Framingham Obscured Health Director's Resignation, Emails Show

FRAMINGHAM, MA — Just after 7 p.m. on Dec. 29, the city of Framingham sent a short news release to local reporters announcing health director Dr. Sam Wong would take an indeterminate medical leave from his job beginning on New Year's Eve.

Hours before that statement, the Framingham Source news site reported Wong had told colleagues he was resigning. When asked which was correct — that Wong had resigned or was taking a medical leave — city spokeswoman Kelly McFalls wouldn't specify.

"All I know is that he’s taking medical leave," she wrote in an email to Patch on Dec. 29 — a line McFalls would repeat in two separate phone calls that night.

But new emails uncovered by Patch show that McFalls, Wong and Mayor Yvonne Spicer were working on a press release on Dec. 29 stating that Wong had, in fact, resigned. Now, the city says they used the "medical leave" wording because Wong had not officially submitted a resignation — although that contradicts other reports about the departure.

"Sam, we need to issue a communication about your departure. Otherwise, the media will make up whatever they want unless the city tells the story," McFalls wrote just before 5 p.m. on Dec. 29 in an email to Spicer and Wong.

That night following the Source story, the trio worked on a much longer press release specifying Wong's departure as a resignation, and featuring quotes from Wong and Spicer. They traded several drafts of the release between around 4:41 and 6:48 p.m. on Dec. 29, emails show. That longer press release never made it to the public.

"Dr. Samuel S. Wong, Director of Framingham's Public Health Department, has resigned his position effective Friday, Jan. 1, 2021, citing health reasons for his departure," an initial draft of the press release said.

The version the city released to the public only said: "Dr. Samuel S. Wong, Director of Framingham’s Public Health Department, will take medical leave, and his last day in the office is Thursday, Dec. 31."

"The city didn’t say he was permanently leaving because he had not submitted a resignation at that time," McFalls said Thursday. "I can’t speculate on what another person is thinking. We didn’t put out the resignation release at that time because he had not submitted a resignation."

Asked why the original press release drafts referred to Wong's departure as a "resignation," McFalls said she hadn't "heard the entire story yet."

The emails were released to Patch under a public records request. Initially, Framingham withheld the emails citing Wong's medical privacy. Patch appealed to the Secretary of the Commonwealth, which ruled the emails should be released. Framingham was ordered to turn over the records on March 11, but took 10 days allowed under state law to release them.

Second resignation report

In the days following Wong's departure, city officials continued to avoid using the word "resignation."

On Dec. 30, the MetroWest Daily News reported Wong had told colleagues that he was resigning due to exhaustion over the course of the pandemic.

"Michael Hugo, a former member of the Framingham Board of Health, said Wong had told him he had resigned, and that he'd given his notice to Mayor Yvonne Spicer last week," the newspaper reported on Dec. 30.

That reporting prompted Spicer to release her own statement on the departure.

"As I’m sure, many of you have been reading conflicting information about the medical leave of Health Director Dr. Sam Wong," Spicer's statement said. "The city released an announcement on Dec. 29 that Dr. Wong would be taking medical leave as of today. If you read today’s MetroWest Daily News, you see in his own words that he’s exhausted and absolutely needs to take a break."

In a press release prepared on Dec. 29, however, a quote from Spicer was more direct about the departure.

"The city is losing a true leader and friend," a quote from Spicer in the draft said. "I'm confident in the team and department he leaves behind, and I wish him the best in his future endeavors."

Vacation or medical leave?

A week later, the city released documents to Patch showing Wong had not formally applied for medical leave, but had requested almost two months worth of accumulated vacation time.

"Dr. Wong told HR he was taking leave for medical reasons," she wrote in a Jan. 7 email when asked about the vacation time. "He had the time and put in for it. He did not ask for [Family and Medical Leave Act] even though he qualified for it. He asked the city to say he was taking a leave for medical reasons."

According to McFalls, Wong officially resigned at the end of February, the last day of the vacation leave he applied for. Wong did not immediately return a request for comment for this story.

Wong previously served as Hudson's health director, and was hired in 2017 by former Framingham town manager Robert Halpin. Spicer had reappointed Wong shortly before his departure. He has been credited as a leader in the state amid the coronavirus pandemic — including pushing state and business leaders to locate free Stop the Spread testing sites in Framingham.