Mother of ex-Bay Shore student told jurors she alerted school principal of alleged sexual abuse in Child Victims Act case

The mother of a former Bay Shore school district student told the principal at Gardiner Manor Elementary School that her son’s third-grade teacher put powder down 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 years old, said she believed the since-deceased principal, Lawrence Senecal, and the school district would "handle any policy or procedure that came next" for teacher Thomas Bernagozzi following her complaint in the spring of 1987.

Instead, attorneys for the anonymous plaintiff have alleged, Bernagozzi was allowed to continue teaching in the district for 13 more years, abusing other students including the plaintiff.

"What is happening is awful," the mother, whose son has also filed a Child Victims Act claim against Bay Shore Schools, said she told Senecal in late April 1987.

The mother was one of five witnesses, including her son, who testified before Suffolk Supreme Court Justice Christopher Modelewski in Riverhead Friday in the first of 45 CVA lawsuits against Bay Shore to go to trial. The parents cited in the story are anonymous to protect the alleged victims' identities.

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

The mother told the jury she did not seek to have her son removed from Bernagozzi’s classroom after he informed her of the alleged abuse late in the school year. She instead asked to have him seated at the desk furthest from the teacher and removed from the after-school sports program for male students that Bernagozzi ran.

"He wants to be with his friends ... [and] would feel awkward if he were taken out," the mother said of the reasons she gave for keeping her son in Bernagozzi’s class.

Asked why she never notified police, the mother said she "figured it would be handled by Bay Shore schools."

The issue of whether the Bay Shore school district had actual notice of alleged abuse by the teacher is central to the case, which involves a student in Bernagozzi’s third-grade class during the 1990-91 school year.

Jeffrey Herman, the attorney for the plaintiff, previously told the jury his client was 8 to 9 years old when Bernagozzi sexually abused him by rubbing his midsection against him as the child sat in his lap, showered with him and touched the boy’s private areas with his hands and mouth. The abuse took place at the school, a health club and public beaches and swimming pools, said Herman, of Herman Law in Manhattan.

Lewis Silverman, the attorney for the district, sought in his opening statement to distance the district from the actions of its 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 abhorrent, and we're not defending them," Silverman, of Silverman and Associates in White Plains, told the jury Thursday. "In order for the district to be liable, there has to be notice, actual or constructive notice, knew or should have known ... Evidence will show that the district disputes that it had 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 spoke with building principals about concerns they had with the amount of time and attention the teacher was dedicating to boys at the school, including taking them to Broadway plays on his own time and driving them home from school. The fathers did not make allegations of sexual abuse in those meetings.

One father, whose son has also filed an anonymous CVA claim against the district, said he was told by Senecal that the events were "school sanctioned" and there was nothing to worry about.

“[Senecal] told me [Bernagozzi’s] activities and everything he was doing was above board," the father, a lifelong Bay Shore resident, told the jury. His concerns ended there, he said.

All three parents also testified to confronting Bernagozzi directly, with him assuring them their children were safe in his care.

Upon cross-examination from Silverman, the parents said Bernagozzi was "charismatic," "deceptive" or "manipulating."

 The jury also heard deposition testimony from an alleged Bernagozzi victim who said he called the district to report his own prior abuse in February 1991. The man, an anonymous plaintiff in another case against the school district, was unavailable to testify in person, Herman said.

Bay Shore Schools has countersued Bernagozzi in each of the 45 claims, the most against any district under the CVA, a state law that opened a temporary window ending in 2021 for alleged victims of child sex abuse to file claims seeking damages. 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 Monday.

By Grant Parpan

grant.parpan@newsday.com@GrantParpan

Grant Parpan covers Suffolk County courts and federal courts for Newsday. A Long Island native, he joined Newsday in 2022.