LAWRENCE — A majority of the School Committee is calling on suspended Superintendent Wilfredo Laboy to resign.
After meeting in closed session for nearly two hours last night, the five committee members present voted unanimously to ask the superintendent to step down.
"They strongly urge that he resign from his employment, and if he decides not to resign by Nov. 20, the committee is going to explore all legal options, independent of the criminal investigations," School Committee attorney Naomi Stonberg said after the meeting.
Stonberg said it was the committee's consensus that it would be "in the best interests of the students and the best interests of the community that Dr. Laboy resign."
Mayor Michael Sullivan, who chairs the seven-member committee, and member Priscilla Baez did not attend the emergency session called by Samuel Reyes to consider firing Laboy.
Stonberg said it would take a two-thirds vote of the committee — at least five members — to fire Laboy, who was suspended indefinitely from his $200.000-a-year job in late June when the Essex County District Attorney's Office launched a criminal probe of his alleged financial wrongdoing.
Laboy and his attorney Scott Gleason waived their right to attend the executive session.
"It would certainly be interesting to know what it is they based their action on," Gleason said of the committee's vote.
"So far, there's been no information disclosed to anyone. They better have a pretty darn good reason for doing what they did," he said.
Reyes requested the executive session to consult with Stonberg about a Sept. 8 letter from the Office of Campaign and Political Finance that concluded Laboy and others violated state law by using the School Department printing press and other resources to help the political campaigns of four School Committee candidates and state Rep. Barry Finegold.
In a letter e-mailed to fellow committee members last weekend, Reyes said the findings of the state report gave the committee grounds to fire Laboy for "good cause" under provisions of his contract "which includes misconduct, including off-duty behavior that detracts from the position of Superintendent as a community leader."
But when the committee convened at 6 p.m. yesterday, Vice Chairman Greg Morris announced the members were going into executive session "for purposes of discussing legal strategy."
Member Martina Cruz, who supports firing Laboy, said after the meeting that members received legal advice that there may not be enough evidence at this point to warrant firing Laboy.
"I know it's a long process," Cruz said.
Other members deferred to Stonberg to summarize the meeting's outcome.
"We've been very sensitive about not interfering with the criminal investigations," Stonberg said, but noted that members "are very frustrated that the criminal investigations are taking so long."
"But the committee feels it's very important to let the criminal investigation take its course," Stonberg said.
If Laboy refuses to submit his resignation by Nov. 20, "we're going to have to move forward," Stonberg said.
"There's a lot of notoriety in this community and the committee would urge him (Laboy) to do what's right," she said.
Laboy, 58, of Methuen was initially placed on paid administrative leave, but has been using accrued vacation pay since late August.
School officials said he has about 140 days of vacation pay he is entitled to receive. Stonberg said officials aren't worried about Laboy using up that time.
"I would say we're very confident his employment status will be resolved by then," she said. Laboy, superintendent since October 20O0, has said he would retire in October 2010 to receive his pension.
Lawrence Teachers Union President Frank McLaughlin said he had mixed emotions about last night's vote.
"It's a good day for the citizens of Lawrence and the children of Lawrence that this School Committee has finally decided to take a step forward and do the right thing," said McLaughlin, who last week urged the committee to "immediately fire" Laboy.
"But they really need to go further. It's not over and it needs to be over. The superintendent's exit is long overdue. There's a shameful scandal that hangs over the whole city. The students and citizens of Lawrence have been shortchanged by this whole episode," McLaughlin said.
One of the issues that clouds any decision to fire Laboy is the fact three School Committee members were implicated in the state report as receiving campaign material produced by the School Department printing press.
Members Morris, Baez and Peter Larocque face potential conflicts in voting on whether to fire Laboy because their campaigns may have benefited from Laboy's actions, based on the findings of the Office of Campaign and Political Finance.
"It's possible that some of the members can't vote because of their own conflicts," McLaughlin said.
"But if any member on that School Committee is compromised in any way, they need to resign. And the remaining members of the committee have to move forward and do the right thing, and the right thing is to fire Laboy immediately," he said.
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