Teacher Suspended Over Pagan Beliefs
A North Carolina high school teacher is fighting her suspension after telling administrators that she practices a pagan religion associated with witchcraft.
Shari Eicher, who teaches 11th-grade English at Scotland High School in Laurinburg, said she was escorted off campus by officials of the school and suspended with pay indefinitely Monday because of her religious beliefs.
Eicher, whose school is about 85 miles southeast of Charlotte, and her husband, Richard, have been practicing Wiccans since 1998. Adherents of Wicca, a pagan religion, worship nature and focus on positive energy. The religion is associated with witchcraft, but Wiccans say the connection is misunderstood and the faith has nothing to do with devil worship.
Eicher said she did not talk to students about Wicca. She disclosed her religious beliefs to administrators after a reporter asked her about an Internet Web site about a local Wicca group that was maintained by her husband.
Scotland County Schools Supt. Shirley Prince declined to comment except to say that an investigation into the matter has begun.
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