CBS)HAMPTON BAYS, N.Y. A Long Island elementary school teacher is suing the Hampton Bays school district after she was fired because her administrators allegedly believed she was a witch teaching witchcraft to her students. Her lawyer is calling the case a "21st century re-enactment of the Salem Witchcraft Trials."
Lauren Berrios told CBS 2 that she was terminated after she was told that she "entice[d] children into witchcraft and magic through literature."
Berrios, who was born a Catholic before converting to Judaism, said she was fired in 2001 after being falsely accused of being a witch, which is now the basis of her $2 million lawsuit. Her attorney, John Ray, says she was the victim of a public school district trying to push Christian values.
"There's unquestionably in this matter a question of church and state being not separated, but being brought together by born-again Christians in this school," Ray said.
A school spokesperson says Berrios' claim lacks merit, but in 2003 the school's principal at the time testified he believed that Berrios practiced witchcraft.
"Every school that I go to interview in I have to disclose to them that I was denied tenure for enticing children into witchcraft and magic," Berrios says.
Even before she was fired, Berrios says her principal removed books from her classroom, including the popular series "Goosebumps," as well as "Harry Potter." She believes books that didn't mesh with principal's religious values, even including African-American literature, were taken out of her curriculum.
Ray admits that Berrios' appearance didn't help her cause either, especially when she was teaching her students about the Salem witch trials. "Mrs. Berrios has long fingernails, wears dark make-up, wears black," he said.
Berrios' very own modern-day witch trial will likely draw to a close this week. The case will be decided by a federal jury beginning Wednesday
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Can anyone remember an elementary school teacher who wasn't a few cards short of a deck? She sounds pretty harmless based on the article, although possibly a bit eccentric. I seem to know quite a few conservative Jewish women who wear lots of black and plenty of dark earthtone makeup, though, so it wouldn't surprise me if the school admin just jumped to conclusions about someone they didn't understand. Probably didn't help that she converted the wrong way, as many Christian believe.
Don't worry about the school system, though. Their actions will be atoned for by the taxpaying public...
Location: land of the Lilliputians, In the state of insanity
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RE: Modern day witch Hunt?
If she was doing as stated, she needs to be canned. I can't bring a Bible into my class and teach Christianity. Wicca is just another religion. There is much more to this than what is posted here. The article claims she is jewish, but all i can find on her says she is Wicca. Even wicca sites claim her. So if she was using the questioned books toinundate the kids into wicca, then yea, she needs to be canned. If the books were for reading purposes and educational purposes, fine no problem. No different than using the Bible, Quaran, or other religious text in history class. But you wouldnt dare use them as anindoctrination tool. I think this will turn out to be old news.
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kaafir mushrik
Unintended consequences and God have one thing in common: Liberals don’t believe in either of them.
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RE: Modern day witch Hunt?
Something tells me there is more to that story j .....
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Modern day witch Hunt?
