Did Bed-Stuy's Turnaround Principal Really Cover Up a Locker Room Rape Report?

BED-STUY, BROOKLYN — In the two years it's taken him to stage a dramatic academic turnaround at Bed-Stuy's famous but long-failing Boys and Girls High School on Fulton Street, Principal Michael Wiltshire — also principal of the Medgar Evers College Preparatory School in Crown Heights — has been hit with equal amounts praise and scorn.

He's been accused by parents and activists of urging failing students to transfer; driving the social-services agency Good Shepherd Services to cut ties with the school; and favoring Medgar Evers, where he's worked longer. (Wiltshire denied or explained away all these allegations in a recent interview with the New York Times.)

And while graduation rates have surged during Wiltshire's time as principal — inspiring Mayor Bill De Blasio, who all but appointed him to lead Boys and Girls, to call his leadership the kind "that moves mountains, that inspires people, that changes things that people say couldn’t be changed" — enrollment has plunged even further in the opposite direction.

But all that pales to allegations lobbed at Boys and Girls' turnaround principal by the New York Post late Thursday night.

"An internal investigation by the Department of Education," the Post wrote, "concluded last week that Wiltshire and two assistant principals failed to report the alleged mid-December gang rape after meeting with the girl and her mom, according to a source familiar with the probe’s findings."

Worse still, the Post's inside source claimed Wiltshire and his assistants, Cami Wittingham and Sherlene Thomas-Hughes, "questioned whether the girl consented to the locker room incident."

If the allegations are true, and we really hope they aren't: Surely, no academic turnaround at Boys and Girls High School is worth tolerating that kind of leadership.

“We have clear reporting procedures to ensure incidents and misconduct are thoroughly addressed," an NYC Schools spokeswoman said in a statement, "and any failure to report is deeply concerning."

"We’re reviewing this case and discipline is pending," the spokeswoman said.

According to the Post investigation, school leaders failed to report the ugly locker-room incident to both NYC Schools officials and the NYPD.

A source within the NYC Department of Education — albeit with an interest in protecting the department — told Patch that Wiltshire did indeed fail to report a possible sex crime at the school. However, the source claimed the incident was not, in fact, a locker room gang rape, but an "allegation of student-on-student sexual harassment."

[UPDATE, Friday night: Wiltshire, who did not return our request for comment, has denied the Post report wholesale in an interview with DNAinfo. "No incident like that ever happened, nothing close to that happened at the school,” he said. “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.”]

Just before the Post dropped its bombshell, Chancellor Carmen Fariña, head of all NYC Schools, defended Wiltshire. “I think he’s done a great job stabilizing the building, making sure that more students are on their way to graduation,” she said, according to Chalkbeat.

But Wiltshire might not be staying at Boys and Girls (or Medgar Evers) much longer. He's reportedly being courted to take over the principalship at Uniondale High School on Long Island.

Uniondale High officials would not confirm, but sent the following statement to Patch.

"The Uniondale School District is currently in the process of interviewing candidates for the open principal position at Uniondale High School. No decision has been made at the current time. When a final decision is made by the Board of Education the successful candidate will be introduced to the community and appropriate announcements will be made in District publications, on the District’s website and to the media."

We've also reached out to officials at Boys and Girls High School for comment on the Post's allegations.

Meanwhile, you can read the full investigation here.