A special education teacher at Crofton Middle School has filed a second-degree assault charge against the principal, accusing him of grabbing and bruising her arm last month.

Rose Marie Brohawn, who filed the charge last week, recounted the incident in an interview yesterday. She said the principal, Richard Berzinski, came into her office Oct. 4 and demanded that she get off the phone.

When Brohawn refused and turned her back on him to continue her conversation with the parent of a pupil, Berzinski became angry, she said.

In the court documents filed last week, she said, "He screamed, 'Turn around! Look at me when I'm talking to you.'" She also said in her complaint that he grabbed her right arm near her elbow, bruising it.

Berzinski, the Crofton Middle principal since 1997, denies the allegations. "It simply is not true," Berzinski said yesterday. "I have not violated any contracts or any policies the whole time I've been there as principal."

The school system concluded its investigation of the incident last week. A spokesman declined to comment on the results.

Berzinski said he has not been reprimanded or placed on leave.

Brohawn, who began teaching at the school last year, said yesterday that the principal began treating her badly last year after she complained about what she perceived to be better treatment of special education children who had influential parents.

The teacher also said she has a high blood pressure condition and has been advised by a doctor not to return to work.

Berzinski said he has never had a problem with Brohawn.

Brohawn is not the first teacher to complain about Berzinski. A few months after he took over at Crofton Middle, the teachers union sent him a letter telling him his behavior toward teachers - described as "loud, angry and intimidating" - was creating a hostile work environment.

Berzinski said yesterday that the letter was the result of a "slanted survey" of teachers who didn't approve of his changes.

Last spring, he commissioned a survey of all 67 teachers and teaching assistants in which 97 percent of respondents agreed that "a positive feeling permeates the school," Berzinski said. All of those surveyed also agreed that the principal "actively sets the tone and focus of the school," he said.

The principal said Crofton Middle has improved under his watch, becoming the county's only Blue Ribbon School of Excellence last year. He said he has a good relationship with teachers.

"If it were so bad there, why do none of the teachers want to transfer out?" he said.