A Brooklyn public high school gym teacher sent a 16-year-old student a Snapchat picture of his penis after propositioning her during an offer to drive her home, prosecutors said Thursday.
Michael Boitano, 40, an athletic director with the New York City Department of Education, traded Snapchat messages with his then-16-year-old student in October — and allegedly used the social media platform to send her a picture of his privates, authorities charge.
The disturbing picture was accompanied by an inappropriate message in which the married teacher asked the girl if she would like to kiss him.
“I know you’ve said you’ve been with a guy before and would totally be with a white guy at least once,” Boitano said in the message, according to Assistant Brooklyn District Attorney Kellen Michuda. “I don’t know if you were hinting something. I know you said you hate kissing. Unsure what you were trying to signal, but let’s say I was to try and kiss you. Would you kiss me back?”
Michuda said the girl told several of her classmates about the message. They told staffers, who called authorities, officials said.
Boitano was arrested Wednesday. He was charged during a Brooklyn Criminal Court arraignment with disseminating indecent material to minors, official misconduct by a public servant, and endangering the welfare of a child.
Boitano is a co-athletic director at John Jay Campus Athletics in Park Slope, according to an online program directory. His annual salary last year was $113,000, according to public records.
The joint high school athletics program made headlines in the early 2020s for student integration efforts through sports. Before the “John Jay Jaguars,” as they’re known today, were formed, the campus was home to two separate athletics programs: One for the three schools that enrolled a majority of Black and Latino low-income students, and the other for a selective high school, Millennium Brooklyn, that attracted more white and Asian students and played with a second Millennium location in Manhattan.
The Millennium schools offered nearly double the number of sports teams as the other athletics department in the building, exacerbating unease that the programs were competing with each other for limited space and resources. After the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, school administrators finally merged the sports department.
Boitano, wearing a hoodie, shorts and laceless sneakers, was released on $10,000 bond and ordered to stay away from the girl and have no contact with her via email or the internet.
The teacher’s family, including his wife, were in the courtroom. They declined to comment.
“The safety of our students is our top priority,” a spokesperson for the city Department of Education said. “This alleged behavior is disturbing and completely unacceptable. This individual was reassigned away from students immediately following their arrest, and if convicted, we will pursue termination.”
