BUZZ
Allegedly told two black students he ‘wouldn’t be able to tell them apart’
A veteran Maryland high school teacher’s defamation lawsuit regarding “racist” comments he made about assigned seats is now being heard in court.
According to Bethesda Today, in early 2023 Daniel Engler was attempting to get new students into assigned seats in one of his health classes when he allegedly told two of them “if they didn’t sit in their assigned seats, he wouldn’t be able to tell them apart.”
The students, who are black, took the remark as “racist.”
Engler denies “saying what the students alleged or making any type of racial comment.”
Engler’s lawsuit, filed two years ago, says Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School Principal Shelton Mooney sent a “communitywide letter calling the interaction a ‘hate-bias incident’” shortly after the interaction.
The letter stated “A teacher said to several African American students that he was ‘unable to distinguish them from other African American students’ in the classroom. This is unacceptable and harmful behavior not in alignment with our school or [Montgomery County Public Schools] districtwide values of respect and inclusivity.”
Although Engler wasn’t specifically named in the letter, the teacher claims he was “’readily identifiable’ as evidenced by the community reaction” and the fact the school student paper had asked him for comment on the matter.
The suit also alleges Mooney did not offer Engler a chance to address the situation.
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Wachen added that all Engler said about the seating situation was that he “didn’t want to mix [the students] up or call them by the wrong names.”
Engler was put on paid leave Feb. 10, 2023, the same day Mooney sent out the community letter about the incident, according to court proceedings. Engler returned on the following Monday but didn’t teach. Instead, an MCPS staff member discussed the incident with students, during which some students defended Engler. Students also argued with the students who reported the incident, according to witness testimony from a student who was in the class at the time. …
[Mooney lawyer David] Kaminow argued th[e] incident began a contentious relationship between Engler and the B-CC community, after which students would come into Engler’s classroom to confront him about the incident. Kaminow alleged Engler was often dismissive of the students who confronted him, instead of providing an educational moment about what happened.
A female student in the class at the time testified that Engler did not say “anything racist or racially insensitive” and added she “didn’t think there was discrimination or unacceptable behavior.”
Attorney Wachen called the entire matter “a case of ‘shoot first and ask questions later.’”
Engler currently is teaching at another high school in the same district.
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IMAGE CAPTION & CREDIT: “Charges of Racism” logo; The Line of Fire/YouTube. INTERIOR IMAGE: Shelton Mooney/Linkedin
