Whistleblower's explosive lawsuit accuses Brockton superintendent of hiring cronies

BROCKTON — Christopher Correia, second-in-command for finance at Brockton Public Schools, has filed his long-awaited whistleblower lawsuit against the city.

Correia's 13-page complaint makes serious allegations against the city , Superintendent Mike Thomas, Mayor Robert F. Sullivan and James Cobbs, the former acting superintendent.

The lawsuit claims Correia suffered retaliation because he "brought forward complaints involving the misappropriation of funds and illegal spending by multiple City of Brockton officials including, but not limited to, Superintendent Michael Thomas."

Since shortly after the overspending scandal became public, Correia, Schools Chief Financial Officer Aldo Petronio and Thomas have been on paid administrative leave while multiple investigations and audits play out. Each continues to make more than $230,000 per year .

Jobs and contracts that Correia says were the reason for the budget deficit

Correia claims he began sounding the alarm internally about multi-million dollar deficits in July 2022. That's more than a year before it became public that the schools were $14.4 million in the hole. Assistant CFO Correia cited a now-familiar list of reasons for the overspending (a spike in the number of homeless students, out-of-district transportation costs and mismanagement at the schools' transportation department.)

But he blamed the bulk of the fiscal 2023 shortfall on one thing: "... what appears to be the most significant impact to the current budget shortfall, is the hiring of more than 100 in-house staff members and outside vendors/consultants/mentors that were not approved by the School Committee."

Scathing letter Brockton superintendent accuses mayor of lying about when he knew about deficit

The suit lays out a newly public allegation that Thomas looked the other way on state-mandated background checks to permit "friends, business associates and personal acquaintances to avoid the requirement of completing a CORI background check" before working in the Brockton Public Schools.

Correia: Superintendent hired buddies without required background checks

Thomas did this, Correia alleges, by using "letters of agreement" that were "significantly less stringent and allowed individuals with known criminal backgrounds to work for and within" the schools.

Correia said he reported the alleged practice to the state's inspector general and investigators hired by the city. Correia said his manager, Petronio, knew that Thomas was helping certain people dodge CORI checks.

Thomas, reached by phone Tuesday, said Correia always had a problem with the mentors' program.

"He liked to go after the people working the most closely with our most troubled kids ," Thomas said.

The superintendent said the idea of him having "business associates" is laughable because, unlike many superintendents, he doesn't have a side business doing consulting.

Correia argues that mayor defamed him

The suit confirms a claim by Thomas that Correia discussed the growing crisis with the mayor, Thomas, Petronio and City Chief Financial Officer Troy Clarkson on April 24, 2023. The mayor's first public acknowledgment of the deficit came four months later in an Aug. 31, 2023 press conference. The mayor serves as the chair of the school committee.

Correia claims that Sullivan defamed him at a Sept. 9, 2023, school committee meeting.

"Mayor Sullivan repeatedly denied knowing anything about this budgetary crisis and attempted to shift responsibility to the Plaintiff by publicly announcing that the Plaintiff was being placed on leave, making the following public statement: 'We trusted those responsible for these budgetary failures and they will fully be held accountable'."

Sullivan, via a spokesperson, declined to comment for this story citing the pending lawsuit. Brockton Public Schools and Cobbs also didn't comment for the same reason.

Correia claims he was retaliated against and received hostile treatment because of his written complaints and refusal "to be a part of what he reasonably believed to be, at a minimum, illegal, unethical and politically motivated hiring and overstaffing with the City of Brockton School District."

How much is Correia suing Brockton for?

Correia asked for a jury trial on five counts: One under the state's whistleblower statute, the second for allegedly violating his civil rights, a third for intentional infliction of emotional distress, a fourth count for interference with advantageous business relations and a final count of defamation and slander.

The suit asks for punitive damages and attorney's fees but does not list a dollar figure.

As of Tuesday afternoon, none of the defendants had filed a response to Correia's complaint, according to state court records.

Send your news tips to reporter Chris Helms by email at CHelms@enterprisenews.com or connect on X at @HelmsNews .

This article originally appeared on The Enterprise: Whistleblower's explosive lawsuit accuses Brockton superintendent of hiring cronies