B-CC principal testifies he made up quote in email central to racism defamation case

Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School Principal Shelton Mooney testified Wednesday in Montgomery County Circuit Court that although he made up a partial quote in a 2023 email sent to the school community, the words expressed the sentiments of students who witnessed an incident resulting in accusations of racism against a teacher.   

Mooney testified in the Rockville court during a jury trial for a defamation lawsuit filed by the teacher, Daniel Engler, who claims Mooney’s email harmed his reputation and career.  

Engler, who taught at the Bethesda school for 18 years, and his attorney David Wachen filed a defamation complaint in August 2023 concerning the February 2023 incident against Mooney and the Montgomery County school board, seeking more than $75,000 in damages, according to the complaint. Engler now teaches at Walt Whitman High in Bethesda...

 https://bethesdamagazine.com/2025/07/17/bcc-quote-email-racism-defamation/

Breaking: BCC High School Teacher sues BCC Principal and Board of Education for Defamation @mcps @mocoboe

The BCC student newspaper The Tattler first reported about the potential for this lawsuit to be filed in March of this year.

The Complaint has now been filed and is shown below. 

Note item #133 in the Complaint states:

133. As a result, and in retaliation for the newspaper’s critical coverage of Mooney’s mishandling of numerous issues over the past academic year, on or about June 1, 2023, Mooney relieved the newspaper’s faculty advisor of her position. 

Also see #171 - 178 titled Administrative Proceedings which discusses the MCPS internal administrative processes.  

 

The full text of the Complaint as filed in Montgomery County Circuit Court on August 21, 2023, is shown below and at the Scribd link.

Daniel Engler Complaint Against Shelton Mooney and Montgomery County BOE by Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, Maryland on Scribd

Lawsuit: Baltimore Co. failed to address reported high school cyberbullying

The parents of an Eastern Technical High School student have sued one of her classmates for allegedly defaming their daughter in social media postings, as well as the principal and the Baltimore County school board for not taking proper steps to address cyberbullying.

John Pfeifer and Kimberly Kafka filed the complaint Wednesday on behalf of their daughter alleging a “cruel and malicious campaign of cyberbullying” by a student using a fake social media account and “the appalling unwillingness of the Baltimore County School Defendants to take action to enforce their own policies.”

The social media account claimed to be the plaintiff’s and “made a series of false and defamatory assertions regarding (her) character, physical appearance, and sexual activity,” according to the complaint. The postings, which began in 2016 and continued for more than a year, were seen and shared by her classmates.

The lawsuit, filed in Baltimore County Circuit Court, seeks damages for defamation, invasion of privacy, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress and names as defendants the student and her mother as well as the Board of Education of Baltimore County and Eastern Tech and its principal, Christene Michelle Anderson...

https://thedailyrecord.com/2018/05/17/baltimore-county-cyberbullying-complaint/