CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (AP) -- Was she casting spells or teaching spelling?
A former teacher fired from her job at a Hampton Bays elementary school has filed a $2 million federal lawsuit, claiming she was improperly dismissed because the administration and others thought she was a witch.
While the school district was not under obligation to explain why Lauren Berrios was not granted tenure, its lawyer claimed Wednesday that Berrios didn't get along with co-workers, had a condescending attitude and was eventually reported to Child Protective Services after telling tales about imaginary injuries to her own son.
"It's been quite a long time since we've seen a witch trial in this country,'' defense attorney Steven Stern told a jury of five men and three women during opening statements in U.S. District Court.
Berrios, 37, who denies ever practicing witchcraft, filed the lawsuit in 2001 after she was fired following her second year as a reading specialist teacher. She has since moved to the Atlanta area, where she is working as a teacher.
Her attorney, John Ray, said during his opening statement that Berrios was in fact subjected to the religious fervor of the school's principal, Andrew Albano, a born-again Christian. Ray said Berrios, a former Catholic who converted to Judaism when she married, was viewed as suspect by Albano and others.
"He brought his religion into the school,'' Ray said, claiming the principal would have children sing "Jesus Loves All the Children of the World'' over the school's public address system, and make other pro-Christian pronouncements. "He was foisting his own brand of Christianity on the school.''
Berrios was terminated by Albano, Ray said, "after he decided she was a witch.''
Stern countered that Berrios told co-workers once about going to a coven meeting and taught students about the Salem witch trials, but insisted her firing "had nothing to do with anyone thinking that she was a witch.''
Instead, he said, Berrios was a "storyteller'' whose tales eventually became "stranger and stranger.''
He said co-workers will testify during the trial that Berrios fabricated stories, including that her husband was in a plane crash and that her 2-year-old son required surgeries and suffered debilitating injuries. She reportedly told others that her son's fingers were severed when his hand was caught in a VCR, prompting her to send a letter to the school staff warning of the dangers of VCRs, Stern said.
The attorney said school officials were concerned Berrios may have been suffering from Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a rare form of child abuse in which parents make up a child's ill to gain attention and sympathy for themselves.
The concerns became so great, the attorney said, that Albano filed a report with Child Protective Services officials.
"The plaintiff went ballistic'' when the report was filed, Stern said, although he did not say whether he learned the outcome of any investigation. A spokesman for Suffolk County's Child Protective Services, citing confidentiality requirements, said officials do not comment on even the existence of an investigation.
The lawyers for both sides, as well as their clients, declined comment outside the courtroom, citing a gag order imposed by Judge Leonard Wexler.
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