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Jason Pitzl-Waters on Mar 20th 2007 at 4:49 pm Uncategorized

Another Witch Firing

It looks like another teacher is (possibly) being fired for practicing Witchcraft. The Argus in the UK reports on a assistant teacher who claims she was shunned and then fired for adhering to the religion of Wicca.

“Sommer De La Rosa, 35, told an employment tribunal that she had been unfairly dismissed from her job after school chiefs raised fears that she would indoctrinate students with her pagan religion. The white witch, who wears a pentagram round her neck, claimed she was sacked from her job at the Dorothy Stringer secondary school in Brighton last May because she practices the pagan religion Wicca. On the first day of the four-day tribunal in Brighton today she said: ‘I was shunned by other teachers because of my faith.’”

The school and the Brighton and Hove City Council claim she was fired for “inappropriate disclosures”, a charge that eerily mirrors a recent witchcraft-related firing in the US. In that case the teacher (who wasn’t actually a Witch) was described as having “mental health issues”. Which makes one wonder, do you have to be crazy to work at a school full of Christians if you aren’t a Christian, or does such a work environment eventually make you crazy? Considering that many of these cases are one person’s word against the school’s, we may never know if it was due to religion that these women were fired.

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7 responses so far

  • Steve B, UK

    I don’t know about a school full of Christians, but when I was around Hove 20 years ago “Dorothy Stringer” school was so violent, ignorant and failing that it was due to be closed down. I’m guessing it got better if it’s still running, but it was famous as being the worst pit of scum in an area where there was some heavy competition for the title.It’ll be interesting to see if revealing yourself as Wiccan is all the detail you need to qualify for “inappropriate disclosure”.

  • ColoradoCelt

    “Inappropriate disclosures”? Sounds like, they are basically saying, “she said things that made us uncomfortable”. What a load.

  • Hermgirl

    This reminds me of the late 70s/early 80s, when teachers were being fired for being gay.The pagan community seems to make appropriate noises about standing up for our rights, but until we become as agressive as the gay rights movement was, it doesn’t seem like we will be all that effective.Although your reporting of these situations is certainly a valuable step in that direction.

  • Sommerthewitch

    hi all. I AM SOMMER de la Rosa! Inappropriate disclosures was the term used by the school to describe my religion and telling a STAFF member personal information WHEN ASKED!!they changed their story and said it was time off but that has been dis-proved already, so hoping that natural justice prevails.Blessed be. x

  • Anonymous

    I go to srtinger. SHE WAS A RUBBISH teacher, youve had me in cover lessons miss….

  • Nightxwitch14

    ok, people really need to get a hold of themselves. People get over reacted when they hear the term “wiccan’ or “witch” or “pagan”. People keep thinking that we worship the devil when we not and it gets really annoying when people assume that you’re going to put a curse on them even thought it’s forbidden. People need to learn that there is nothing to fear about us wiccans.And you can’t really teach one spells before they learn the history, rules, beliefs etc. They really need to look into that stuff…oh, and if you think that she was a rubbish teacher, you were probably the one who was the f***ing horrible student in her class who talks all the time and causes trouble because thats usually the case!!>:P

  • Anonymous

    NO ACTUALLY im one of the really quiet ones(it was my friend who told me to write that btw, i dont really have an opinion on whether she was a bad (cover)teacher or not)but what my friend meant was that all she used to talk about was her social life and what she was doing this weekend etc and didnt used to discipline anyone and we ended up doing NO work i didnt really mind that part tbh! she’d just talk for aaaaaaages about something really irrelevant and inappropriate to be telling students. and i want to make this clear, IM NOT SAYING THAT A WHITE WITCH IS A BAD THING :) and by the way in respnose to the person at the tops comment ive been going to DSHS for the last 5 years and we have got soooo much better. we’re top school in bton now