Sometimes it’s not just the school bully who steals children’s lunch money.
The Office of Special Investigations for city schools is probing allegations that Shango Blake, principal of IS 109 in Queens Village, used funds targeted for the school lunch program for his personal gain, The Post has learned.
An official with the Department of Education’s Office of School Food and Nutrition Services lodged the complaint early last month, the sources said.
The brief complaint said the office had detailed information about Blake misappropriating “various dollar amounts” but did not reveal specifics.
The probe follows a recent Education Department investigation into a laundry list of accusations against Blake filed by a group of unidentified parents of students at his school.
Among those complaints were charges of corporal punishment and misuse of art-program funds. None of the allegations was substantiated.
A spokeswoman for the commissioner of special investigations for city schools, Richard Condon, confirmed that the latest complaint against Blake had been filed, but he declined to comment further.
Education Department spokeswoman Marge Feinberg said: “We do not comment on unsubstantiated allegations. If Commissioner Condon is investigating, we await his final report.”
Repeated phone calls to IS 109, also known as the Jean Nuzzi Intermediate School, were not returned, and an attempt to reach Blake through his former attorney was unsuccessful.
In 2003, Blake’s first year at IS 109, the principal was recognized by Schools Chancellor Joel Klein for dramatically improving safety at the school by initiating a dress code and a volunteer program in which parents patrolled hallways.
He also motivated students to produce a CD of their own hip-hop songs, and the recording raised about $2,500 for new sports teams and extracurricular activities.
But sources said tension between Blake and parents over his leadership style has been building over the last couple of years.