BEDFORD-STUYVESANT — The principal of a struggling Brooklyn high school accused of failing to report alleged sexual harassment did not cover up the incident, a source said.
However, an investigation by the Department of Education contradicts the claim, saying that Michael Wiltshire, principal of Boys and Girls High School in Bedford-Stuyvesant, failed to report an allegation of student-on-student sexual harassment to the agency, officials said.
The incident at the Fulton Street school was initially reported by the New York Post to be the rape of a female student by five football players in a locker room.
“No incident like that ever happened, nothing close to that happened at the school,” Wiltshire told DNAinfo New York on Friday.
“No kid was ever touched, molested, sexually harassed, or raped in the school…I challenge any investigator or anyone to come up with any evidence to contradict my statement. The truth should win out.”
In mid-December, a student told a teacher that another student had sex in a locker room, a source told DNAinfo.
The student who made the allegation was brought in, along with one of the students allegedly involved, and both denied that the incident took place, according to a source.
Wiltshire reported the incident to officials on the same day, the source said.
Later the student said to be involved in the incident and the mother met with the principal and also told school workers that nothing happened, a source said.
However, a DOE investigation found Wiltshire failed to report the alleged sexual harassment, officials said.
DOE policy requires that Online Occurrence Reporting System reports are submitted within 24 hours of an incident, and the OORS report wasn’t processed within the mandated timeframe, nor did it include the allegation of student-on-student sexual harassment, another source said.
“We have clear reporting procedures to ensure incidents and misconduct are thoroughly addressed, and any failure to report is deeply concerning,” DOE spokeswoman Devora Kaye said.
“We’re reviewing this case and discipline is pending.”
Wiltshire came to Boys and Girls in 2014 after being tapped by the city to help turn around the Fulton Street school, which is listed as one of the city’s Renewal Schools for its under-performance in recent years.
From 2014 to 2015, the school saw an increase in its 4-year graduation rate with 50 percent, compared to 42 percent of students the previous year, according to the DOE.
“These alleged misbehaviors or activity has really overshadowed the great things that have been done at Boys and Girls,” Wiltshire said.
“Gains have been made in graduation rates, new programs brought on board, architecture, design, computer engineering, dance, the performing arts, there’s some wonderful things that go on here.”
The principal also serves as head of the high-performing Medgar Evers College Preparatory School in Crown Heights, where students and parents have expressed concerns over a city proposal to move the school into the Boys and Girls’ campus.
Wiltshire recently interviewed for a principal position at Uniondale High School on Long Island, he said, but has not made up his mind on a decision to move.
