Teacher: Rumors of Being a Witch Cost Me Job

Her fingernails, makeup and clothing apparently made her look like a witch in the eyes of the principal at the Hampton Bays school where she taught reading, Lauren Berrios said yesterday as she prepared for her lawsuit against the district to go to trial.

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.

Jurors in federal court are scheduled to start hearing today about how Berrios endured harassment from former Hampton Bays Elementary School principal Andrew Albano, who she claims falsely accused her of being a witch.

She sat in her lawyer John Ray's Miller Place office yesterday and 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 says he disliked because they involve goblins, soothsayers and ghosts. Berrios said the paranormal went against Albano's born-again Christian beliefs.

There were other genres in Berrios' library, she said. "I'm a reading specialist, I use literature."

Albano, who is expected to testify in the trial, could not be reached yesterday. A district spokesman declined to comment on pending litigation but 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."