Superintendent Pons under investigation for possible misconduct

By: James Buechele

November 16, 2016

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) -- The Leon County School district continues to investigate Superintendent Jackie Pons for alleged impropriety with a district employee.

We reached out to four school board members. Alva Striplin released this statement:

"On advisement from our attorney, I cannot comment and refer questions to the district staff."

Dee Dee Rasmussen, board chair, returned our requests for comment.

"When these anonymous accusations first came to our attention, we were compelled to initiate an external investigation pursuant to our policy," said Rasmussen.

"However, now that it appears Mr. Pons will no longer be employed by the LCS district, I'm hopeful we can avoid legal fees at the expense of the taxpayers and focus our efforts on the students of Leon County."

Phone calls to Jackie Pons were not returned as of 5:15 p.m. on Wednesday.

The next school board meeting under new superintendent Rocky Hanna will be Tuesday, Nov. 22.

By: James Buechele

November 15, 2016

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) -- Leon County Schools looks into possible misconduct by Superintendent Jackie Pons.

This comes after the Leon County School Board received anonymous information just days before the election.

School Board member Dee Crumpler tells WCTV that no one has filed an official complaint but the district is looking into hiring an outside firm to investigate Pons.

The district received information and photos alleging misconduct.

Crumpler tells WCTV that he has not seen the photos but believes the information was "politically motivated." He did say if something illegal or unethical is found, it would be "disturbing."

We reached out to Superintendent Pons for comment and left a message but have not heard back.

We also spoke to a school spokesperson who says the district has one to two firms in mind to conduct the investigation.

We reached out to Leon County Schools for comment. They provided us with the following statement:

"The Leon County School Board received anonymous information on November 2, 2016 alluding to alleged policy violations/misconduct involving the Superintendent of Schools Jackie Pons. "This sensitive matter is being reviewed. "While there is no official complainant, pursuant to Board policy 8700, the information was forwarded to the School Board Attorney, who is in the process of hiring outside counsel for the purpose of conducting an investigation. "As the matter is currently open, no records or further comment will be released at this time."

Word of the investigation comes just one week after Pons lost his bid for re-election.

Rocky Hanna will be sworn in as superintendent a week from today. We spoke with him and he said he was unaware of the investigation.