Teacher Who Quit After January 6 Photo Emerged Gets Elected to School's Board

A teacher who resigned after a photo emerged of him at the January 6 riot at the Capitol has won a seat on a school committee in Massachusetts.

Matthew Lynch, 35, won one of three seats on the Braintree school board committee after getting 2,319 votes, according to unofficial results.

Lynch taught at Braintree High School for more than 10 years before leaving in February after images of him standing in front of the Capitol building on January 6 were posted on social media.

Lynch told Patch that he was later questioned by FBI agents, but did not confirm whether he was under investigation or not. He said the agents' visit was the result of people posting the FBI Capitol riot tip line onto Facebook groups where the photo was being shared.

The FBI told Patch that it "can neither confirm nor deny" whether Lynch was being investigated and it is unclear if he was one of those who stormed the building during the riot.

"Good luck with your article...hope you don't print false information," Lynch said.

Lynch also accused those who posted the photos and FBI's number as a "digital lynch mob" who were "slandering me as a domestic terrorist."

In his resignation letter, Lynch said he could no longer work at the school because of his 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.

"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 board in Braintree.

"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 told Patch as part of their candidate profile series.

"My plan is to give as much decision-making back to parents as possible while working with psychologists who do not have an agenda."

Speaking to The Patriot Ledger after the results came through, Lynch also said his priority as a school committee member will be "getting decision-making back with parents and away from the state."

Lynch added that students will not make up for the learning lost during the pandemic as long as policies aimed to help prevent the spread of COVID remain in place.

Elsewhere, in the Virginia gubernatorial race between Glenn Youngkin and Terry McAuliffe, the GOP candidate made education his main election policy, including promising to ban critical race theory being taught in schools.

During the campaign, Youngkin also attacked McAuliffe for his remarks that parents should not "be telling schools what they should teach" when asked about the issue and declared the debate a "racist dog whistle."

Youngkin ended up defeating McAuliffe in the race for governor in Virginia on Tuesday.

Lynch has been contacted for further comment.