An administrator at Derby Middle School accused of bringing painkillers to school was arrested by police Thursday.
William LaRovera, the dean of students at the middle school, turned himself into police headquarters at 1:30 p.m. after learning there was a warrant for his arrest.
He was accompanied by his attorney, Robert Serafinowicz.
LaRovera is charged with narcotics possession, possession of narcotics near a school, possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of drug paraphernalia near a school and failing to store narcotics in their proper container.
Derby police were called to the middle school on Nutmeg Avenue at 9:25 a.m. Sept. 8 after receiving a report that a staff member, now identified as LaRovera, had narcotics on school property.
LaRovera has been on paid leave since then.
Serafinowicz said he has not reviewed the arrest warrant used to charged LaRovera. The warrant is in the process of being filed at Superior Court in Derby.
Serafinowicz said LaRovera has an arm injury that has plagued him for years. He took pain pills to help, and developed a dependency, Serafinowicz said.
However, Serafinowicz alleges the incident has been blown out of proportion.
Serafinowicz alleges that Derby Middle School Principal Sally Bonina, who found the pills and contacted authorities, had a personal animus against LaRovera.
The morning of the incident, Bonina searched LaRovera’s briefcase because she suspected him of using chewing tobacco, something she had told him not to do, Serafinowicz said.
She could have chosen another route to deal with the issue, the attorney said.
“She made the decision to create this situation and to try to make it into something more than it is,” Serafinowicz said.
The attorney also questioned how quickly police were able to obtain an arrest warrant.
“Judging by the time frame it took to do this, it is clearly not standard operating procedure,” he said.
School Superintendent Stephen Tracy sent out a “Connect-Ed” message Sept. 9 saying that serious allegations had been made against a staff member.
“To ensure the well-being of our students and staff, the individual involved was immediately placed on leave while the allegations are investigated,” Tracy said in his message. “At this time, I have no reason to believe that any students or other staff members were involved in or affected by this situation.”
LaRovera’s salary was $80,759 last year.
LaRovera, 34, a 1994 graduate of Ansonia High School, is free on a $5,000 bond.
He is scheduled to be arraigned Sept. 28 in Superior Court in Derby.
Serafinowicz said LaRovera is an outstanding educator, as demonstrated by the fact he was able to obtain an administrator’s position at such a young age.
Sadly now the school probably won’t have anyone outside during the beginning and dismissal of the day because he was always out there and the principal only was when someone of importance was there.
That is sad, the principal like always overreact……She needs to learn that she is not the law, she is just the principal.
As a taxpayer, I question an apparent waste of taxpayer money in this investigation-arrest scenario.
There are glaring questions. Did Principal Bonina have a right to search Mr. LaRovera’s briefcase — looking for smoking tobacco, or anything else, for that matter? These pain pills appear to have been found, out of their original container – in a possible illegal search. If the defendent was taking these pills for arm pain for a few years, they were probably prescription pills. If the defendent’s lawyer — Rob Serafanowicz, successfully gets a acquittal for his client in court, The City of Derby could be facing a lawsuit, and a costly settlement award for his defendent. Hopefully, this apparent caper does not result in a costlier blunder for Derby taxpayers to pay for.
This Bonina had no leagl right to search an employees belongings.It appears she has a personal vendetta against LaRovera.She should be investigated.If he has a prescriptionfor this medication and it was well secured for safety whats the problem? Drama in Derby?
Lisa Pettine: Good point! The end result, does not always justify the means used, in acquiring thst result. Unfortunately, Derby taxpayers are now forced to have to pay — to find out, if the action was legal — in court — at their expense. A frivolous method of raising our city taxes, and taking away tax dollars that should have been better used for the education of our children.