A Massachusetts high school teacher who resigned after a photo surfaced of him at the Jan. 6 Capitol attack has won a seat on a school board committee in the same town.
Matthew Lynch, 35, pulled in 2,319 votes to win one of three seats on the Braintree school board committee, Patch.com reported. Braintree is about 13 miles outside of Boston.
Lynch taught at Braintree High School for more than 10 years before resigning in February after images of him standing in front of the Capitol on Jan. 6 were posted on community Facebook groups, including "A Better Braintree" and the "South Braintree/Highlands Civic Community" along with the FBI tip line number, Patch has reported.
Lynch told the news outlet people who shared the picture and FBI information were "slandering me as a domestic terrorist," and described them as a "digital lynch mob" who "decided they would take 'justice' into their own hands."
In his February resignation letter, which Lynch shared with the news outlet, he said it was an honor and privilege to serve the students of Braintree, but he could no longer work as a teacher because of his personal beliefs.
"Unfortunately as the times change and situations evolve, I can no longer be true to myself while service the role as a Braintree Public School Teacher," Lynch wrote.
"My military experience as an Intelligence Analyst has given me unique perspective on what is currently going on in both our country and our town and I fear we are heading on a real collision course," Lynch wrote, Patch reported. "I feel I need to make my voice heard in the town of Braintree but in doing so will have unintended side effects which will be completely unfair to my students."
Ahead of the vote, Lynch said student mental health in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic is the most pressing issue facing schools and the school committee.
"The state locked our kids out of school, put them in a losing posture with remote learning, and caused trauma at levels we don't even know about yet," he wrote in his candidate profile, Patch also reported.
"My plan is to give as much decision-making back to parents as possible while working with psychologists who do not have an agenda," he added.
On Wednesday, Lynch told The Patriot Ledger his priority as a school committee member will be "getting decision-making back with parents and away from the state," adding as long as policies designed to prevent the spread of COVID-19 are in place, students won't make up for learning lost during the pandemic.
Fran Beyer ✉
Fran Beyer is a writer with Newsmax and covers national politics.
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