Novelist Nicholas Sparks: Ex-school headmaster started 'unnecessary fires'

Novelist Nicholas Sparks says problems at the private Christian school he founded in his North Carolina hometown were claiming too much of his attention before cutting ties with a headmaster four months after he started.

Sparks testified for a second day Thursday about the 2013 departure of the educator hired to head Epiphany School of Global Studies in New Bern, backed by the author of "Message in a Bottle" and "The Notebook."

Sparks told jurors Saul Hillel Benjamin lied about his experience and job performance and caused a series of campus conflicts the author had to resolve.

"There were so many unnecessary fires that had been started," Sparks testified. ""I had multiple moments when he had been dishonest with me."

Most of Sparks' testimony surrounded emails between the men where Benjamin's attorneys implied Sparks did not support gay students, and that they had been bullied and were not being permitted to start an LGBT club.

Sparks admitted his words were not always perfect in the emails, but he denied the school is intolerant.

"We've had gay students from the beginning. We have them now. We have transgender students. We have gay faculty. We have incredibly strict anti-bullying policies," Sparks testified. "It's a happy school where people truly support each other."

Sparks and Benjamin also clashed over race, specifically about how to increase diversity at the school. In the end, Sparks said he felt like it was best for everyone for Benjamin and the school to part ways.

"I thought, OK, we'll try to end this quietly and offer him $150,000," Sparks said.

Benjamin's federal lawsuit against Sparks, his foundation and the school contends the educator was fired without cause, then defamed when Sparks told a job recruiter and others he suffered mental illness.

After court on Thursday, Benjamin said he is looking forward to speaking his truth.

"I was astonished by the number of falsehoods I heard yesterday, today even more so. We will have a chance to respond to them as the days go ahead," he said. "It’s an awful thing when anyone says you are a liar."

He said his goal was to make the school the best it could be.

“I wanted to be there for the kids," Benjamin said on the stand.

The trial is expected to last through Wednesday. More than 30 people are on the witness list.