A Maryland teacher is about to receive a hefty payout after a court ordered a school board to pony up half a million dollars for defaming him as a racist.
The lawsuit came after an incident in which some Black students accused teacher Dan Engler of making a racist comment in the classroom, according to Fox News.A Maryland county school board was ordered to pay half a million dollars in damages to a teacher who was accused of racism in a school-wide email.However, it was later revealed that Engler had not made this comment. Instead, he stated that he wanted to keep students in their assigned seats to help him learn their names.
A Montgomery County Circuit Court jury returned a verdict last week finding the Montgomery County School Board defamed Dan Engler, a former Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School (B-CC) English teacher. The court awarded Engler damages of $500,000, plus $18,000 in prejudgment interest for a total of $518,000, according to Bethesda Today.
The case centered around a 2023 incident in Engler’s classroom involving two Black students who refused to sit in their assigned seats. The students reported the encounter to the assistant principal afterward, alleging that Engler told them he would not be able to tell them apart from other students, believing this to be a racial comment.
Two days after the incident, the school principal, Shelton Mooney, sent a school-wide email to staff, parents, and students reporting that a "hate bias incident" had occurred at the school.
The lawsuit alleged that Mooney defamed him by sending out the email claiming he was guilty of displaying a “hate bias” without first informing Engler and allowing him to explain what actually happened, Bethesda Today reported. The email did not name Engler, but he was “readily identifiable” because of the immediate backlash from the community.
Apparently the students and the principal thought accusations of racism are get out of trouble free cards. I wonder where they got that idea.
Teacher wins TAX dollars.
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