Sharon voters delivered a landslide no-confidence verdict against five of their seven School Committee members on Oct. 22, voting 520 to 327 at a Special Town Meeting that drew more than 800 residents and left the town confronting reports of racist remarks at the meeting.
The vote capped months of anger over the committee's handling of a superintendent appointment, but as The Boston Globe reports, the gathering also exposed an uglier undercurrent. One attendee was reported to have said, “Why don't you go back to China,” a remark heard by a woman speaking at the microphone and a family; an unidentified man denied making it. Sharon residents separately filed complaints with town leaders about racist and other offensive comments made at the meeting, according to public records cited by the Globe.
The overflow crowd was so large that officials had to open a cafeteria and lounge at Sharon High School, where the Oct. 22 meeting was held, just to seat everyone who showed up for what was the only item on the warrant that night.
A Superintendent Pick Without a Search
The uproar traces back to July, when the School Committee voted 5-2 to appoint assistant superintendent Joel Jocelyn as the district's next superintendent without conducting a formal search. The two members who opposed the move were spared from the no-confidence measure, which was aimed squarely at the five who backed the appointment. A citizens' petition demanding the no-confidence vote gathered 314 signatures, well beyond the 200 required to force the question, per the Globe's reporting.
When residents pushed back and demanded a public search, the committee's majority reaffirmed its vote at an Aug. 19 meeting rather than reverse course, the Globe reported. Committee members in the majority said they believed Jocelyn was well qualified and argued a formal search would cost time and money without sufficient benefit. The panel's own hiring policy states that a candidate should not be hired as superintendent without sufficient public involvement, a provision critics say was ignored.
The appointment filled a vacancy created when outgoing superintendent Peter Botelho, who has led the district since 2021, announced in July that he would not seek a two-year contract extension. His current contract runs through June 2027.
Residents Describe Being Accosted on Their Way Out
Beyond the reported remark about returning to China, Asian American residents said they were accosted while leaving the Special Town Meeting. An unidentified woman reportedly asked them why Chinese people did not run for School Committee seats, then told them, “Sorry, whatever, Asians, Asians. You know what I mean. I bet you think I'm white, huh?” According to a complaint described by the Globe, the woman cursed at the residents after they tried to end the exchange.
Those accounts surfaced again when Asian American residents spoke about the incident at a meeting of the town's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee, which later issued a statement condemning discriminatory comments made at the Special Town Meeting. One resident told the DEI panel it was her first personal experience of racism in nearly two decades living in Sharon and said she was disturbed that no one intervened to stop the conduct. Another resident told the committee that anti-Asian hate was present in part of the community.
Students of Asian descent account for roughly 30 percent of Sharon's public school enrollment, according to state data.
A Town Still Living With a Costly Settlement
The current turmoil unfolds against a backdrop that still shadows Sharon's school leadership. In 2020, the School Committee ousted the district's first Black superintendent, Victoria Greer, after she had raised a racial-discrimination complaint. The town settled with Greer for $750,000.
A 2019 racial-equity analysis found that Black students in Sharon were three times as likely as their non-Black peers to be disciplined with at least two suspensions or expulsions during their schooling, according to WBUR. That outlet also reported that Black and Latinx students each made up about 5 percent of Sharon's district population while nearly 30 percent were Asian, and that statewide, only 12 of Massachusetts' 275 superintendents were people of color even though 30 percent of the state's students were Black or Latinx.
The 520-327 vote stands as one of the clearest expressions yet of how deep the rift between Sharon's School Committee and its residents has grown.
