Suffolk judge: Sayville schools can withhold $210,000 payout to former administrator

A Suffolk County judge has ruled that a former Sayville school administrator was "misleading" when he told his bosses he was leaving the district to care for his ailing wife, when in reality he left for a new job and higher pay with another district.

State Supreme Court Justice Maureen T. Liccione in Suffolk County on Wednesday rejected former Sayville district administrator Peter Branscombe's legal effort to keep a $210,000 payout agreement the school board had rescinded. Sayville officials said Branscombe had planned in advance to leave the district for another job, not to care for his ill wife.

The judge said Branscombe, 49, of Holtsville, gave Sayville a "clearly false and misleading" explanation for leaving that led the board to approve a payout of his sick and vacation time — a benefit restricted in the district to outgoing administrators with 20 years of service. Branscombe, who spent 18 years at Sayville, told district officials in June 2024 he needed to step away to be with his ailing wife and didn’t have "a fully formed plan."

Sayville later found out Branscombe had agreed to be the Mount Sinai district’s deputy superintendent. The judge noted Mount Sinai appointed him to the position four days after Branscombe discussed with Sayville officials his wife’s health conditions and before he formally left Sayville.

"Yet, the record reveals that Dr. Branscombe had a ‘fully formed plan,’ which was to immediately take a job with another school district at a higher salary," Liccione wrote, noting that Branscombe admitted to talking with the Mount Sinai administration months earlier at the beginning of the year.

"It is understandable how each of the members of the Board of Education affirmed that they felt ‘manipulated and deceived’ by Dr. Branscombe," Liccione said.

Branscombe’s starting base salary at Mount Sinai is $250,000, according to his contract, obtained by Newsday via a Freedom of Information Law request.

At Sayville, his base salary in 2023-24 was $187,316, according to a payroll database Newsday obtained, also via FOIL.

The judge also added that the Sayville board’s decision to rescind his deal "had a sound basis and reason and was taken in light of the newly discovered facts, that is Dr. Branscombe's deceit to obtain a benefit to which he was not entitled."

Branscombe did not respond to a message for comment Thursday.

Arthur Scheuermann, general counsel of the School Administrators Association of New York State, which represented Branscombe, said Thursday: "We are reviewing the decision to decide whether to pursue further legal actions."

In a statement, Sayville school board president Christine Sarni said the ruling "fully and unequivocally affirms our position in this matter.

"Dr. Branscombe’s words were deceitful, false, and misleading, while his actions were deliberate, fraudulent, and represented a willful attempt to misuse taxpayer funds," she said. "This is an offense that cannot be overlooked."

Branscombe, who filed his lawsuit in November, denied in previous court papers that he misrepresented his circumstances. He said his wife "has been chronically ill since about 2016” and that he never told Sayville Superintendent Marc Ferris she had cancer. He acknowledged he told Ferris one reason he was leaving Sayville was "to care for" his wife who suffered from "worsening medical issues."

The judge didn’t see merit in Branscombe’s words.

"The contradictions in Dr. Branscombe's own statements are obvious and demonstrate a lack of credibility," she said.

Branscombe alleged in the lawsuit that the Sayville board rescinded his deal hours after he filed a complaint with the district alleging Ferris had made inappropriate comments about female job applicants. His lawsuit made no reference to any representations he made to the district about a desire to step away from his job because of his wife’s alleged health condition.

The judge’s 10-page ruling did not address Branscombe’s complaint having any impact on the board’s action, other than noting that district attorney Hilary Moreira’s determination that those alleged comments did not rise to the level of harassment. The district previously said it cleared Ferris of any wrongdoing and that board members were not made aware of Branscombe’s complaint until after they voted to rescind his separation agreement.

Sarni added: "This decision also brings closure to the unfounded and harmful claims Dr. Branscombe directed against our superintendent of schools."