LAWRENCE — Mayor William Lantigua says School Superintendent Wilfredo Laboy should be fired from his $200,000-a-year job.
Lantigua, who is chairman of the School Committee, has called for a special meeting tomorrow night at 7:30 to consider suspending Laboy without pay and to begin termination proceedings.
The meeting will be held in the Hall of the School Committee, 255 Essex St.
"Once a suspension is put in place at this meeting, I will then ask for an immediate vote to issue the Lawrence School Committee's official intent to terminate Dr. Wilfredo T. Laboy per his employment contract," Lantigua said in a one-page statement last night.
An Essex County grand jury yesterday returned nine indictments against Laboy for fraud, embezzlement and possession of alcohol on school premises.
"I as Mayor and Chairman will not allow any more time to be wasted in setting forth the future leadership of our School District," the mayor wrote.
Laboy, 59, of Methuen was suspended indefinitely in late June after the Essex District Attorney's Office launched a criminal probe of alleged financial wrongdoing. He was initially placed on paid administrative leave, but has been using accrued vacation pay since August.
Lantigua's motion to immediately strip Laboy of his salary, computation of sick and vacation time, along with retirement benefits is allowed under state law and has the unanimous backing of the seven-member committee.
The mayor, who previously took no position on firing Laboy until the outcome of the grand jury, appears to have the two-thirds vote necessary to sustain a firing.
Laboy can request a hearing to argue his case before the committee can take a formal vote.
Committee member James Vittorioso said that Laboy should be placed on unpaid leave, but should be given an opportunity to defend himself.
Member Gregory Morris said he wants to know more about the criminal charges before making a decision on Laboy's fate.
"This is a strategy discussion and any action they take will be outside of that meeting," the School Committee's attorney Namoi Stonberg said of what she anticipates to be a closed-door secret session.
"Under the Open Meeting Law, we're going into executive session to discuss legal strategy. I have to advise them of all legal options, Stonberg said.
"There is a provision of state Ethics Law, which permits you to suspend without pay somebody who has been indicted. You could also consider commencement of dismissal proceedings. I guess they could consider continuing him on vacation. But that's not really a valid option, and I'm not going to recommend that," she said.
Unless Laboy and or his lawyer have received 48-hour notice to attend the meeting, the committee has been advised previously that it could not commence dismissal proceedings.
But in an inteview last night, Lantigua said he's ready to proceed — and in public session, when the committee meets tomorrow night.
"Now that the indictments are there, I don't think we need an executive session to do this. It has been debated so many times," Lantigua said.
"Termination proceedings will start. He is entitled to a hearing if he chooses. We need to move forward. We need a clear direction for our leadership. We have a cloud pending.
"The people of the Great City of Lawrence, the parents, the teachers, administrators and most importantly the children of our School system have waited to long for this scandal to come to an end," Lantigua said.
The committee's two newcomers — Mark Gray and Frank Bonet — said their minds were made up long before they were elected last fall that Laboy should be fired.
"As far as Laboy goes, I have for six years said he needs to be fired for a laundry list of reasons," Gray said.
Bonet, who serves as the city's personnel director, also said he thought there was more than enough to fire Laboy "even without the grand jury."
Sammy Reyes, whose complaints instigated the district attorney's probe, and member Martina Cruz previously called for Laboy's firing months ago.
"This further stains our reputation as a city. But even worse than the legal indictments is that people outside of Lawrence wonder what is wrong with us because we have not dealt with Laboy and the controversies in a proactive way. That is a indictment of Lawrence in the public opinion," Cruz said.
Staff reporter Jill Harmacinski contributed to this report.
