The widow of conservative activist Shawn McBreairty will receive $350,000 from the Brewer School Department per a settlement reached March 31.

McBreairty, who died by suicide two years ago, was a prominent parents’ rights advocate at school districts around the state, and on several occasions was banned from school grounds or embroiled in legal conflict with school departments.

He filed his lawsuit against the Brewer district and Superintendent Gregg Palmer in February 2024, after officials asked him to take down an online post that included a photo of students in a Brewer High School women’s restroom and a caption claiming one of them was a male.

Lawyers for the school district told him that publishing the photograph was an illegal violation of the student’s privacy under Maine law, and McBreairty took it down. In the lawsuit, however, he claimed his First Amendment right to free speech had been violated.

After his death in June of that year, McBreairty’s wife, Patricia, took over as the suit’s plaintiff.

In 2021, when the father of two lived in Cumberland, he was a vocal critic of racial equity teachings in the district; he was issued a criminal trespass order that barred him from school grounds after violating several district rules, including padlocking a sign to a school fence and disrupting school board meetings. He appeared on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show to protest not being able to attend his daughters’ graduation ceremony, although the district said he was allowed to do so.

The following year, he won a $40,000 settlement against Hampden-based Regional School Unit 22 near Bangor. McBreairty moved there after his daughters graduated and he became active at school board meetings, even though he had no children in the district.

A judge found that RSU 22 had violated McBreairty’s First Amendment rights when it barred him from attending board meetings after he played a recorded phone conversation during one in which he used vulgar language. The district said the audio, which contained the phrase “hardcore anal sex,” violated its public comment policy.

Jonathan Brogan, an attorney for Brewer and the superintendent, said the district will continue to, “protect students and employees of the school from bullying, from any source.”

“We believe that had this case concluded in court, we would have prevailed. But sometimes the potential costs and attorneys fees for both sides make settlement short of trial appropriate,” he said. “That was the case here.”

He said the court ruled there was no causal connection between McBrearity’s suicide and the case, and that any claim otherwise is false.

“Everyone can agree that suicide and mental health issues are difficult and heartrending but they were not part of this case,” he said.

Asked for comment on the settlement, Stephen Smith, an attorney for McBreairty, said it was “frightening that our betters thought and think they can silence dissent by threats of prosecution.” 

“All of the nonsense about ‘no kings’ and ‘fascism’ in Washington, D.C., when we really need look no further than our local school system,” he said.

IF YOU NEED HELP 

IF YOU or someone you know is in immediate danger, dial 911.

FOR ASSISTANCE during a mental health crisis, call or text 888-568-1112. To call the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, call 988 or chat online at 988lifeline.org.

FOR MORE SUPPORT, call the NAMI Maine Help Line at 800-464-5767 or email [email protected].

OTHER Maine resources for mental health, substance use disorder and other issues can be found by calling 211.