Matthew Lillibridge, who ran the Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional School District's nutrition program for more than a decade, filed a federal lawsuit this week accusing district officials of trying to divert at least $140,000 in restricted lunch funds toward Superintendent Jennifer Willard's salary and other unrelated costs. The complaint, filed Wednesday, also claims the district retaliated against him after he raised objections and ultimately pushed him out of his job.
Lillibridge had managed the district's nutrition program from an operating loss to a surplus, according to the lawsuit, and he hoped to use that surplus to boost staff salaries and help retain nutrition workers. Instead, the suit says, he objected after learning officials wanted to tap the money for other purposes, and he says he told them federal and state taxpayer funds set aside for school meals come with restricted, limited uses. As reported by MassLive, the complaint names Willard, School Committee Chair Robert Stevenson, and Erin Fahey-Carrier, the district's director of curriculum who is set to become superintendent in June, as defendants.
What the Lawsuit Alleges About the $140,000
According to the complaint, Willard said in November 2023 that the district planned to use $140,000 in nutrition funds for salaries characterized as indirect expenses. The suit claims Willard specifically wanted to pay herself a partial salary on top of her full-time superintendent pay, saying she had also been doing business-manager work. Lillibridge countered, per the complaint, that the staff salary increases he wanted were directly related to the lunch program itself — not general administrative costs.
The lawsuit states the district's nutrition program provides free lunches to students, and the complaint says hundreds of underprivileged students in the district rely on those daily meals, with many otherwise having nothing to eat. Lillibridge says he contacted the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education in March 2024 about the intended use of the funds. The district apparently abandoned the planned salary payment from those funds that same month, according to the complaint, though the lawsuit's account of why has not been independently verified.
Claims of Retaliation and a Hostile Exit
Lillibridge's suit accuses the district of retaliating against him after he raised the alarm, including an incident the complaint refers to as “the ambush,” in which the district accused him of unethical conduct. The lawsuit claims the district created a work environment so hostile that Lillibridge resigned under duress in November 2024.
In the complaint, Lillibridge accuses the district and the named officials of violating state whistleblower protections, violating his free-speech rights, and wrongfully terminating him. He is asking the court to reinstate him to his former position, award back pay, and impose punitive damages.
District's Response
Willard has disputed Lillibridge's account and denied the allegations, per the same MassLive report. Seth Wilson declined to comment on the lawsuit when reached by the outlet.
A District Already Under Financial Strain
The lawsuit lands amid a tense budget stretch for the regional district. In April, the Southwick Select Board unanimously approved a letter asking the regional School Committee to reconsider the $16.5 million assessment within its $30.07 million adopted budget and find additional savings, according to a separate MassLive report. The board's letter warned that declining enrollment and rising school costs were pushing the school budget and tuition costs toward — and in some cases past — the size of the entire municipal operating budget.
That letter noted Southwick's municipal operating budgets had already been cut 5% the previous year, followed by another 10% reduction this year. Select Board members pointed to structural pressures tied to Chapter 70 school funding rules, the town's minimum-aid status, and rising special education and transportation costs as ongoing challenges for the regional district.
A Familiar Strain on School Meal Funding
Questions over lunch money are not new in Southwick. Back in 2019, the district had roughly $10,000 in outstanding student meal debt, according to The Westfield News. District officials said at the time that Southwick did not deny students meals over unpaid balances, though seniors with outstanding debt could be denied a cap and gown. A Southwick resident started a GoFundMe campaign that year to help cover student lunch debt and had already paid off one student's balance of more than $300, when full-price lunch ran $3 at Woodland Elementary and Powder Mill schools and $3.25 at Southwick Regional School.
Massachusetts law places specific limits on how school-related special funds can be spent. A provision in state law governing certain school program funds states that money can be spent on the purposes of that program without further appropriation, but that such funds “shall not be used to pay the salary of any employee,” according to the Massachusetts legislature's published statute. Separately, state law on municipal revolving funds requires that any local by-law or ordinance establishing such a fund spell out exactly which programs or activities it may pay for, along with the receipts credited to it and the officials authorized to spend from it, per the same state statute. The evidence reviewed does not establish whether either provision directly governs the Southwick nutrition funds at the center of Lillibridge's lawsuit.
