MoCo school board ordered to pay $518K to former B-CC High teacher accused of racism

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone just tell me if the guy is racist.

Based on the incident as described, I’d say no. This whole thing is absurd and I have no idea why anyone would sign up to be a teacher anymore.

“According to Engler’s complaint, Engler was attempting to keep 10tgrade students in his health class in their assigned seats on Feb. 8, 2023, in an effort to help him learn their names. Two students later reported to an administrator that Engler said that if they didn’t sit in their assigned seats, he wouldn’t be able to tell them apart, which they believed he said because they are Black, according to Engler’s complaint.”

All this because the kids didn’t want to sit in their assigned seats?! And they blamed it on racism? That’s insane.

Can someone post the made up quote from the principal?

This is not clear.

The teacher did say he can’t tell kids apart and he did also only say it to black kids but he didn’t say I can’t tell black kids apart.

Were there kids who were not black who changed seats/refused to sit in their assigned seat?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unbelievable. Glad the teacher got a favorable resolution after all that MCPS induced trauma but sad that there is 500k less going into our kids’ educations next year.

Does the MCPS Board have a budget line item to pay out lawsuits for its incompetence or do we just expect class sizes to be bigger next year?

This statement is in correct.

1) it’s paid by insurance
2) it’s not “each year”

The BOE is self insured. There is no insurance policy.

Every year the BOE pays out settlements. You just aren’t paying attention.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone just tell me if the guy is racist.

Based on the incident as described, I’d say no. This whole thing is absurd and I have no idea why anyone would sign up to be a teacher anymore.

“According to Engler’s complaint, Engler was attempting to keep 10tgrade students in his health class in their assigned seats on Feb. 8, 2023, in an effort to help him learn their names. Two students later reported to an administrator that Engler said that if they didn’t sit in their assigned seats, he wouldn’t be able to tell them apart, which they believed he said because they are Black, according to Engler’s complaint.”

All this because the kids didn’t want to sit in their assigned seats?! And they blamed it on racism? That’s insane.

Can someone post the made up quote from the principal?

This is not clear.

The teacher did say he can’t tell kids apart and he did also only say it to black kids but he didn’t say I can’t tell black kids apart.

Were there kids who were not black who changed seats/refused to sit in their assigned seat?

That's not the complaint. The complaint is that he said he couldn't tell the students apart. Of course this is true -- at the beginning of the year no one knows their students' names or faces. But these kids have been indoctrinated to see and speak out about racism in even the most harmless exchanges. So it was easy to claim he was saying, "I can't tell POC apart." Really lame IMO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unbelievable. Glad the teacher got a favorable resolution after all that MCPS induced trauma but sad that there is 500k less going into our kids’ educations next year.

Does the MCPS Board have a budget line item to pay out lawsuits for its incompetence or do we just expect class sizes to be bigger next year?

This. The BOE needs to be held accountable as does Taylor and central office.

Taylor wasn't even here when this happened. Nor were half of the board members.

The half the board members who were here when this happened should be held accountable. This is a lot of money and the jury found the Board to be liable for its actions.

This is where being cheap about having good competent oversight ends up costing you more money in the end. 500k in this case

Which board members were there when this happened? Karla Silvestre was I think…

Karla
Brenda
Grace
Julie

They all need to go.

100%

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unbelievable. Glad the teacher got a favorable resolution after all that MCPS induced trauma but sad that there is 500k less going into our kids’ educations next year.

Does the MCPS Board have a budget line item to pay out lawsuits for its incompetence or do we just expect class sizes to be bigger next year?

This. The BOE needs to be held accountable as does Taylor and central office.

I’m just worried more lawsuits are coming as the political climate is very favorable to them.

Meanwhile, I have colleagues who are racist and there doesn’t seem to be anyway to dislodge them from positions working with our most vulnerable students.

Isn't that what the antiracism audit and action plan that MCPS spent millions of taxpayer dollars on in consulting fees and staffing supposed to be combatting?

It can only combat racism if there are consequences. This loss is going to scare MCPS off consequences for the people who need them.

It can only combat racism if it A knows what racism is and B knows how to combat it. They don't know either. They are literally failing at combating racism.

I can’t disagree with that, sadly.

In theory, they know both of those things. And they have spent thousands and thousands (maybe millions?) of dollars on antiracist audits and plans and staff training.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone just tell me if the guy is racist.

Based on the incident as described, I’d say no. This whole thing is absurd and I have no idea why anyone would sign up to be a teacher anymore.

“According to Engler’s complaint, Engler was attempting to keep 10tgrade students in his health class in their assigned seats on Feb. 8, 2023, in an effort to help him learn their names. Two students later reported to an administrator that Engler said that if they didn’t sit in their assigned seats, he wouldn’t be able to tell them apart, which they believed he said because they are Black, according to Engler’s complaint.”

All this because the kids didn’t want to sit in their assigned seats?! And they blamed it on racism? That’s insane.

Can someone post the made up quote from the principal?

This is not clear.

The teacher did say he can’t tell kids apart and he did also only say it to black kids but he didn’t say I can’t tell black kids apart.

Were there kids who were not black who changed seats/refused to sit in their assigned seat?

That's not the complaint. The complaint is that he said he couldn't tell the students apart. Of course this is true -- at the beginning of the year no one knows their students' names or faces. But these kids have been indoctrinated to see and speak out about racism in even the most harmless exchanges. So it was easy to claim he was saying, "I can't tell POC apart." Really lame IMO.

I think the PP had a valid question because if white kids John and Jim and black kids Roy and Rick changed seats and the teacher only told Roy and Rick he could tell them apart if they weren't in their assigned seats, then it would sound like a "all black kids look the same to me" (racist) situation. If Roy and Rick are the only ones who changed seats, it's harder to know what the teacher meant. And if kids of various races changed seats and the teacher made a blanket statement that all kids had to be in their assigned seats so he can learn their names, that wouldn't be racist. Context matters here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone just tell me if the guy is racist.

Based on the incident as described, I’d say no. This whole thing is absurd and I have no idea why anyone would sign up to be a teacher anymore.

“According to Engler’s complaint, Engler was attempting to keep 10tgrade students in his health class in their assigned seats on Feb. 8, 2023, in an effort to help him learn their names. Two students later reported to an administrator that Engler said that if they didn’t sit in their assigned seats, he wouldn’t be able to tell them apart, which they believed he said because they are Black, according to Engler’s complaint.”

All this because the kids didn’t want to sit in their assigned seats?! And they blamed it on racism? That’s insane.

Can someone post the made up quote from the principal?

This is not clear.

The teacher did say he can’t tell kids apart and he did also only say it to black kids but he didn’t say I can’t tell black kids apart.

Were there kids who were not black who changed seats/refused to sit in their assigned seat?

That's not the complaint. The complaint is that he said he couldn't tell the students apart. Of course this is true -- at the beginning of the year no one knows their students' names or faces. But these kids have been indoctrinated to see and speak out about racism in even the most harmless exchanges. So it was easy to claim he was saying, "I can't tell POC apart." Really lame IMO.

I think the PP had a valid question because if white kids John and Jim and black kids Roy and Rick changed seats and the teacher only told Roy and Rick he could tell them apart if they weren't in their assigned seats, then it would sound like a "all black kids look the same to me" (racist) situation. If Roy and Rick are the only ones who changed seats, it's harder to know what the teacher meant. And if kids of various races changed seats and the teacher made a blanket statement that all kids had to be in their assigned seats so he can learn their names, that wouldn't be racist. Context matters here.

I believe I read a thread that only Roy and Rick changed seats.

[Anonymous]

You’d have to be a masochist to go into teaching these days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The fact that Mooney admitted he made up part of the quote, and sent it out to the BCC community is absolutely shocking, and should have consequences.

Which part of the quote did he make up?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow. between the Supreme Court loss and this, I hope MCPS has learned its lesson.

In the end they won the Supreme Court case, no books were removed and they don’t need alternate learning kids can stay home if they don’t like the book.

This case basically was a punt and said the teacher was allowed to make mistakes.

Wow that is quite the take.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So was the guy racist or not?

Yes but the jury thinks teachers should be able to make mistakes.

Huh?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone just tell me if the guy is racist.

Based on the incident as described, I’d say no. This whole thing is absurd and I have no idea why anyone would sign up to be a teacher anymore.

“According to Engler’s complaint, Engler was attempting to keep 10th grade students in his health class in their assigned seats on Feb. 8, 2023, in an effort to help him learn their names. Two students later reported to an administrator that Engler said that if they didn’t sit in their assigned seats, he wouldn’t be able to tell them apart, which they believed he said because they are Black, according to Engler’s complaint.”

All this because the kids didn’t want to sit in their assigned seats?! And they blamed it on racism? That’s insane.

Can someone post the made up quote from the principal?

This is not clear.

The teacher did say he can’t tell kids apart and he did also only say it to black kids but he didn’t say I can’t tell black kids apart.

He said it to the kids who were not sitting in their seats. And they interpreted it as racist with no evidence.

Hopefully this case is (another) nail in the coffin of unaccountable cancel culture.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone just tell me if the guy is racist.

Based on the incident as described, I’d say no. This whole thing is absurd and I have no idea why anyone would sign up to be a teacher anymore.

“According to Engler’s complaint, Engler was attempting to keep 10tgrade students in his health class in their assigned seats on Feb. 8, 2023, in an effort to help him learn their names. Two students later reported to an administrator that Engler said that if they didn’t sit in their assigned seats, he wouldn’t be able to tell them apart, which they believed he said because they are Black, according to Engler’s complaint.”

All this because the kids didn’t want to sit in their assigned seats?! And they blamed it on racism? That’s insane.

Can someone post the made up quote from the principal?

This is not clear.

The teacher did say he can’t tell kids apart and he did also only say it to black kids but he didn’t say I can’t tell black kids apart.

Were there kids who were not black who changed seats/refused to sit in their assigned seat?

That's not the complaint. The complaint is that he said he couldn't tell the students apart. Of course this is true -- at the beginning of the year no one knows their students' names or faces. But these kids have been indoctrinated to see and speak out about racism in even the most harmless exchanges. So it was easy to claim he was saying, "I can't tell POC apart." Really lame IMO.

I think the PP had a valid question because if white kids John and Jim and black kids Roy and Rick changed seats and the teacher only told Roy and Rick he could tell them apart if they weren't in their assigned seats, then it would sound like a "all black kids look the same to me" (racist) situation. If Roy and Rick are the only ones who changed seats, it's harder to know what the teacher meant. And if kids of various races changed seats and the teacher made a blanket statement that all kids had to be in their assigned seats so he can learn their names, that wouldn't be racist. Context matters here.

Context that the jury heard presumably, and found in favor of the teacher, awarding considerable damages. A jury that was no doubt quite diverse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The fact that Mooney admitted he made up part of the quote, and sent it out to the BCC community is absolutely shocking, and should have consequences.

Which part of the quote did he make up?

I haven’t found the parts he made up. Does anybody know?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone just tell me if the guy is racist.

Based on the incident as described, I’d say no. This whole thing is absurd and I have no idea why anyone would sign up to be a teacher anymore.

“According to Engler’s complaint, Engler was attempting to keep 10tgrade students in his health class in their assigned seats on Feb. 8, 2023, in an effort to help him learn their names. Two students later reported to an administrator that Engler said that if they didn’t sit in their assigned seats, he wouldn’t be able to tell them apart, which they believed he said because they are Black, according to Engler’s complaint.”

All this because the kids didn’t want to sit in their assigned seats?! And they blamed it on racism? That’s insane.

Can someone post the made up quote from the principal?

This is not clear.

The teacher did say he can’t tell kids apart and he did also only say it to black kids but he didn’t say I can’t tell black kids apart.

Were there kids who were not black who changed seats/refused to sit in their assigned seat?

That's not the complaint. The complaint is that he said he couldn't tell the students apart. Of course this is true -- at the beginning of the year no one knows their students' names or faces. But these kids have been indoctrinated to see and speak out about racism in even the most harmless exchanges. So it was easy to claim he was saying, "I can't tell POC apart." Really lame IMO.

I think the PP had a valid question because if white kids John and Jim and black kids Roy and Rick changed seats and the teacher only told Roy and Rick he could tell them apart if they weren't in their assigned seats, then it would sound like a "all black kids look the same to me" (racist) situation. If Roy and Rick are the only ones who changed seats, it's harder to know what the teacher meant. And if kids of various races changed seats and the teacher made a blanket statement that all kids had to be in their assigned seats so he can learn their names, that wouldn't be racist. Context matters here.

Context that the jury heard presumably, and found in favor of the teacher, awarding considerable damages. A jury that was no doubt quite diverse.

That's a different question. The PP asked if the teacher's comment was racist. That's not what the jury was deciding on. You can win a defamation suit even if you're racist!