Wiccan teacher fights suspension

Christian Century, Feb 2, 2000

A North Carolina high school teacher is fighting her suspension after telling administrators she practices a pagan religion associated with witchcraft. Shari Eicher, an 11th-grade English teacher at Scotland High School in Laurinburg, said she was escorted off campus by officials of the school and suspended with pay indefinitely on January 10 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 contend that the connection is misunderstood and that the faith has nothing to do with devil worship.

Eicher, who has taught at the school for three years, said January 11 she has contacted the North Carolina Education Association for legal assistance in appealing her suspension. Scotland County Schools Superintendent Shirley Prince declined to comment except to say that an investigation into the matter has begun.

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 focusing on a local Wicca group maintained by her husband. The teacher also said she did not hide her beliefs from high school administrators. She said she had been told her beliefs would not present a problem as long as they did not interfere with her teaching.