Brockton Public Schools’ new Interim Superintendent Priya Tahiliani is suing leaders of her former school district Everett Public Schools over allegations of racism and sexism while she served as superintendent.
The Brockton School Committee voted to hire Tahiliani for the role of interim superintendent of BPS on July 9 , replacing Acting Superintendent James Cobbs for the upcoming school year. The appointment comes as Tahiliani and her former Deputy Superintendent Kim Tsai are currently in a lawsuit against Everett Mayor Carlo DeMaria.
The lawsuit alleges DeMaria and members of the Everett School Committee racially discriminated against the two women on multiple occasions and made racist and sexist comments to them throughout their tenure.
Ultimately, DeMaria and the committee did not renew Tahiliani’s contract after it expired in 2024 despite her receiving positive performance reviews, the lawsuit said.
Tahiliani, who identifies as Indian, was the first superintendent of color in Everett, a school district that’s roughly 80% students of color.
“Tahiliani has the distinction of being the first Everett superintendent to be denied federal reimbursements, Medicaid funding, and money above net school spending on behalf of the school system,” the lawsuit says.
What is in her contract: Brockton Public Schools' new interim superintendent 'excited' to join school district
While Tahiliani was superintendent of Everett, an independent investigation was conducted after claims arose that Tahiliani created a hostile work environment through bullying and favoritism among her staff.
She and Tsai also filed a lawsuit in 2018 against their previous employer Boston Public Schools over allegations of unequitable pay compared to their male counterparts. But that lawsuit was dismissed in 2020.
Tahiliani sues Everett
According to the ongoing lawsuit, which was filed in March 2023, Tahiliani and Tsai received “demeaning and racist comments, abusive and disparate treatment, and unjustified and highly subjective discriminatory and retaliatory attacks” from DeMaria and members of the Everett School Committee.
“Both Tahiliani and Tsai have been subjected to blatant and overt acts of discrimination and retaliation at the hands of Mayor DeMaria and his cronies,” said court case documents.
What we know about Priya Tahiliani: The person who's Brockton's new interim superintendent
The lawsuit states DeMaria was generally uninvolved in School Committee matters up until Tahiliani joined the district in 2020. Once she took office, DeMaria elected to become a voting member of the School Committee without holding any public hearings, violating Massachusetts General Law.
“It was not until Tahiliani, the first minority superintendent was appointed, that Mayor DeMaria took this unprecedented step,” the lawsuit says.
Brockton has striking racial disparity: Mostly white teachers and mostly students of color
The mayor allegedly made frequent comments during meetings about Tahiliani and other female school district officials’ facial expressions, encouraging them to smile.
Tahiliani hired staff of color to fill leadership roles in the district, and the percentage of non-white staff in the central office rose from 0% under the previous superintendent to 20% under Tahiliani.
She also created new positions like the Family Engagement Manager and the Chief Equity Officer and hired people of color to fill those roles.
“As a result of this, Mayor DeMaria began to openly accuse her of being a racist to members of the School Committee and the school community, stating that she only hired people of color and that she hates white people,” said the lawsuit.
The mayor also withheld “critical” school funding, the lawsuit alleges, and stopped providing any additional funding beyond the state-require minimum for net school spending. The lawsuit states the city was cited by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education for not meeting minimum school spending mandates.
By the end of Tahiliani’s tenure in Everett, DeMaria stopped recognizing her to speak at school committee meetings, calling on her white, male subordinates to provide updates to the committee. Eventually, Tahiliani was no longer invited to committee meetings, according court documents.
Tahiliani did not comment on the lawsuit when contacted by The Enterprise. DeMaria did not respond to The Enterprise's request for comment.
Back to School: When is the first day of school for Brockton students?
Investigation into Tahiliani
In October 2023, Tahiliani was placed on administrative leave as Everett launched an investigation into complaints from 10 of her staff members of bullying and favoritism within her office, according to WGBH. Once the investigation was completed in April, the school committee didn't release the results publicly.
Background: Brockton Schools to hire interim superintendent. What does it mean for Mike Thomas?
A state report: What has contributed to the decline of Brockton schools?
After two months, Tahiliani's lawyers were permitted to read the results of the investigation but weren't provided a copy of the results. WGBH reported that her lawyers said that "every single one of the complaints were unfounded and many bordered on frivolous."
Tahiliani sued Boston Public Schools
Tahiliani and Tsai were also involved in an earlier lawsuit against Boston Public Schools, where they both worked prior to Everett in the Office of English Language Learners.
The Boston Globe reported in 2018 that the two women sued the school district for unequal pay compared to male counterparts. While Tahiliani and Tsai worked as executive directors in the English Language office, they only made salaries of roughly $107,000 while male executive directors in similar offices, like the Office of Human Resources, made above $140,000.
That lawsuit was filed in November 2018 and was dismissed in 2020.
This article originally appeared on The Enterprise: Interim Brockton Superintendent Priya Tahiliani suing former district over racism, sexism
Local News
