A Maryland educator has secured a substantial settlement following the failure of his principal to address longstanding racist allegations that affected his life for years.

Daniel Engler initiated a defamation lawsuit against the Montgomery County Public Schools Board of Education and former principal Shelton L. Mooney after being suspended over a racist comment he did not make in class.

The lawsuit, filed in 2023, culminated over two years later with a jury siding with Engler, awarding him $518,000, as per court documentation.

The controversy began during the spring semester when Engler made a remark to two Black students regarding their seating arrangement.

The 10th-grade students at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School had requested to sit together in Engler’s health class. However, he instructed them to adhere to the seating plan, detailed in the defamation complaint.

Engler told the girls that he used the chart to learn students’ names, but they interpreted this as meaning he couldn’t tell them apart because of their race. 

The girls complained to a school administrator, who notified Principal Mooney of the incident. 

Engler’s lawyers argued that Mooney hastily sent an email to parents with the subject line ‘Hate Bias Incident’ without conducting an investigation. 

Dan Engler filed a defamation lawsuit against the Maryland high school he taught at after the principal sent a community wide email attributing a false quote to him

Engler taught at the Bethesda-Chevy Chase (B-CC) High School in Montgomery County 

The principal at the time, Shelton L. Mooney, was accused of sending an email to the community that implied Engler told two black students that he couldn’t tell them apart 

The defamation complaint accused Mooney of a ‘shoot first and ask questions later’ approach, by sending the community-wide email with false accusations. 

The email stated that Engler engaged in ‘unacceptable and harmful behavior,’ telling his students that he was ‘unable to distinguish [African-American students] from other African American students’ in the classroom.’ 

Engler denied making the statement, and Mooney later admitted in court that he fabricated the quote and was summarizing what he was told. 

After the email was sent, Engler was fired as the boys’ crew team coach and went on extended medical leave. 

The incident sparked backlash from community members who sided with Engler and those who believed the school acted reasonably. 

Lyric Winik, the former president of the Parent Teacher Student Association, told The Baltimore Banner that she believed Engler wasn’t treated fairly. 

Winik said that Mooney’s email was ‘shocking’ and didn’t align with what Engler had told her. 

She added that the Montgomery County Public School system is ‘impossible to stand up against’ and that Engler exhibited ‘bravery’ by fighting back. 

Engler told the publication: ‘If I didn’t fight, I would have had to lie down and accept being defined as a racist.’

Engler denied making the statement and said he told the girls they couldn’t sit next to each other because it was easier for him to learn names when they sat in their assigned seat 

Mooney admitted during the trial that the quote stated in the email was a general statement on what the girls believed 

However, the former assistant principal, Vickie Adamson, confessed that the school was ‘a difficult place racially.’ 

B-CC is a diverse school with students from over 55 countries. The school is also accredited for college courses and offers an International Baccalaureate Program. 

‘They thought their teacher made a racist comment. It was a situation that needed to be investigated,’ Adamson said. 

She admitted that as a black person, she didn’t always feel comfortable at the school, adding: ‘I’ve reflected on it a lot, and I didn’t think that anything wrong was done.’

Engler added that he didn’t blame the kids and that he hoped the lesson lies with administrators, who should continue open communication with teachers instead. 

Even though the payout may seem like a hefty sum, Engler was only paid less than $400,000, most of which went to legal fees. 

To pay for his lawyers during the trial, Engler went into debt and is still paying it off.