- Joined
- Mar 5, 2004
- Messages
- 4,824
- Reaction score
- 1
Teacher rumored to be witch has day in court
BY JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER AND HERBERT LOWE
Newsday Staff Writers
A federal jury in Central Islip heard opening statements Wednesday from attorneys in the case of a reading specialist who contends the principal at the Hampton Bays school where she worked denied her tenure because he falsely believed she was a witch.
Lauren Berrios' attorney promised the jury it would hear evidence that the accusations began once former Hampton Bays Elementary School principal Andrew Albano became a born again Christian.
"Once Mr. Albano had a change in his religion, he began to suspect Lauren Berrios was a practitioner of witchcraft," said attorney John Ray of Miller Place.
Ray also said Albano sought to block Berrios from getting tenure because he wanted to force Christianity on the school.
Attorney Steven C. Stern, representing Albano and the school district, countered that Berrios made up the witchcraft allegations only after the principal and a school psychologist told authorities they suspected that she was physically abusing her 2-year-old son.
Saying she had "serious pre-existing mental health issues," Stern said Berrios told bizarre and conflicting stories to co-workers about injuries that the son sustained.
"Over time those stories got stranger and stranger," Stern said.
Tuesday, in an interview at Ray's office, Berrios said her fingernails, makeup and clothing apparently made her look like a witch in the principal's eyes.
Berrios, 37, who vehemently denies ever practicing witchcraft, said there was no reason her appearance at the school could have been mistaken for anything other than a prim and well-kept professional.
She sat in Ray's office sporting a sparkly silver sweater, French manicured nails and blonde hair neatly upswept as she recounted how rumors of witchcraft had led to her being denied tenure and eventually fired from the district.
Hired in 1999, Berrios was a reading specialist at the school. During her second year there, she said, she began to hear from parents that rumors were spreading that she was a witch.
Then, she said, Albano began removing books from her classroom, such as Shakespeare's plays and the Goosebumps series, which Berrios claims he disliked because they involve goblins, soothsayers and ghosts. Berrios said the paranormal went against Albano's Christian beliefs.
There were other genres in Berrios' library, she said. "I'm a reading specialist, I use literature."
Albano is expected to testify in the trial. District officials have said previously that Berrios was let go because she was a poor teacher.
Berrios said she has no written proof that Albano deemed her a witch but will rely on her memory of conversations with him and others. A letter dated Feb. 9, 2001 from Albano to Berrios states that he was concerned about her "bizarre behaviors."
BY JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER AND HERBERT LOWE
Newsday Staff Writers
A federal jury in Central Islip heard opening statements Wednesday from attorneys in the case of a reading specialist who contends the principal at the Hampton Bays school where she worked denied her tenure because he falsely believed she was a witch.
Lauren Berrios' attorney promised the jury it would hear evidence that the accusations began once former Hampton Bays Elementary School principal Andrew Albano became a born again Christian.
"Once Mr. Albano had a change in his religion, he began to suspect Lauren Berrios was a practitioner of witchcraft," said attorney John Ray of Miller Place.
Ray also said Albano sought to block Berrios from getting tenure because he wanted to force Christianity on the school.
Attorney Steven C. Stern, representing Albano and the school district, countered that Berrios made up the witchcraft allegations only after the principal and a school psychologist told authorities they suspected that she was physically abusing her 2-year-old son.
Saying she had "serious pre-existing mental health issues," Stern said Berrios told bizarre and conflicting stories to co-workers about injuries that the son sustained.
"Over time those stories got stranger and stranger," Stern said.
Tuesday, in an interview at Ray's office, Berrios said her fingernails, makeup and clothing apparently made her look like a witch in the principal's eyes.
Berrios, 37, who vehemently denies ever practicing witchcraft, said there was no reason her appearance at the school could have been mistaken for anything other than a prim and well-kept professional.
She sat in Ray's office sporting a sparkly silver sweater, French manicured nails and blonde hair neatly upswept as she recounted how rumors of witchcraft had led to her being denied tenure and eventually fired from the district.
Hired in 1999, Berrios was a reading specialist at the school. During her second year there, she said, she began to hear from parents that rumors were spreading that she was a witch.
Then, she said, Albano began removing books from her classroom, such as Shakespeare's plays and the Goosebumps series, which Berrios claims he disliked because they involve goblins, soothsayers and ghosts. Berrios said the paranormal went against Albano's Christian beliefs.
There were other genres in Berrios' library, she said. "I'm a reading specialist, I use literature."
Albano is expected to testify in the trial. District officials have said previously that Berrios was let go because she was a poor teacher.
Berrios said she has no written proof that Albano deemed her a witch but will rely on her memory of conversations with him and others. A letter dated Feb. 9, 2001 from Albano to Berrios states that he was concerned about her "bizarre behaviors."
