Maryland teacher claims in lawsuit he was falsely branded ‘racist’ over seating chart dispute

A Maryland high school teacher is taking legal action, claiming he was accused of being a racist after a classroom dispute over seating assignments was mishandled by the school administration.

Dan Engler, a former health and English teacher and head coach of the rowing team at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School (B-CC) in Montgomery County, filed a lawsuit against Principal Shelton L. Mooney and the Montgomery County Public School Board, accusing them of defamation and violating school policy in their handling of a February 2023 classroom incident.

According to the complaint, two students in Engler’s first-period health class asked to sit next to their friends instead of in their assigned seats. Engler, citing the importance of using a seating chart to learn student names and avoid confusion, asked the students — who are Black — to return to their assigned seats. The students refused and remained where they were.

Later that day, the students reported the interaction to the assistant principal, alleging Engler told them he would not be able to tell them apart from other students, believing this to be a racial comment. 

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“Part of the misunderstanding may have stemmed from an incident in Engler’s English class the previous spring,” his attorney wrote in the opposition to the defendants’ motion for summary judgment. The filing explained that Engler had read a quote from Muhammad Ali containing a racial slur, which offended some students. Engler apologized, and an investigation determined it was not a “hate bias incident.” The students involved in the health class had reportedly heard about the English class incident and had previously asked not to be placed in Engler’s class, believing him to be racist.

Following the students’ report, Principal Mooney was instructed by his superiors to follow the “hate bias incident” protocol. The next day, he informed Engler that he would be placed on paid administrative leave for one day while the incident was under investigation.

Two days after the incident, Mooney sent a community-wide email to parents, teachers, staff and students reporting that a “hate bias incident” had occurred at the school.

The message said that “several African American students” were told by a teacher that he was “unable to distinguish them from other African American students” in the classroom and that the Montgomery County Police Department had been notified as an internal investigation was ongoing.

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“Let me be clear, discrimination of any kind must not be tolerated,” Mooney wrote before citing the school policy against “insensitivity, disrespect, bias, verbal abuse, harassment, bullying, physical violence or illegal discrimination toward any person.”

Although Engler was not named in the email, he said he was quickly identified by students, parents and colleagues. He maintains that he did not make the statement attributed to him in the letter and he “did not do anything that could reasonably be classified as a ‘hate bias incident.’”

The complaint alleges that Engler had his “reputation destroyed by the malicious acts of B-CC’s Principal, Defendant Shelton L. Mooney, who falsely accused Engler of racism in a thoughtless, half-baked community-wide email.”

The lawsuit further claims that Mooney and the school board violated MCPS policies and procedures by sending the community-wide email before an investigation was completed and that they refused to issue a retraction or apology.

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When Engler returned to work the following week, Mooney allegedly “refused to discuss the matter” with Engler. Upon returning to his classroom, Engler said he was “upset” to find MCPS and B-CC staff holding a “restorative justice” circle in his classroom that they excluded him from joining.

Engler told Fox News Digital that the experience took a heavy toll on his mental health. The same day, he went on disability leave for a year and a half before resuming teaching at another school in the district.

“I love teaching. I love coaching,” he said. “And I really care a great deal about the relationships I have with those kids and helping them learn how to become adults in the best way possible. To lose the confidence of the kids, the trust of the kids, based on what the kids’ leadership had to say about me, was devastating. It was identity stealing.”

According to the complaint, Engler ultimately faced no disciplinary action and the defendants’ investigation allegedly failed to find sufficient evidence that the classroom incident constituted a “hate bias incident.”

“However, the damage to Engler had already been done. Mooney’s malicious email falsely branded Engler a racist, destroying his reputation in the B-CC community, causing him deep emotional distress, making it impossible to continue teaching at B-CC, and causing the loss of his position as Head Coach of the B-CC Rowing Team,” it continued.

Engler criticized the school’s handling of the incident as “a tremendous opportunity for virtue signaling.”

“It really was, and I’m paying the price,” he told Fox News Digital. Engler said his reputation has been damaged, and the legal fight has cost his family over $300,000.

After attempting to resolve the dispute through administrative proceedings, Engler filed a lawsuit in Montgomery County Circuit Court in August 2023. 

Engler’s case proceeded to trial on Monday.

Fox News Digital reached out multiple times to the lawyers for the defendants on the allegations and did not receive a response. The MCPS Board of Education said it was unable to comment on pending litigation. Mooney did not return a request for comment.