Calls mount for Southeastern chair Branch to step aside as superintendent search bogs down

EASTON — The Southeastern Regional School District School Committee, amid widening lack of confidence in Chairperson Tony Branch's leadership due to a personal legal battle, narrowly kept Branch on as chair. Monday's tense ouster attempt, the second this month, failed 5-5 with Branch himself casting the deciding vote.

The unhappiness with Branch comes as the committee struggles with its most important job: hiring a new superintendent. The effort is at least six weeks behind schedule, and one of five finalists has dropped out.

Longtime Superintendent Luis Lopes has recently called on Branch to step down as chair. District teachers, via their union, recently added their voice to those calls for new leadership on the School Committee.

Lopes, who is credited with a turnaround in the fortunes of the district and its flagship vocational high school, is retiring this summer. The district had hoped to have its new hire in place by April 1, so that Lopes could show the new superintendent the ropes.

The Southeastern Regional School District Teachers' Union, Local 1849 of the American Federation of Teachers, released a letter saying its members had lost confidence in Branch. The letter references the first attempt to censure Branch, which failed at the committee's April 12 meeting. The unsigned letter goes on to say, "It is troubling to have to send this letter to address matters that are distracting the school committee from their primary duties of serving and maintaining the excellence of the school." The letter asks Branch to resign as chair, recuse himself from the superintendent selection process and take a leave of absence from the School Committee.

Branch's legal battle

The mounting discomfort with Branch's leadership comes in the third year of a legal battle between Branch, a Brockton civil rights advocate, and Aidan Kearney, a Worcester blogger.

Kearney, who uses the pen name Turtleboy, has alleged that Branch is a "fake bishop" who exists for the "sole purpose of bilking the taxpayers and stirring up racial tensions." Branch sued Kearney for defamation in August 2019.

More recently, Kearney published incendiary personal allegations drawn from court documents filed by Branch's ex-wife during a divorce. The Enterprise has not been able to independently verify those documents because a family court judge has them "under advisement."

Kearney and about five supporters attended Monday's meeting, holding up signs and sometimes shouting comments. Branch threatened to have them removed from the meeting.

On April 12, Branch told The Enterprise he'd have no further comment about his ex-wife or their divorce.

According to public records in Massachusetts and Florida, Branch and his ex-wife married in May 2007, when Branch was 40 and his wife was 20. Branch sued his then-wife for divorce in 2013 and a judge granted the divorce in July 2016.

The Enterprise has also reported in 2017 on controversies involving Branch, such as a firearms charge and federal tax lien.

Real estate report: $13 million multi-family property in Plymouth

Branch is the first Black chair of the district's School Committee. He has repeatedly said he has no intention of stepping aside.

"We live in a democracy, where people have civil rights. I have civil rights," Branch said April 12. "There will be no resignation of (being) chair, there will be no resignation of the seat."

Branch made a similar public statement at Monday's heated School Committee meeting.

Branch's roles in Brockton include being chairperson of the city's Commission on Diversity, board member of the Cape Verdean Association, a board member of the Massachusetts Alliance Against Predatory Lending and the first vice president of the Brockton Area Branch NAACP.

Is crime down in Brockton?: District attorney shares stats for city, Plymouth County

A 'distraction' for the School Committee

Lopes previously told The Enterprise that some committee members believe the legal case is "causing a distraction" for the committee.

"There is a legal matter going on between him and another individual," Lopes said. "And that's a legal matter for the courts to decide."

Lopes said he recently released a public statement urging Branch to step down as chair. The committee does not have the authority to remove Branch as chair or from the committee entirely, as there would need to be a public recall vote to do so, according to Lopes.

"People are innocent until proven guilty," a fellow committee member, Robin Zoll of Stoughton, previously told The Enterprise.

An April 12 vote to censure or remove Branch as head of the elected group failed 5-4, with Branch casting a vote against the motion. It would have failed 4-4 even without Branch voting for himself.

On Monday, School Committee member Susan Sullivan of West Bridgewater renewed the motion to ask Branch to step down as chair. After a loud and intense discussion, that vote failed 5-5. The voters on each side were consistent with the first attempt to censure Branch, with School Committee member Michael Pietrowski of Easton, who was absent for the first vote, hesitating over his vote, asking first if he could abstain, then deciding to add himself to the "yes" voters, asking Branch to relinquish his chairmanship.

Here's what we know: Roadway deaths were at their highest in 2021 in Plymouth County

Secret ballot flouted transparency law

Adding to the existing consternation with Branch is an Open Meeting Law violation complaint brought by School Committee member Mindy Kempner of Sharon. At Branch's direction, committee members had ranked superintendent candidates via email balloting.

"It's important that our thought process be public," Kempner said Monday.

An expert on school committee law, Jim Hardy of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees, spoke extensively Monday about why the Attorney General will likely find the email poll to be in violation of the law, and what the board can do to fix the situation.

"You can't have secret ballots as a public body," said Hardy, a longtime field director for the private association.

Branch apologized for the email vote, saying "That won't happen again." The board is having its lawyer respond to the Attorney General's office about the incident.

Hardy also said that, legally speaking, Branch was within his rights to vote on the motions asking him to step down as chair.

What's next for search?

As Hardy explained it, the School Committee is in a tight spot to finish its superintendent search.

The board voted to continue with the four current finalists, complete with site visits both to the candidates' districts and visits by the candidates to Southeastern. Hardy had recommended the committee winnow to two candidates in the interest of time. Many superintendents have contracts specifying how much notice they must give their current districts. Candidates with a 90-day notice period are already off the table for Southeastern to have a new leader in place by July 1, Hardy noted. Candidates with a 60-day notice would need to be offered the job by May 1, which will not be happening.

"It agonizes me that we're so far off schedule," said School Committee Member Stephen Udden of Foxboro, though he voted to continue with four candidates, citing the need to do the job right.

Two of the four candidates are internal, School Committee Member Christine Gaze said at Monday's meeting.

How they voted

On Monday, Southeastern School Committee members split 5-5 on urging Chairperson Tony Branch to step aside:

Yes

• Andrew Heath - East Bridgewater

• Mindy Kempner - Sharon

• Michael Pietrowski - Easton

• Susan Sullivan - West Bridgewater

• Stephen Udden - Foxboro

No

• Tony Branch - Brockton

• Christine Gaze - Mansfield

• Barbara Kaplan - Norton

• Gerson Monteiro - Brockton

• Robin Zoll - Stoughton

Editor's note: We have updated this report to remove an allegation that is not included in Branch's original court complaint against Kearney.

Send your news tips to reporter Chris Helms by email at CHelms@enterprisenews.com or connect on Twitter at @HelmsNews. Thank you, subscribers. You make this coverage possible. If you are not a subscriber, please consider supporting quality local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Brockton Enterprise.

This article originally appeared on The Enterprise: Brockton Southeastern: School Board keeps Chair Tony Branch, for now