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 spazmodeus
 
posted on June 20, 2001 09:43:13 AM new
L.I. TEACHER BOILS OVER ‘WITCH' HUNT
By ANGELA C. ALLEN and TRACY CONNOR
------------------------------------------------------------------------
June 20, 2001 -- A Long Island teacher filed a million-dollar lawsuit against her school district yesterday, claiming administrators on a witch hunt are trying to boot her because of rumors she's a black-magic woman.

Reading specialist Lauren Berrios, 32, has taught at Hampton Bays Elementary School for two years, but she probably won't be back in September because the school board last night followed the superintendent's recommendation and rejected her for tenure.

The married mom said she's being forced out because the school's principal and others are wrongly convinced she dabbles in the occult - a charge the district denied.

There's no smoking broomstick, but the grade-school gossip was apparently fueled by Berrios' black clothing, dramatic makeup and long fingernails, she said.



It boiled over after she told students about visiting Salem, Mass., home of the infamous witch trials, during a lesson.

"I had a group of fourth-grade girls approach me and ask about reviving dead spirits," she said. "They came to me and asked me if I knew how to do it. I said I didn't."

Principal Andrew Albano complained that Berrios included "cult-like values and wiccan principles," in her lessons and warned her not to mention the soothsayer in a class on Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar," she said.

Breaking down in tears, she described how someone left a magazine with a picture of a student witch in her school mailbox.

"The witch-hunt trials are being brought back to Hampton Bays," Berrios' lawyer, John Ray, said at a press conference.

Albano, who sent Berrios a stern letter in February complaining of "some bizarre behaviors," refused to comment on the brouhaha yesterday.

District Superintendent Bruce McKenna said the $1 million federal discrimination suit is just legal mumbo-jumbo.

McKenna said he knew Berrios talked about Salem and the witch trials in class but didn't have a problem with it, and he called her allegations "ridiculous."

At the red-brick school building, some parents and students said they'd heard the talk about Berrios but didn't pay it much mind.

Third-grader Matthew Secrist was pretty sure the rumors couldn't be true. After all, the 8-year-old said, "Witches aren't real."
---------------------------------------

I saw this story on the Fox 5 (New York) ten o'clock news last night and while the Post article makes no mention of it here, the teacher and her attorney insist that the persecution is the work of local Born Again Christians, many of whom have children in the school.

Nor does this article feature statements by parents who stand in full support of the job this woman is doing, some of whom said so on camera during the TV news report.

As you can see in the article, she was warned for using the word "soothsayer" while discussing Shakespeare. During the TV report last night, Berrios pointed out the absurdity of it, noting that the work of Shakespeare is full of supernatural themes, such as ghosts (Hamlet), witches (Macbeth), wizards (The Tempest), etc. As an English major myself, I have to concur that's it's virtually impossible to discuss Shakespeare without talking about such things.

What next? Book burning?



[ edited by spazmodeus on Jun 20, 2001 09:48 AM ]
 
 jamesoblivion
 
posted on June 20, 2001 09:46:16 AM new
Long Island? I can see this happening in West Virginia maybe. She needs to cut those nails, by the way.


[ edited by jamesoblivion on Jun 20, 2001 09:46 AM ]
 
 gravid
 
posted on June 20, 2001 09:51:02 AM new
And when the attorney gets done she should lay an ugly long term curse on them.

 
 Femme
 
posted on June 20, 2001 12:17:37 PM new

Sue the bastards!!!

If wearing black clothing, wearing make-up, having long nails and visiting or reading about historical Salem makes one a witch, then call me Broomhilda.


 
 lotsafuzz
 
posted on June 20, 2001 12:46:42 PM new
I think I need a break from my teaching job hunt. I wasn't suprised that a teacher was getting screwed by the admin., I was suprised that she was teaching Shakespeare in elementary school.

*sigh*

 
 reamond
 
posted on June 20, 2001 12:57:35 PM new
I hope her lawyer pops the school district for a couple of $mil.

 
 toollady
 
posted on June 20, 2001 01:00:49 PM new
She looks like a typical woman who hails from the Hamptons.

I've seen bizarre things occurring in NY, but that one takes the cake.

Edited to add: She doesn't live in the Hamptons according to Newsday. She actually lives in my old neighborhood about 15 miles west of the Hamptons.
[ edited by toollady on Jun 20, 2001 01:08 PM ]
 
 Twelvepole
 
posted on June 20, 2001 01:30:25 PM new
...then call me Broomhilda.

Yeah, like that hasn't been done already.

Anyway, that is a crock. No wonder it is hard to find and keep good teachers.
Ain't Life Grand...
 
 ZILvy
 
posted on June 20, 2001 01:50:32 PM new
YOU RANG??(I feel pretty oh so pretty! Who is that pretty girl, in the mirror, there? Who can that pretty girl be?)



[ edited by ZILvy on Jun 20, 2001 01:52 PM ]
 
 artdoggy
 
posted on June 20, 2001 02:33:24 PM new
I have a friend who is a teacher. She used to wear black, she said she stopped because black upsets grade school students. Children at this age are very concerned about monsters under the bed. To adults this is not an issue to a 6 or 7 year old, this is real stuff. Any adult who does not recognize this is being immature. Long fingernails and consistantly wearing black frightens little kids. It is all so stupid as so positively lacking in common sense. I agree, she should cut those nails, they don't look very practical to me.

 
 rancher24
 
posted on June 20, 2001 05:34:34 PM new
Doesn't surprize me one bit...Beautiful Long Island, summer home to thousands of celebrities, beautiful beaches, lots o' $$$, and home to some of the most corrupt school districts in the state!!...If you rock the boat or threaten the administration way, you're history - good,bad,witch or warlock - POOF you're gone!

My 11 year old son is an avid reader. He prefers the R.L. Stine, H.Potter type books. When he finished with those, he wanted to learn more about magic, Salem witch trials, palm reading etc, so he took some books outta the library (the SCHOOL library). I was careful to monitor his reading and explain to him that there are some people for whom magic is not such a good thing. He satisfied his curiosity & moved on to other books. One day, he'd had enough of some kid's bullying, and told the kid to "go to hell". Well, it's just a damm good thing that he's a good student, well liked by most of his peers & his teachers, so they simply talked with him & worked it out. The mob was formin' tho', ready to hang the witch boy!!

I hope this teacher has enough parents & friends on her side that they can prove how this witch hunt is moronic and if that fails, hope she takes 'em for every penny they've got!

~ Rancher

 
 artdoggy
 
posted on June 20, 2001 05:41:03 PM new
Taking the money from the school district for revenge to only harms the children. How can justice be served? If she wanted to make her point does she have to do so at the expense of the children's educational budget?


 
 rancher24
 
posted on June 20, 2001 05:43:33 PM new
artdoggy...I can't speak for the Hamptons, but my school district has more money in their budget for legal expenses (eg. lawsuit settlement money - NEVER EVER go to trial) than they do in the facilities maint. budget.

~ Rancher

 
 spazmodeus
 
posted on June 20, 2001 05:45:49 PM new
Actually, it will be better for everyone in the long run, including the children, if her actions result in the school district becoming more aware of the fact that some of the people running the show are bigoted, fanatical morons. Maybe it will take an expensive lawsuit to finally open their eyes. Worth the cost, I say.

 
 gravid
 
posted on June 20, 2001 05:50:18 PM new
It is much more important to never have to say you are wrong than worry about how much it takes from the budget. If the students start to think you are falible everything will fall apart. Pretty soon they will expect the school to have the same respect for human dignity that the courts force upon jails.

 
 artdoggy
 
posted on June 20, 2001 05:52:46 PM new
But what if she is doing things that are not on the up and up? What if she is dangerous, what if she has a criminal record, Does a school board open themselve to such enormous liability if they do not have some type of extreme evidence to support their decision? Certainly, these administrators know from ea legal standpoint to dismiss a person for such outrageous reasons would have immediate legal ramifications. I don't think there is enough information to make a qualified decision about either party.

 
 spazmodeus
 
posted on June 20, 2001 06:21:54 PM new
But what if she is doing things that are not on the up and up? What if she is dangerous, what if she has a criminal record,

Like I said, a witch hunt.

 
 hepburn
 
posted on June 20, 2001 06:30:25 PM new
If she had a criminal record, she wouldn't have been hired in the first place. Duh.

 
 artdoggy
 
posted on June 20, 2001 06:32:50 PM new
Criminal record disclosure can be avoided if the price is right...Duh

 
 artdoggy
 
posted on June 20, 2001 06:35:42 PM new
bubble bubble toil and trouble....hehehehehehehehehehehehehheheh The most successful spells are cast on the naive people who take everything at face value. A DIRECT QUOTE FROM THE ARTDOGGY BOOK OF WISDOM AND HOW TO MAKE A MILLION OFF TRUSTING IDIOTS.
[ edited by artdoggy on Jun 20, 2001 06:38 PM ]
 
 hepburn
 
posted on June 20, 2001 06:36:39 PM new
Oh, I know. She hexed the record so it poofed. Since when is there a price on a public criminal record that prospective employers check, especially with a teacher? She was there for 2 years. Duh back at ya.

 
 artdoggy
 
posted on June 20, 2001 06:44:08 PM new
Sorry you are wrong again, basing your "opinion" on policy rather than reality. The state of Florida just dismissed three tenured professors for hiding their past criminal records. Refer to the March 2, issue of USA today. All three teacher worked a combine 16 years at the college level.
Duh....Duh....Duh....right back at you!

 
 forhope
 
posted on June 20, 2001 06:45:10 PM new
Speaking of CHILDREN..... with all the "duh's" being thrown around, it sounds like a couple of those 4th grade kids are contributing to this thread.




 
 artdoggy
 
posted on June 20, 2001 06:51:04 PM new
Yes, even teachers will pay the price to hide their ugly pasts from prospective employers. I am sure there is hardly a person in this entire forum that has not misrepresented the truth or LIED on a job application. There are many sites you can hit right now on the iternet that can "handle" these little problems for you. That nasty little "pot bust" back in 74 or the ugly little shoplifting spree, back in 82. Criminal does not mean always, salivating, gun toting, murdering, savage. Sometimes they are just normal people like me and... Duh...you.

 
 gravid
 
posted on June 20, 2001 07:50:03 PM new
I knew one fellow that papered over a full 10 year period (sentence) with a resume that listed a succession of oil companies that went belly up and put himself down as serving them in Saudi Arabia or Yeman. There was no living person of record for the 3 companies he listed that could be tracked down with public records. He tried mightily to verify it first himself. It was a masterpiece.

 
 MrsSantaClaus
 
posted on June 20, 2001 10:42:34 PM new
When I first met the other bridesmaid in a wedding I was in she wore all black, had long fingernails and dramatic makeup.

Guess how I handled that situation? I introduced her to my brother!

They are now married, with a beautiful baby and a new home. She is an awesome person!

I love a happy ending!

BECKY

 
 Zazzie
 
posted on June 20, 2001 10:49:15 PM new
We have a teacher that has a big mole (wart) on her chin. I suppose she'll have to have plastic surgery.................
 
 sadie999
 
posted on June 21, 2001 04:05:44 AM new
Here's a thought. Real witches don't get caught.

What stupid people run our school system. Talk about the dumbing down of 'merika.
 
 artdoggy
 
posted on June 21, 2001 07:24:07 AM new
Real witches voted for George Bush

 
 ZILvy
 
posted on June 21, 2001 08:00:38 AM new
Pretty fiesty for a reprieved poster, must have been saving up for months.

I have never lied on an application for employment. I have, however, refused to answer certain questions as they had no relevance to the then current situation.

For excitement I prefer casting spells and doing incantations! No eye of Newt tho as that would be barbaric.



 
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