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  Judge to Church: Reinstate Principal

By Stephanie Saul
Newsday [Queens NY]
Downloaded April 10, 2003

A Queens judge Wednesday ordered the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn to reinstate the parochial-school principal placed on leave last year after she reported her pastor's misdeeds.

The ruling -- which includes back pay -- ends the banishment of St. Elizabeth School principal Barbara Samide from her Ozone Park school last September.

It also ends a financial squeeze on Samide, who said the diocese prevented her from collecting unemployment by claiming she was still employed, yet it refused to pay her $50,000 annual salary.

"Pay her. Pay her all the back money," State Supreme Court Justice Duane Alphonse Hart demanded during a Jamaica hearing, ignoring the protests of diocesan lawyer Richard Cea, who argued that Hart was exceeding his jurisdiction.
 
 
 

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