Witchy Ways

This story has been getting around the last week or so. So, if you are not up to date on it, you should get to it.

Lauren Berrios , a reading teacher at the Hampton Bays school, is bringing suit against her school district.

Her reason? Harassment. No, not the wacky sexual or grade adjustment sort, No, here we are talking REALLY old school. See, some people decided she...was a witch. [Cue the Oz music...no the Wizard! You...]

Well, it seems to focus on the opinions of man man in particular. The principal, Andrew Albano.

Newsday.com:

...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 born-again Christian beliefs.

Ah, our old friend the born again's. Potter will swallow your child's soul. And the Goosebumps stories will fill the empty vessel. It is almost too obvious.

Albano, who is expected to testify in the trial, could not be reached Tuesday. 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."

...

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.

...

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.

What , of course, gets lost in the story is the question of....AND? This lady could have been a witch, or a wiccan, or whatever. AND? Who cares? The silent implication of this story is that it is sad she is being picked on as falsely being called a witch, not that why would it be okay for this guy to persecute a witch and then fire them? But maybe I am just being silly.

Maybe the Addams Family was right. Those fairy tales with evil witches, who get killed, often by children, does do harm to kids.




Why didn't we listen, Gomez?