The mother of a former Bay Shore student told judges she notified the school’s principal about alleged sexual abuse in a Child Victims Act case

The mother of a former Bay Shore School District student told the principal of Gardiner Manor Elementary School that her son’s third-grade teacher sprinkled powder on the boy’s pants and touched his private parts, she testified Friday at the trial of another student suing the district over alleged abuse.

The mother, now 82, said she believed late Principal Lawrence Senecal and the school district “will address any future policies and procedures” regarding teacher Thomas Bernagozzi after her complaint filed in the spring of 1987.

Instead, lawyers for the unnamed plaintiff say, Bernagozzi was allowed to continue teaching in the district for another 13 years, abusing other students, including the plaintiff.

“What’s happening is terrible,” the mother, whose son also filed a lawsuit against Bay Shore Schools under the Child Victims Act, told Senecal in late April 1987.

The mother was one of five witnesses, including her son, who testified before Suffolk Superior Court Judge Christopher Modelewski on Friday in Riverhead in the first of 45 CVA lawsuits against Bay Shore to go to trial. Parents quoted in this story are anonymous to protect the identities of the alleged victims.

Each claim alleges abuse by Bernagozzi, 75, of Babylon, who is currently awaiting trial for sodomy, sexual conduct with a child and possession of child sexual abuse material in a criminal case arising from civil claims. Bernagozzi pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.

The mother told the jury that she did not request that her son be removed from Bernagozzi’s class after he informed her about the alleged abuse at the end of the school year. Instead, she asked him to be seated at a desk as far away from the teacher as possible and removed from Bernagozzi’s after-school sports program for male students.

“He wants to be with his friends… (and) he would feel awkward if he was taken away,” the mother said, giving reasons why she decided to enroll her son in Bernagozzi’s class.

When asked why she never notified the police, the mother replied that she “thought Bay Shore schools would handle the matter.”

The issue of whether the Bay Shore School District actually received notice of alleged bullying by a teacher is central to a case involving third-grade student Bernagozzi during the 1990-91 school year.

Jeffrey Herman, the plaintiff’s attorney, previously told the jury that his client was between 8 and 9 years old when Bernagozzi sexually abused him by rubbing his stomach against him while the child sat on his lap, showered with him and touched the boy’s private areas with his hands and lips. The abuse occurred at school, at a health club and at public beaches and swimming pools, said Herman of Herman Law in Manhattan.

Lewis Silverman, the district’s attorney, in his opening statement sought to distance the district from the actions of the former teacher, who retired in 2000 after 30 years in the classroom.

“The claims that the plaintiff has made against Mr. Bernagozzi, if you believe them, are absolutely disgusting and we will not defend them,” Silverman, of Silverman and Associates in White Plains, told the jury Thursday. “For a district to be liable, there must have been notice, actual or constructive notice, knew or should have known…The evidence will show that the district disputes that it received actual or constructive notice.”

Two fathers of students who participated in Bernagozzi’s after-school sports program in the mid-1980s testified that they also talked to building principals about concerns they had about the amount of time and attention the teacher was giving the boys at school, including taking them to school . on Broadway plays in his spare time and drives them home from school. During these meetings, the fathers did not raise allegations of sexual abuse.

One parent whose son also filed an anonymous CVA lawsuit against the district said Senecal told him the events were “school-sanctioned” and there was nothing to worry about.

“(Senecal) told me what (Bernagozzi) did and everything he did was legal,” the father, a lifelong Bay Shore resident, told the jury. That’s where his concerns ended, he said.

All three parents also testified that they directly confronted Bernagozzi, who assured them that their children were safe in his care.

After questioning Silverman, the parents said Bernagozzi was “charismatic,” “deceptive” or “manipulative.”

The jury also heard testimony from Bernagozzi’s alleged victim, who said he called the district to report his past abuse in February 1991. Herman said the man, an anonymous plaintiff in another case against the school district, could not testify in person . .

Bay Shore Schools has sued Bernagozzi in each of the 45 lawsuits, the most against any district covered by the CVA, a state law that opened a temporary window ending in 2021 for alleged victims of child sexual abuse to file compensation claims. Five cases were previously settled by Bay Shore for $20.25 million.

Bernagozzi will be among the witnesses called to testify when the trial resumes on Monday.