Boston School Board Votes to Remove Its Black Superintendent

The Boston School Committee found itself in a racial controversy Wednesday after it voted to oust Laval Wilson, the system’s first black superintendent.

In a stormy meeting Tuesday night, the committee voted, 7 to 1, to negotiate to buy out the remainder of Wilson’s contract.

The committee’s four black members and one white committee member walked out of the meeting.

John O’Bryant, a senior black committee member, said: “There are certain members who cannot deal with a strong black man as the leader of the Boston public schools.”

And John Grady, the white committee member who walked out, said: “I won’t take part in some sort of private lynching.”

Some of the Wilson supporters likened the committee’s move to that of the white-controlled Selma, Ala., school board, which tried earlier this month to fire that city’s first black school superintendent.

Selma Supt. Norward Roussell was reinstated last week but protesters want his contract extended. Sit-ins by angry students had closed that city’s schools for a week, but no protesters showed up at Selma High School on Wednesday. A City Hall protest by about 25 people continued, however.

Roussell’s supporters say he also was dismissed for reasons of race. Detractors said the decision was made because Roussell lacked adequate managerial skills.

In Boston, several committee members who voted to buy out Wilson’s contract similarly said their decision was not based on race, but on the superintendent’s job performance and failure to communicate with various groups within the school system.

After the vote, Wilson, 54, told reporters: “I think it’s a whole sham as far as I’m concerned.”

He remains on the job pending negotiations to buy out his contract. He previously headed school systems in Rochester, N.Y., and Berkeley, Calif.