A Tallahassee law firm has cleared former Leon County Schools Superintendent Jackie Pons of sexual harassment and of creating a sexually hostile work environment, citing a lack of evidence. But the firm said in its investigative findings that the meetings between Pons and two women in a heavily wooded area were "unexplained."
The school board asked for an outside investigation after they received an anonymous package that included pictures of Pons meeting multiple times in his car with a current female employee and at least once with a former female middle school principal. Similar material, a video and a two-page narrative, was sent to WFSU and other media organizations, surfaced during the race for superintendent last month.
"Taken together with the typed narrative, it was clear that the anonymous author/photographer was implying that inappropriate behavior of a sexual nature or other misconduct had occurred between Superintendent Pons and the women while at the wooded property," the report stated.
Pons lost his re-election campaign against former Leon High School Principal Rocky Hanna. The district has declined in late November to rehire him.
Pons and the current employee refused to answer investigators' questions about the meetings or the nature of the relationships. But, the report said Pons had a "widely recognized" and "close" relationship with the current employee. The reported also noted her "unusually rapid rise within the administrative ranks of Leon County Schools."
All three submitted affidavits says they were not involved in anything illegal or inappropriate. Both women deny Pons sexually harassed them.
"Whatever the true nature of the relationship and related behavior between Mr. Pons and the women, the evidence indicates that it was voluntary and not unwelcome, and thus cannot be sexual harassment," the report stated.
The report also contested Pons explanation that he and the women were on the wooded private property to pick up and store campaign signs.
Pons told investigators through his attorney that the anonymous package was a political attack.
