LAWRENCE — Lawrence High School Principal Terika Smith faces disciplinary action for not reporting underage drinking at the school to police last week, Superintendent Wilfredo Laboy said yesterday.
"We dropped the ball," said Laboy, echoing a statement Smith made to police earlier this week, after the department learned of two drinking incidents at the school last Friday. An intoxicated 16-year-old student was taken from the school by ambulance after she vomited in a classroom and couldn't walk.
Laboy yesterday said, in addition to drinking alcohol, the student also had taken prescription medication Friday morning.
Police didn't know about the underage drinking or the ill student until Monday, when a teacher asked a police officer posted at the school if he knew anything about the student taken away by ambulance last Friday.
An investigation later revealed students were drinking rum out of an apple juice bottle in a classroom and a half gallon of rum was brought to a party in the school cafeteria. A police report describes the drinking as two separate incidents, although Laboy yesterday said he was told they were connected.
Smith said she didn't call police Friday because she was "too busy" and was "addressing other issues at the time." A school official previously said the lapse wasn't willful or intentional, but a "definite slip" that occurred when Smith was conducting her own investigation, contacting parents and disciplining students.
Six students involved in the underage drinking incidents were suspended from school. Hearings are now underway and further disciplinary action may follow, said Mark Rivera, School Department spokesman.
Smith also will be interviewed during an administrative hearing handled by Sal Petralia, the School Department's human resources director, Laboy said yesterday during a meeting with The Eagle-Tribune editors.
A team of teachers and school leaders will oversee the hearing and afterward "appropriate disciplinary action" will be handed down possibly by the end of this month, Laboy said.
Meanwhile, Smith will continue her work as principal of the 533-student International High School, one of six high schools on the North Parish Road campus, he said.
"We intend to do a full investigation," said Laboy. "We have a zero tolerance policy for any deviant behavior."
Other Smith controversies
Laboy also spoke of other controversies involving Smith this school year, including rumors that Smith left a student in Italy during a class trip in February. He said the student needed both a passport and visa at the airport and left briefly with an adult to fetch the proper paperwork. They both returned and joined the group on a charter flight, he said.
"Dr. Smith was appalled when she heard that. She said, 'If I left a kid in Italy, I'd call you,'" said Laboy yesterday, recalling their conversation.
Laboy also addressed an issue with an Italian teacher under Smith's supervision who thought she was fired after hosting a lasagna party in her classroom. Laboy said the teacher was never fired, but asked for the keys to the classroom, which was left filthy with "sauce on the walls" after the event.
Food is not allowed in classrooms or any other sanitized areas of the school due to health codes, he said. The teacher, a permanent substitute, was previously given permission to have the party in the cafeteria, not her classroom.
"She made a decision to have it in her classroom. As a teacher, that's not her place," Laboy said. "It was an unfortunate incident that was escalated."
Despite recent events, Laboy rebuffed any notion the 3,000-student high school is out of control.
"Absolutely not," he said emphatically, asking The Eagle-Tribune editors to show up unannounced for visits.
"Just come in," Laboy said.
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