A lesbian teacher has been fired from her job at St. Francis Prep School in Fresh Meadows, Queens, after launching her website, “Burn and Rot in Hell!”.
Elizabeth Cucinotta said she created the website as a place for people a place to vent, and to offer a forum where they can express themselves.
But the website, launched March 19, has caught the attention of school officials. Among the categories to vent in — “Bad Teachers” and “Bad Students.”
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“This is not a cyberbullying site,” she added. “I’m a gay woman and I’ve been bullied and spit on and I would never tolerate it.”
She noted that if someone is defamed wrongly and it’s reported, the post will be removed from the website. “Names are used in every social network,” Cucinotta said. “We can examine a post and delete it if it’s warranted.”
She came up with the website’s name “because that’s what you say when you’re angry at someone” and “anything else I thought of was already taken.”
The school district told WNYW-TV, “Miss Cucinotta has been suspended pending an investigation for a potential violation of the school’s mission and the teacher’s obligation to fulfill that mission.”
On Friday, Cucinotta said school officials told her to expect a letter of termination in the mail.
The principal said that staff members are now working with students to explain “why a great teacher is not teaching anymore,” adding that she is entitled to create a business on the side, “but there are ramifications when teaching at a Catholic school.”
Cucinotta said she has received some hate mail from “religious zealots,” but that overall the response to the website has been very favorable. She said she has no plans to take down the website.
