NORTH SMITHFIELD – Just one week into a new school year the man hired last month to serve as athletic director for the North Smithfield School Department has resigned, with a note citing, “unrealistic expectations,” for the role and referencing an unspecified incident of, “disrespect.”
Christopher Branch submitted his resignation last week in a note to Supt. Michael St. Jean.
Branch came to North Smithfield following a decades-long career as a coach, including time at Ponaganset and Smithfield High Schools. Mostly recently, he was working as a dispatcher for the Smithfield Fire Department, a job he reportedly recently left to start off the school year with a focus on his new, part-time position in North Smithfield.
School Committee Chairman James Lombardi told NRI NOW this week that news of Branch’s abrupt departure came as a surprise.
“I did talk to him within a week of the resignation and he said positive things about the position,” Lombardi said. “I don’t know all of the details of what happened. Unfortunately, we found out that he wasn’t happy with the position.”
St. Jean appointed Branch to replace Amanda Bean, who resigned after one year on the job. Bean had replaced Matthew Tek, who held the athletic director role in the district for some 17 years, working for a $15,000 stipend while also holding a job as as a full-time health and physical education teacher at North Smithfield Middle School, prior to his resignation just over a year ago.
Branch’s appointment was announced at the School Committee’s August meeting, at the same meeting where St. Jean said that Bean would leave the district to accept a job as an athletic trainer at Toll Gate High School. He previously spent 16 years as a head coach at PHS and 11 as a head coach at Smithfield. Branch was named his division’s Coach of the Year on six occasions.
But his tenure in North Smithfield would prove abbreviated.
In short note to St. Jean, Branch wrote, “Per our conversation this morning, I am resigning as the athletic director at the North Smithfield School District for mental and physical reasons.”
“The expectations are unrealistic and I will not (be) disrespected by people who have no clue about athletics,” Branch added.
The subject of the demands of the position leading athletics at N.S. schools was a focus of discussion during town budget deliberations in June of 2023, when several residents lobbied councilors for funding for a full-time hire. A petition in favor of the more costly position that year garnered more than 200 signatures, but instead, $58,000 was ultimately set aside for a part-time hire.
Asked if the role might come with too many duties for a part time employee, Lombardi said, “I don’t know the answer to that.”
“If the right person comes along and does the job as I believe it should be done, are there extra hours to be put in? Absolutely. But it can be done with a .6, at least for now.”
“We’re not there yet,” Lombardi added of the potential for a full-time director.
The chairman confirmed that for now, Tek will step in to keep high school and middle school athletics running as fall sports get underway.
“We’re in the process of replacing that position,” he said.
Asked about any incidents leading up to the resignation, St. Jean said that he, “really cannot comment on personnel matters.”
“He was newly retired and with us for a few weeks,” St. Jean said. “Adjusting to a new position while starting a new school year was certainly time-intensive.”
The superintendent added that he wished Branch well in his retirement, and that he plan to announce his replacement shortly.
Editor’s note: The above article was edited to include comments from the superintendent.
Maybe the problem starts at the top! Maybe it’s to
To look at St.Jean! There is ALWASY a fly in the ointment!
He was probably was being told what to do and how too do it from Two Guys that probably never played organized sports. Famous saying this generation ,,, Oh it was a Tie,,,, And everybody gets a Trophy.
That would make it Gen X’s fault for giving Gen Y participation trophies, wouldn’t it?
Smart guy, he came, he saw and chose to run rather than walk.
That should tell us all something!
I thought that same thing.
I’d like to hear specifics about the harrassment. Everything is so fogged up, muffled and hidden by the guilty bureaucracy.
If you say anything especially the truth in meetings they SHUT YOU UP but spew that we’re free….
All departments…are beginning to look like Dictatorships…Town council too…
Lombardi and St Jean are the drivers of the clown car called NS schools. Said schools used to be a draw for new residents, those two bozos are actively destroying that. Look at all the controversy around the schools and how they handled it all. That’s not leadership, that’s cowardice. Come to the real world that exists outside of municipal government employment; you obviously couldn’t cut it and your wives protesting online would mean absolutely zero (but the comedy is great).
Anyone on the TC that supports them will not get my vote. We need change and we need it now.
RJA
The town hall along with the council needs an enema, and St Jean needs to be flushed along with them.
Well said!
Bullies intimidate those they are intimidated by.
I cannot even begin to imagine the disrespect this man must have been shown to resign after one month in the position. I also was unaware that Amanda Bean had left the position….unfortunately, credentialed, qualified and experienced individuals choose to leave rather than stay…we can only imagine who has been allowed to harass these individuals…..it is much like the issues the school department has faced with student harassment and bullying or the town has faced with supervisory harassment. All of which is not new to North Smithfield.
Another problem brushed under the rug at the North Smithfield School department. All of the issues from bullies, to harassment, to an athletic director leaving leads to a leadership and management issue. Mr. St Jean performance has not been positive and up to expectation. I think it may be time for a change in leadership and school committee. The school committee has idly sat by and allowed school ranking and performance decline with short meetings and rewarding employees with large raises for poor performance. Time for a change in the school department.