Principal Ousted Over NYC School Witchcraft Ritual
Pastor Dale Morgan
Principal Ousted Over NYC School Witchcraft Ritual*
New York City Principal to Be Fired Over School Chicken Blood Ritual
By COLLEEN LONG
The Associated Press
A public school principal accused of paying a woman witch to sprinkle
chicken blood on the high school in an attempt to cleanse it of negative
energy will be fired, the Department of Education said Tuesday.
Maritza Tamayo, principal of the Unity Center for Urban Technologies,
paid a woman named Gilda Fonte to lead several Santeria rituals at the
Manhattan school during midwinter break in 2006, when students were not
there, according to Richard Condon, the special commissioner of
investigation for city schools.
A former assistant principal, Melody Crooks-Simpson, said there was a
running joke at the school that sage should be used to cleanse the
building because many of the students were ill-behaved. But it seems
Tamayo took it seriously, Crooks-Simpson told investigators, and had
Fonte lead a ceremony at which she sprinkled chicken blood on the building.
Tamayo coerced staff members to participate in and help pay for the
ceremonies, investigators said.
Santeria is a blend of traditional African religions and Catholicism and
first was practiced in the Caribbean by slaves who were prohibited from
worshipping in other religions.
The commissioner's report recommended that Tamayo be fired. Department
of Education spokeswoman Margie Feinberg said that Tamayo will be
reassigned immediately and will be fired.
Telephone calls to Tamayo's home were unanswered Tuesday. But in the
report, Tamayo denied taking part in a religious ceremony at the school.
Crooks-Simpson told investigators she didn't attend the ceremony with
the chicken blood, but showed up to school a few days later in a white
dress to participate in another ceremony because Tamayo said it wouldn't
work without her. She said Tamayo charged her $900 for the rite.
Tamayo said in the report that the $900 was for a vacation they took
together with their families.
Another teacher saw Tamayo, Fonte and another woman, wearing white
dresses, performing a ritual at the school while Fonte balanced a silver
tray with 40 lit candles on her head, said investigators.
Fonte told investigators she did not practice Santeria. There was no
telephone listing for her.
The problem wasn't that Tamayo was performing bizarre religious rituals
but that she was coercing her staff to participate, Condon said.
"Had she hired a priest to sprinkle holy water on the building, and she
coerced the assistant principal into paying for it and attending it, I
would have a problem with it," Condon said.