Attorney Says AD’s Accused of ‘Financial Irregularities’

The attorney for the athletic director who has been on leave in the Buffalo Public Schools District for two years says the issue is financial, but school officials won’t reveal the reasoning behind the move.

The Buffalo News reported that Buffalo Public Schools officials suspended and began the process of firing Aubrey T. Lloyd II in June 2019, but officials still won't reveal why.

The pandemic slowed the termination process, and there’s only been one hearing in two years. Lloyd has earned $262,551 as of Nov. 29, Buffalo News reported. 

Lloyd's attorney, Robert Boreanaz, would not discuss it in detail, but he told the Buffalo News the district has accused his client of "financial irregularities,” which Lloyd denies.

"Aubrey Lloyd is an outstanding athletic director and a great, great administrator," Boreanaz said. "And he is absolutely frustrated that the district has placed him on leave for things that are not what the district has alleged."

Lloyd is one of two prominent members of the Buffalo Council of School Administrators, the union that represents district administrators and principals, out on paid administrative leave today.

Buffalo News also reported that Crystal Boling-Barton, the union's president and principal at McKinley High School, has been out on suspension since May 2017 and has been fighting the district's attempts to fire her since December 2019. There have not been any hearings in that case, which reportedly centers on allegations of misuse of school funds by Boling-Barton. 

Boreanaz, who also represents Boling-Barton, denied she did anything wrong. As of late last month, she's earned $606,000 while on leave.

Boling-Barton has filed a complaint with the state Division of Human Rights, alleging she is the victim of harassment and discrimination. Officials in the district say her complaint is unfounded and an attempt to distract.

The district has said far less about Lloyd.

During Lloyd’s nine years as athletic director, the district's football teams shifted to competing in Section VI, Buffalo high school soccer teams saw notable success and a citywide girls' swim team got the chance to take on swimmers from suburban schools.

"The charges that the district has brought, which Mr. Lloyd vigorously denies and will defend, is that he had some financial irregularities with respect to some of his transactions that he supervised in his position as athletic director," Boreanaz said. "There's no allegation that he did anything that would benefit himself."

District spokeswoman Elena Cala said she couldn't respond to specific questions about Lloyd's leave because the answers "are part of his confidential personnel file."

The district began 3020-a proceedings against Lloyd, a term that refers to the law granting the protections of due process to tenured educators in New York before they can be disciplined or terminated.