Sayville district says departing administrator Peter Branscombe's $210G payout revoked because he misled them
The Sayville school district is being sued by former administrator Peter Branscombe after his separation agreement was revoked. Credit: Newsday/Steve Pfost
Sayville school officials said they rescinded a $210,000 agreement to a departing administrator because he led them to believe he was resigning to be with his sick wife, when he actually left for a job in another district, according to court records.
Former assistant superintendent Peter Branscombe, 48, of Holtsville, had asserted in a lawsuit filed Nov. 26 in Suffolk Supreme Court that his agreement was revoked after he reported alleged inappropriate remarks made by Schools Superintendent Marc Ferris.
But in its response to the suit, district officials said they agreed to compensate Branscombe for his unused sick and personal time because he told them his wife had cancer and he planned to stop working. They revoked the agreement, officials said, when they learned several weeks later that the Mount Sinai district had appointed him deputy superintendent.
“This is about Dr. Branscombe using his wife’s illness to deceive the district and the taxpayers of Sayville in an attempt to fraudulently walk away with over $200,000 that he had no right to receive,” said district spokesman Ron Edelson of ZE Creative Communications.
WHAT NEWSDAY FOUND
- Sayville school district officials said they agreed to a $210,000 separation agreement for departing administrator Peter Branscombe because he told them his wife had cancer and he planned to stop working.
- They revoked the agreement when they learned he was taking a job with the Mount Sinai school district, officials said.
- Branscombe denies the allegations. He argued in a lawsuit that the agreement was revoked after he reported alleged inappropriate remarks made by the Sayville schools superintendent.
Sayville said it pays unused time only to administrators who are leaving after 20 years. The board made an exception for Branscombe, who worked 18 years there, because of the “unusual and dire circumstances” he presented to school officials, the district said.
Branscombe did not return a message seeking comment. He denied in court papers that he misrepresented his circumstances. He said his wife “has been chronically ill since about 2016” and that he never told Ferris she had cancer.
In his lawsuit and a notice of claim filed earlier, Branscombe alleged the district retaliated against him by rescinding his agreement on Aug. 27, hours after he reported alleged inappropriate remarks by Ferris about female job applicants. He is seeking to force the district to abide by the separation agreement approved in July.
The district said it cleared Ferris of any wrongdoing and that board members were not aware of the complaint when they voted to rescind the agreement.
Branscombe's attorney, Tyler Rexhouse, with the School Administrators Association of New York State in upstate Latham, declined to comment.
Differing accounts
Newsday reviewed dozens of pages of records obtained from Suffolk Supreme Court. What has emerged are differing accounts of what occurred in the weeks leading up to the revocation of Branscombe's separation agreement.
Ferris, in an affidavit filed Dec. 27, said Branscombe approached him in June and said his wife suffered from a series of health ailments, including cancer, and that he wished to retire early. Ferris said Branscombe told him he was too overwhelmed to continue in a top position and that he would “never forgive himself” if something happened to his wife when he wasn’t home.
Branscombe disputed Ferris’ account in a subsequent affidavit, filed Jan. 2. Citing an audiotaped recording of the June 24 conversation with Ferris, Branscombe said he never said his wife had cancer. Neither the recording, nor a transcript of the conversation, were included in the court documents.
“During that conversation, I did not tell Dr. Ferris that my wife has or had cancer, nor did I imply the same, because Mrs. Branscombe does not, nor did she ever have, cancer,” he wrote. Instead, he said he told Ferris “aspects of Mrs. Branscombe’s worsening medical issues.”
Branscombe also stated that he did not say he couldn't work. Instead, he said what he actually told Ferris was: “I don’t have a fully formed plan, idea, thought of what I want[ed] to do” and that “I might retire.”
Ferris did not know the conversation was taped, said Edelson, the district spokesman. Ferris did not respond to messages seeking comment.
Four days later, on June 28, the Mount Sinai school board held a special meeting with one item on the agenda — the appointment of Branscombe as the district’s deputy superintendent, beginning Sept. 1.
Newsday obtained Branscombe’s contract and the meeting minutes from the district in response to a Freedom of Information Law request.
Mount Sinai school board president Paul Staudt said in a statement that Branscombe’s lawsuit is “strictly” between him and Sayville and “is in no way related to his employment” with Mount Sinai.
Ferris said in his affidavit that he recommended the board give Branscombe the payout. The board approved it July 23.
“At no time during our meeting or anytime thereafter, did Dr. Branscombe disclose that he was pursuing or considering taking a position as a Deputy Superintendent at Mount Sinai School District,” Ferris said.
In his affidavit, Branscombe said the Mount Sinai job was preferable because the North Shore district is closer to the Port Jefferson hospital that his wife goes to for her ongoing ailments. He did not specify her illness.
Rexhouse, his attorney, also argued in court papers that the separation agreement does not bar Branscombe from working elsewhere.
