — Williams cast the lone “no” vote — came after a review of a Dec. 5 work session during which board members reviewed findings of a third-party investigation that substantiated claims from an Aug. 6 complaint by Medford School District security director Ron Havniear.

Havniear alleged Williams violated district policy by harassing and bullying Havniear and stepping outside his board member role by intervening in district administration.

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

Two other complaints against Williams, made by district Superintendent Bret Champion and several district office employees, had been postponed during resolution of an additional criminal complaint regarding carrying sharp objects to board meetings and onto school grounds.

The two outstanding complaints center around a heated exchange between Williams and Champion Oct. 15 in which district personnel reported feeling unsafe and were concerned with Williams’ sheathed knife and shears, worn for his job as an agricultural hemp inspector, which he wears on his belt.

Following investigation by Oregon State Police, the Jackson County District Attorney’s office announced Tuesday that Williams had not committed a crime. Chief Deputy DA Patrick Patrick Green — who will move into the DA’s top post next year after winning election — said Williams did not violate Oregon Revised Statute 166.370, which makes it a Class C felony for anyone to intentionally possess a firearm — loaded or unloaded — “or any other instrument used as a dangerous weapon” while in a public building.

Green stated that the law, when applied to anything other than a firearm, only prohibits a person from using the object “as a dangerous weapon while in possession of it in a public building.” It does not prohibit a person from merely possessing a knife.

Board chair Cynthia Wright said the vote to censure Williams came with “time, place and manner restrictions,” listed on the district website, geared at governing the way in which Williams can communicate as a board member and requires he be accompanied on school visits as a board member by another board member.

Discussion of Williams’ bringing a knife and shears to district properties were brought up during discussion of the censure. District legal counsel Thad Pauck told board members, regardless of state statutes, the board could set its own policy pertaining to weapons and other items permitted on district properties.

Board director Jeff Kinsella asked for clarification on the district’s definition of a knife “because a lot of people carry pocketknives.” Kinsella and at least one other board member said they had stopped carrying their own pocketknives recently, with Kinsella noting, “I don’t want double standards here, so if I carry a knife, am I violating a policy?”

Pauck referenced Oregon Revised Statute 166.360, which identifies items considered weapons, but omits pocketknives “with a blade less than 4 inches in length.”

Board members concurred that an amendment was warranted and approved censure with the amendment regarding weapons for pocketknives with blades measuring less than 4 inches. 

Wording in the censure stated that Williams’ violation of board policies “do not meet the standards of professionalism and competence required and expected of a board member and have caused harm to” Havniear as well as “impeded the work of the board and interfered with the work of district administrators.”

Given a chance to respond, Williams paused, shaking his head, and stated, “At this time, all that I can say is that I disagree with the premise of the complaint, the behavior of the administration and the biased determination of the investigator.”

Williams has said he retained legal counsel but has otherwise offered little public comment.

Heated public comment

In addition to the vote to censure Williams, Thursday’s meeting brought a mix of public comment.

Retired teacher Penny Blaisdell was first up, voicing “anger and disappointment” in Williams and “media outlets and those (teachers) union members who participated in Mr. Williams ‘Game of Thrones’” and gratitude for Havniear for “keeping your eye on the ball and looking out for the safety of the children while being trashed through the local media.”

Blaisdell thanked Williams “for putting away your knife and shears” and praised Champion for leadership during difficult times. 

Second to speak, district parent Nathaniel Swan told the board he had reached a “new level of disgust after witnessing the coordinated attack against Michael (Williams) at the last meeting.”

“This room is forever stained by the lies, deceptions and embellishments put forth here the other day; pure theater with a paid crowd. Watching all the sheep stand and applaud in unison, as if something profound was just said, was putrid and shameful,” Swan said.

“Michael’s tools were never a problem until he started to ask questions. Everyone who defends Bret has six figures to do so, for sure, but sure Ron, Bret’s the best.”

Board chair Wright ordered Swan to stop speaking, noting, “Your time is done. You have named an employee and you are not allowed to do that.”

Swan retorted, “Ron can cuss at your meetings on camera, but I can’t speak my three minutes?”

Wright responded, “I’m happy to get the SROs to come up and remove you if you’re not going to listen.”

Swan and his wife, Taryne Saunders, were escorted out by multiple Medford police, on hand for the meeting. Saunders said, “This is a clown show!” as she left. An unidentified woman in the audience yelled inaudibly and stood to clap, though her intentions were unclear.

Following his exit, Swan told the Rogue Valley Times, “Free speech is not protected at MSD. It is prohibited by the superintendent, the board chair and board policy, which usurps our first amendment rights.”

Union grievances

During the remainder of citizen comments, Medford Education Association grievance chair Paul Cynar referenced a November board meeting about an unnamed board member’s request for information on grievances filed against the district and potentially related financial impacts.

Cynar took issue with Assistant Superintendent of Operations Brad Earl stating that financial remedies had not been stated in grievance filings. Cynar said all grievances that call for financial remedy include those conditions in the filing. Of 30 grievances filed against the district in the past three years, Cynar said 18 of those had reached “level 4” and could soon go to arbitration.

“What is most troubling here is that since the last time the district had an arbitration ruling against them, in 2018, there have only been 11 awards granted through arbitration against all 197 school districts in the entire state of Oregon,” Cynar said.

“That means Medford alone could have triple the court losses of all other school districts in the entire state combined.”

After Cynar’s three minutes ran out, PE teacher Kari Henson continued from the written statement, noting, “MEA’s assessment is each of the 18 cases will individually cost a minimum of $20K in legal fees when arbitrated. This would be a minimum of $360K in legal fees alone. … We also estimate a fair value of the exposure, should the district lose each of the cases filed against them, would be a minimum of $1 million depending on how the arbitrator structures the awards.”

Henson said that Oregon Government Ethics Commission “establishes clear standards for government bodies and their duties to accurately provide information to the public they serve.”

“We would not want to insinuate that the district willingly violated this. Therefore, we look forward to the district correcting this in the next 21 days as this will serve as the official written OGEC grievance in compliance with HB 2805.”

Teacher Lisa North rounded out public comments voicing concerns about the complaints against Williams. A district teacher for almost 30 years, North said she worried the district had been sidetracked in recent months.

“I do want to recognize that our district has worked hard to establish systems that protect our students and staff,” but North said that needed changes should be addressed “if students and staff don’t feel safe.”

“It shouldn’t bruise egos when an error in a system has been recognized. It should be taken as an opportunity to make something better,” she said.

“Just because someone disagrees doesn’t warrant charging (them) with felonies and trespassing and going overboard to dramatize and sensationalize events in order to try and force a resignation. This is all over the top theater that doesn’t keep kids at the center.”

North added she was “glad the district has now decided to file complaints for what they deem as unprofessional behavior, because we seem to have a longstanding complacency for such behavior.”

She then made strong allegations against unnamed district officials during the public comment portion of the meeting, which was livestreamed and is available to watch by recording.

“It’s been rumored more than once that our principals get screamed at during administrative meetings,” North alleged. “At the last board meeting, a very impassioned director was given quite the platform to belittle and berate a member of the board for actions that he himself has been witnessed doing.

“He has bullied and yelled at PTO moms,” she claimed. “He screams at coaches about facilities. He’s yelled at my principal so loud that he was heard from behind two closed doors and down the hall.

“We all work hard, we all say we have the same focus, but culture starts at the top, and I hope that we now will be holding everybody to the same standard,” North concluded to some applause from the audience. 

Additional agenda items on Thursday brought discussion of consideration of the district forming a K-5 “program of choice” to provide resources to homeschool families in the district. A revised district cellphone policy was also discussed with changes to allow for reasons that students could utilize their phones for school-related reasons.

The next board meeting, originally scheduled for Jan. 16, was moved to Jan. 23 to allow for district legal counsel to be present.