Support Dan Engler AND hold MCPS accountable:

On February 13, Dan Engler’s teaching career – more than 18 years of devoted service to B-CC High School, multiple honors including 2017 B-CC International Baccalaureate Teacher of the Year and 2018 University of Chicago Outstanding Educator award, and 16 years as the highly regarded coach of B-CC Boys’ Crew – was destroyed by a single false and malicious email from the school principal to parents, students, and Dan’s colleagues. As a former student recently wrote Dan, “I remember you as a fantastic, funny teacher who cared about all of his students, and I think the allegations outlined in the [Washington Post] article are outrageous.” One of Dan’s former rowers wrote: “Dan is a passionate coach who cares very deeply about his athletes, their individual growth, and their ownership of that process. He really wants the best for his kids and tries to help them find a grip on life through the sport of rowing. The impact of his coaching is captured by the number of his former athletes who have come back to coach alongside him." A former coach who worked with Dan wrote: “everything Dan is about [is]: working hard, caring more about your teammate than you do about yourself, and being the best rower, friend, person you can be.”

To repair the damage to his reputation and refute the unfounded accusations MCPS leveled against him, Dan has been forced to sue MCPS, incurring massive financial costs. Please note that even if he wins the lawsuit, in defamation cases, the law dictates that attorney fees cannot be reimbursed as part of the award.

At B-CC and MCPS, basic administrative due process was not followed. Instead, Dan was falsely accused of making a derogatory racial remark to two students. What had begun as a student complaint over the fact that Dan, like thousands of teachers, uses a seating chart at the start of each semester to properly learn the names of roughly 150 students and thus two 10th grade students could not immediately sit together, became a full-throated attack on Dan’s character by the B-CC high school principal. Even more tragic, the principal never bothered/refused to have a conversation with Dan to hear his side of the story, and the school had yet to complete any investigation when the false and defamatory email was sent to the entire community.

Deeply shocked and saddened, Dan sought to avail himself of every recourse in the system, but his administrative complaints went unanswered by MCPS Central Office and MCEA claimed that MCPS administrators had not violated a contract requirement. His only option: file a lawsuit for defamation. Not until almost two weeks after the lawsuit was filed and more than four months after submitting the administrative complaint did MCPS Central Office even acknowledge receipt of Dan’s administrative complaint.

Since embarking on that legal process, we have been even more shocked to learn that Dan’s case is symptomatic of a very serious culture of corruption and toxicity inside MCPS. As a recent email from the Montgomery County Education Association president stated: “it’s appallingly apparent that MCPS’s central office culture is corrupt and corrosive.” At B-CC, there have been multiple instances of severely toxic behavior: only weeks before the email defaming Dan, a chemistry teacher who forced 10th grade Jewish students to “self-identify” in front of the class, who stated that “the Jews controlled the economy in Germany during this time [1930s],” who told a Jewish student, “Yes, you would be dead,” and whom students heard say that “Hitler acted for the common good,” received administration support and was held up as an example of “cultural differences” and whose different “point of view” deserved attention. At the same time, the Jewish students in the chemistry class were publicly chastised by the principal and school leadership. Separately, an English teacher was verbally berated for her Jewish identity by a B-CC administrative staff member. On the student side, B-CC openly refused to intervene in a very serious student bullying episode and had to be compelled to act by the Central Office Restorative Justice Team. Later in the year, another student was targeted and falsely accused by the B-CC principal of spreading online hate. Outside of B-CC, we have all been shocked by the detailed reports of how MCPS Central Office personnel ignored years of repeated reports of vile sexual harassment by a different school principal, who was repeatedly promoted. Only when the Washington Post reported on the case did the school system respond – and a subsequent law firm report indicated that, according to the MCEA, “there was a deliberate falsification of records with the intent to mislead.” This is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

These revelations have only strengthened Dan’s resolve to hold MCPS accountable. He hopes to pave the way for other teachers who have been mistreated to also exercise their rights and be heard. MCPS would prefer that he be silenced and is dragging its feet to make Dan’s case to challenge the system as costly as possible. The money required to sue is enormous, and MCPS seeks to delay progress at every opportunity. Dan and his family have already sunk more than $100,000 of their own money into the effort to force MCPS to disclose how it allowed this false accusation to be sent to an entire community. That’s why we are asking for your support. Any donation, $10, $20, $50 or $100, helps offset the tremendous financial burden on Dan and his family – and allows this legal challenge to continue, to hold MCPS accountable, and to try to build a safer environment for all teachers throughout the system.

You can read more here: about the incident here: https://moco360.media/2023/09/01/b-cc-teacher-described-in-hate-bias-letter-sues-principal-school-board/

Here’s a brief sample of student feedback about Dan from a January 2023 student 1st semester survey, completed two weeks before the B-CC principal’s false accusations – there are dozens of more quotes like this:

“He cares about each individual and talks to everyone.”

“Makes sure to be respectful and understanding.”

“He is always serious when it comes to emotional wellbeing and it is clear to see that he does care.”

“One time I was not having the best day and he was comforting and let me sit in the hall for the class to get myself together.”

“What a sweetie Mr. Engler is.”

“Makes a comfortable environment and discusses mental health.”

“They have also done a really great job at showing understanding for when we are stressed or overwhelmed.”

“I love how Mr. Engler is very supportive of hearing me out.”

“You always make sure people are okay if they look sad.”

Regarding the Sept. 2 Washington Post article “Md. educator says he was falsely accused of racism”:

It appears, according to the lawsuit he filed, that Dan Engler was not given due process or shown any support by the principal of Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School. Lack of support is a primary reason many teachers are leaving the profession.

As a former English teacher in Montgomery County, I can identify with what happened to Mr. Engler. I, too, would seat students alphabetically, which they did not like, of course, because they wanted to sit next to their friends. I always taught five classes, and some classes had more than 30 students. Seating them alphabetically was the most efficient way to take attendance and to learn their names.

It seems as though the principal of BCC used poor judgment in rushing to discipline Mr. Engler without even listening to his side of the story. Anyone who has been a teacher knows that students can misrepresent what happens in the classroom.

Bonnie Palmer, Silver Spring