A veteran principal abruptly booted from her Williamsburg school says she was targeted for her open support for Israel.
Esther Shali-Ogli, who has led Juan Morel Campos Secondary School for seven years, was abruptly removed last month after Superintendent David Cintron claimed she failed to inform him of an aide’s arrest — an accusation she calls “a lie.”
“They hate me,” said Shali-Ogli, one of two Jewish principals in school District 14, where a rogue, parent-run Community Education Council promoted a citywide student walkout to support Palestine in November at the start of the Israel-Hamas war, and is accused of muzzling dissident voices.
“I feel I’m being targeted because I’m a Jewish woman in a district which is all about supporting Palestine,” she said.
Shali-Ogli, 58, unabashedly cheers the Jewish State — hanging an Israeli flag on her office door and plastering her car with bumper stickers with slogans like “Bless Israel” and “Damn Hamas” in Hebrew.
“I’m not included in anything,” she said. “I can’t go to the CEC or district leadership meetings where they’re espousing annihilation of the Jewish state, and the superintendent has not addressed the hateful speech. As a Department of Education employee I’m supposed to remain neutral and sit there quietly.”
The principal’s Kafkaesque nightmare began on March 1, when deputy superintendent Arelis Parache told her to pack her belongings, surrender her keys and leave the building, Shali-Ogli said.
Parache handed Shali-Ogli a letter saying she was under investigation, but did not give a reason.
Her representative at the principals’ union learned she is under scrutiny over an incident involving a 14-year-old student who told Shali-Ogli on Feb. 7 that a school aide had shared a “sex video” on his cell phone.
The principal immediately notified the city’s Special Commissioner of Investigation in an email titled “New complaint of a sexual nature,” and marked as “high importance.” DOE rules instruct schools to report sexual misconduct to the SCI, which usually contacts police.
But it wasn’t until Feb. 20, with schools closed for the mid-winter recess, that SCI investigator Michael Bisogna wrote back, asking “Was this reported to the NYPD?”
After the break, the school called the cops, who arrested paraprofessional Douglas James, 40.
Shali-Ogli then called Cintron — who was in Arizona at a conference — to tell him about the arrest, but he refused to take her calls, she said.
Cintron later complained she never told him.
“That’s a lie,” Shali-Ogli said. “I informed his deputy, his secretary and his executive director.”
The Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office did not find enough evidence to charge James, but the case remains under investigation, officials said.
In emails to families and staff, Cintron announced Shali-Ogli “will no longer be serving as the principal.” He gave no reason for her removal and said a search for an acting principal was underway.
Shali-Ogli, who was also teaching a pre-calculus class for college credit at the school, was “reassigned” to report from home pending the disciplinary process.
“I have never had a disciplinary meeting in almost 24 years as an educator,” she said.
“I miss my kids! I want to go back to work.”
Former District 14 superintendent Alicja Winnicki said she hired Shali-Ogli in 2017 when Juan Morel Campos “was one of the 50 or 60 lowest performing schools in the state” and under threat of state takeover.
“Esther improved it to a school in good standing,” Winnicki told The Post.
The 459 students at the middle-high school are 92% Hispanic and black, 88% low income, and 30% with special needs, including kids with severe intellectual disabilities from the Hasidic community in a bilingual Yiddish program.
Sa-nyah Lee, a 2023 graduate and theater major at LaGuardia Community College, credits Shali-Ogli with helping her gain the self-confidence to sing and dance in school performances.
“A lot of my friends keep saying they wish she was back. She’s been there for a lot of students – they really like her,” Lee said.
DOE spokesman Nathaniel Styer would not explain Shali-Ogli’s removal. “While we do not comment on individual personnel matters, we expect all educators and administrators to bring dangerous and problematic information that impacts the safety of our students to us immediately,” he said.
The Counsel of Supervisors and Administrators, the principals’ union, did not return repeated requests for comment.
