READINGTON -The Board of Education has denied charges by a former teacher that she was forced to quit because of a hostile work environment after her principal allegedly said she was "too thin" and criticized her for wanting to bring a Nativity scene to school to represent winter holidays.

Mary Padavano, a former fifth-grade teacher at Holland Brook School, says in the lawsuit filed earlier this year in Hunterdon County Superior Court that she resigned in March 2023 because of an "environment so hostile, outrageous, coercive and unconscionable that a reasonable person would be forced to resign."

In the lawsuit, Padavano, who had worked for the school district for about 18 years, describes herself as a Roman Catholic who had received "more than satisfactory job reviews" and had been designated as team leader for the fifth grade at the school.

In November 2022, the lawsuit says, Padavano told one of the office secretaries that she was on a diet. The secretary said, "but you are so thin." Then the school principal, Paul Nigro, interrupted and allegedly said, "A little too thin for my tastes," the suit says.

That comment, the lawsuit charges, referred to his "prurient interests" and made her "very uncomfortable."

In the following month, there was a holiday display in school where staffers and students were encouraged to bring in decorations to represent the various winter holidays, including Christmas and Hanukkah.

When Padavano asked the principal if she could bring a Nativity scene, he allegedly said, according to the lawsuit, "Sure, you can bring it in and then I will take your Jesus and throw him out the door. Your Jesus is not welcome here. Get with the program. How do you like my answer?"

In its answer to the lawsuit, the school board denied that Nigro made the statement.

Padavano then went to an administrator and reported Nigro's remarks. A meeting among Padavano, Nigro and the administrator was then scheduled.

At that meeting, according to the lawsuit, Nigro told the teacher "for the first time" that he had received reports from teachers about her behavior. Nigro then presented a document of anonymous complaints from her co-workers, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit charges that Nigro initiated the investigation into her conduct "in an attempt to gather evidence to discipline, harass, retaliate, discriminate and otherwise take adverse employment action" against Padavano.

He took the action, the lawsuit maintains, "in order to cover up his unlawful acts by attempting to discredit (Padavano) and her reputation for honesty."

Several meetings then followed on what the school district describes in its response to the lawsuit as Padavano's "tumultuous relationship" with her co-workers.

In March 2023, Nigro removed Padavano as fifth-grade team leader and recommended that her raise for the 2023-24 school year be withheld.

A week later, Padavano submitted her letter of resignation.

The school district has argued that district officials "comported with established legal standards and acted in good faith" and that Padavano resigned before they had an "opportunity to investigate and/or remediate her claims."

Padavano's trial counsel is former Hunterdon County Prosecutor Anthony P. Kearns III.

A case management conference is scheduled for Feb. 13 before Superior Court Judge Wendy Reek.