BEDFORD-STUYVESANT — Michael Wiltshire is making it clear that “mediocrity cannot be the way” for Boys and Girls High School.
The new acting principal for the struggling Bedford-Stuyvesant school announced his proposal to boost graduation rates and improve the current curriculum during an open house.
Addressing parents, teachers, elected officials and community members at the weekend open house, Wiltshire outlined a model that includes Saturday tutoring courses, a third language option and Advanced Placement classes introduced at earlier grades.
Community turnout was lower than expected at the meet-and-greet, with about 50 people in the school’s sizable auditorium. Some open house attendees were not easily convinced of the proposed changes, expressing concern over the possible impact on students.
“Kids from this community need a different type of approach — you can’t just force whatever plan you have on them,” one parent and PTA member said.
Wiltshire stressed the necessity of a “rigorous course of study,” adding that students needed to be challenged.
“We really have to move away from this low level of expectation from our students and raise the bar very high,” he said, to audience applause. “Obviously this will not be easy, but if it was easy, then everyone would be doing it.”
The planned overhaul comes as Boys and Girls falls under the city’s spotlight.
Enrollment has decreased in all grades since 2009 and the school received an F on its last three progress reports from the Department of Education.
Former principal Bernard Gassaway stepped down from his post in October amid his criticism that the DOE “doesn’t have a plan” for the school, he told DNAinfo.
Just last week, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña listed Boys and Girls among 94 underperforming schools that will receive assistance from the city’s School Renewal Program.
At the open house, Wiltshire addressed reports that claimed he was pushing students to transfer out of Boys and Girls.
“I want to dispel that rumor…that is not my policy,” he said. “I do not have the authority nor could I think about taking students out of the school and put them in the streets. I don’t have that power so certainly that is not true.”
What is true, he added, is his suggestion for older students who do not have many credits to consider transferring to different programs.
Wiltshire, who served as Medgar Evers College Preparatory School’s principal for 14 years, relayed optimism for the high school’s makeover.
“I did not come to Boys and Girls because I’m looking for a job,” he said Saturday.
“I came specifically to Boys and Girls because I am convinced that in my experience and background, I can make a difference in terms of bringing together a good group of educators who can make a difference in creating the kind of institution that will give these students that greatest gift of education.”
Wiltshire touted the achievements of Medgar Evers' Preparatory School, saying he wanted to create a replica of its academic model. Under his leadership, Medgar Evers doubled its enrollment rate over the course of a decade and boosted its four-year graduation rate to 96.1 percent, he said.
Wiltshire will remain principal of Medgar Evers while also working at Boys and Girls, but he will spend 80 percent of his time at Boys and Girls.
Some parents were concerned that Wiltshire wouldn't devote his full attention to Boys and Girls, while others said Wiltshire's responses during the question-and-answer session were “just grazing the surface” and that his plan did not acknowledge the lack of support systems in many students’ lives.
PTA President Caster Hall, while expressing his support for the proposal, questioned whether the Department of Education would keep the principal’s plan.
In response, Sharon Rencher, Fariña’s senior adviser for school improvement, along with elected officials Councilman Robert Cornegy and Assemblywoman Annette Robinson, backed Wiltshire’s vision and called for the community’s assistance to move the school forward.
“There is no conflict, there is no two plan — there is one plan that we will all support and you all will have a voice in,” Rencher said.
“That is the commitment of our chancellor, and the chancellor and DOE are in full support of Dr. Wiltshire and his mission.”
