Wyandanch High Principal Accused Of Sexual Harassment In Lawsuit

WYANDANCH, NY — A former teacher at Wyandanch Memorial High School recently filed a civil rights lawsuit against school principal Paul Sibblies. The suit alleges Sibblies harassed English Language Arts teacher Filomena Russo for several years.

Russo filed the claim with attorney Ramsha S. Ansari from Slater Slater Schulman on June 1. The complaint claims Sibblies sent sexual text messages and images to Russo and kissed her on the mouth without her consent. The harassment happened from 2017 to 2019, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit also claims Sibblies created an atmosphere of retaliation against employees.

"Sibblies had a reputation that if he did not like an employee, he would retaliate against that employee and fire or transfer them," the suit reads. "Sibblies transferred teachers if they disagreed with his decisions ... Sibblies repeated personal information about colleagues to embarrass them causing issues amongst the teachers. "

Russo now teaches at a middle school in the district.

Wyandanch schools Superintendent Dr. Gina Talbert told Patch, "as this is a matter of personnel and a matter of pending litigation, the district has no comment."

The lawsuit asks for a jury trial.