Latest news with #B-CC
New York Post
4 days ago
- New York Post
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. 4 Dan Engler is a former health and English teacher and head coach of the rowing team at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School (B-CC) in Montgomery County. Dan Engler / Facebook '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. 4 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 in place. Dan Engler / Facebook 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. '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.'' 4 Engler is suing Principal Shelton L. Mooney and the Montgomery County Public School Board. Shelton Mooney / Linkedin 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. 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. 4 Following the students' report, Principal Mooney was instructed by his superiors to follow the 'hate bias incident' protocol. Google St View '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.
Washington Post
07-03-2025
- Sport
- Washington Post
Whitman overcomes B-CC with a pair of clutch free throws late in OT
Titian DeRosa embraced the noise. Whitman's senior point guard wanted to be the one standing at the free throw line with less than a second left in a tied overtime game against Bethesda-Chevy Chase on Thursday night in Bethesda. He wanted to hear his home crowd — he beckoned for the Vikings' student section to rise and scream before he calmly stepped to the line and sank the decisive free throws. In a wild back-and-forth Maryland Class 4A West II region final between a pair of Bethesda rivals, DeRosa and the Vikings emerged victorious, 61-58. After drawing a Barons foul on an inbounds pass with nine-tenths of a second left in overtime, DeRosa delivered in the clutch, earning the third-seeded Vikings another home game in the state quarterfinals Saturday against Springbrook. 'Nobody works harder than me, I get up 200 free throws a day, sometimes more,' DeRosa thought to himself while standing at the line. 'This dude just fouled me… that's ballgame.' With the win, the Vikings (20-4) move one step closer to returning to the University of Maryland's Xfinity Center, where they fell in the Maryland Class 4A state title game last season to Frederick. Coach Chris Lun's team overcame a difficult shooting night, making just 4 of 20 attempts from three-point range. 'Our team is so close together, in the huddles we were just talking and staying composed,' said senior Sean Curran, who finished with a team-high 20 points and made all four of the team's threes. 'We knew the whole time we had each other's backs.' Minutes earlier, DeRosa thought he had clinched the win with a pair of free throws for a three-point lead with less than 10 seconds remaining in regulation. But B-CC guard Tim Byrd drew a foul on a layup and converted the three-point play to send the game to overtime. The Barons (13-11), spurred by a 20-point performance from junior Jack Allen, took a two-point lead into the final minute of the overtime period. But DeRosa found his way to the line to tie the game at 58, then drew the last-second foul to take the two-point lead. B-CC then turned the ball over on the ensuing inbounds play which led to a final free throw from senior Evan Brown to ice the game. Two weeks ago, Lun's team walked into the Barons' gym and made a school-record 14 three-pointers in the first half of an eventual 16-point win. With the perimeter shots not falling Thursday, the Vikings found offense from other sources — notably sophomore Max Williams, who had 18 points. 'I prefer us making threes instead of shooting 4 for 20,' Lun said with a smile in the locker room after the game. 'But our guys didn't wilt, they didn't turn on each other when overtime was forced.'
