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Yonkers Teachers Sue Principal, District

YONKERS, N.Y. – A heavy handed principal has become a Yonkers elementary school’s biggest bully, according to two teachers and their union leader.

Teresa Ciccone and Celia Mazziotti have filed an age discrimination and hostile work environment lawsuit against Kahlil Gibran Elementary School Principal Christopher Macaluso and the Yonkers School District.  In it, they said the principal harassed, humiliated, demoralized and bullied them – all in an effort to run them out of the school.  

“It’s unfortunate that the situation had to get to this level,” said Patricia Puleo, president of the Yonkers Federation of Teachers Union. “But there seems to be a heavy handedness in that school that these teachers had no recourse but to find some mechanism to defend themselves.”

Neither Macaluso nor his attorney returned calls for comment. Yonkers school officials issued a statement that stated: “The district intends to prove that these are baseless allegations without merit.”

In the allegations, Mazziotti said she has been targeted since Macaluso took over the principal position in 2009 and continued a feud that spilled over from the previous administration.

For whatever reason, the principal didn’t want students taking her English-as-a-second-language courses, Mazziotti said, and insisted she get rid of documentation proving certain students belonged in the course.  When Mazziotti refused, she said she drew the ire of the principal.

“He came in and was relentless,” Mazziotti said. “He targeted a couple people and I was one of them.”

The 61-year-old teacher, who has been in the district 24 years, said Macaluso has made her life miserable, throwing objects around the office during a closed door meeting, harassing and belittling her in public, even locking her out of the school.  

“I was very upset I had to go this route but I had no choice,” said Mazziotti who filed the suit in White Plains state Supreme Court in January seeking unspecified damages. “I was not sleeping at night. I didn’t know what I did wrong or why I deserved what was happening to me.”

Nearly a year earlier, in February 2011, Ciccone, 48, a pre-kindergarten teacher, filed a similar suit in state Supreme Court, apparently upset that she was passed over for a job in favor of a 23-year-old colleague who didn’t have the qualifications for the job, according to court documents.

Ciccone was later transferred to another school within the district. In the court documents, Ciccone said she wants $2 million in damages and her position back at Kahlil.

While Ciccone wants back into the school, Mazziotti, who still works at Kahlil, said she is working with the union to try and get out. Fearing a “horrible” situation should she return to the school this fall, Mazziotti said she wants to transfer to another building. 

“I’ve been through hell and back and truthfully I don’t want to go back there,” she said.

“There have been other teachers who have had great concerns with the way they have been spoken to and treated as professionals,” Puelo said.

Ciccone and Mazziotti said Macaluso’s volatile behavior continues a pattern that started in a previous job in Tempe, Az. 

According to court documents, a Phoenix-based private investigator hired by Ciccone found at least three parents had complained about Macaluso’s behavior while in Tempe and ex-PTA members reported that his “tyrannical bullying left teachers, students and frustrated parents in tears.”

Mazziotti's court hearings is scheduled for Aug. 8 and Ciccone's is set for Sept. 11.

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