Valley Patriot

National, State Buzz About Laboy
Misses the Mark

Lawrence Superintendent of Schools Wilfredo Laboy is a hypocrite. He fired bilingual teachers who failed their English proficiency exams while failing the same test himself…three times.

That's the spin on talk radio, cable news, and among political pundits who have latched on to the story of Laboy's testing failures like a pit bull on a sirloin steak.

But this spin on the story isn't exactly a fair representation of the facts. To correct the record, Wilfredo Laboy is not really the one responsible for firing non-English speaking educators, the voters are.

Yes, Laboy failed the state required English test. Yes, it is mandatory to keep his job as the superintendent. And yes, he is in charge of getting rid of teachers who do not pass the same test.

But the fact is Laboy has protected teachers who cannot speak English since taking the job as top educator a few years ago. He made no effort to fire them or even move them out of the classroom prior to this year. Sure he has talked the talk on English proficiency but Superintendent Laboy has hardly walked the walk.

Worst of all, he shamelessly campaigned against Question #2 last November calling it racist and unfair to Latinos. (Question 2 was a ballot referendum approved by the voters to mandate English immersion and English testing for educators.)

Most of us thought Laboy was just pandering to the bilingual teachers union who have a great deal of clout in the community. But in hindsight it seems to make more sense now that Laboy would oppose a measure to test educators in English when he knew that his own proficiency would be called into question. It's unconscionable that he actively misled the Spanish speaking residents of this city with his one sided forum last fall. In light of this new revelation, it's even more unconscionable how he mislead the public about question #2 when he had a personal stake in it.

To his credit Laboy has had a positive effect in some areas. With complete control of the school system and no oversight whatsoever by the Mayor or the School Committee, Laboy has been responsible for rising test scores and Lawrence kids are showing an improvement in English and Grammar.

When you measure what is going on in the classroom (politics and motives aside) Laboy has not been a bad superintendent. And in his defense, Laboy speaks quite eloquently and understands the English language perfectly. It's his lack of writing skills that is holding him back. All you need to do is flip through school department memorandums to see that Laboy's level of writing proficiency is 8th grade at best.

(Laboy Memos)

But is not his fault that the public school system failed him. As we have been doing in Lawrence for all too long, the educators who had a duty to make sure Laboy had a mastery of English didn't do their job. They were just passing him along from grade to grade knowing he wasn't at grade level.

I would say it is a monumental accomplishment that Laboy has been so successful (in education no less) given his literary disadvantages. Though some have argued that his success is the result of affirmative action, there is no way he could have risen to the heights he has reached without hard work and perseverance. In short, Wilfredo Laboy is no dummy.

But that's what makes it so troubling. Mr. Laboy recognizes his own educational shortcomings (and the reasons for such shortcomings) in English literacy and yet he vehemently opposed giving Lawrence school children the very educational tools he was deprived of as a child.

If you ask me, that is the real story here, not the irony of his firing bilingual teachers. Wilfredo Laboy knows by personal experience how devastating it is not get a quality education in English. He knows what it is like to be passed from grade to grade without reading or writing on grade level. He has experienced the frustration of knowing he is not up to par while being charged with making sure others are held to a standard he can't possibly meet.

And yet, given all this, Wilfredo Laboy publicly fought against English immersion, English testing for educators and accountability for the way we educate (or don't educate) non-English speaking children. That's not only unacceptable it's downright disgraceful.

Regardless of how embarrassed he is about failing (which I suggest he should not be) or even whether he passes the test next time around, Wilfredo Laboy owes the children of Lawrence an apology for putting his own personal interests ahead of theirs. He owes the Latino community an apology and an explanation for his behavior last November.

And he owes himself the dignity of proving that he can deal with this crisis honestly, learn from his mistakes and make the situation better by getting back to work and improving our school system. The longer he spends hiding from this scandal (or trying to manage it) the less time there is to fix our schools.

After all, this is supposed to be about "the children."