March 2001 Update

Hassler to Quit
Teaching,
Coaching

Pressures mounted on Hassler to quit, as his failures were made public.

Records showed over 75% of Paul Hassler's Algebra II students received D's or E's on the county exam. 

Principal John Nori and Deputy Superintendent Steven Seleznow, administrators who supervised Hassler, quit suddenly.

Hassler's college transcript shows 18 D's and F's, many in math.

"We're heartened at the news," a parent leader commented. "Nori, Seleznow, and Hassler quitting -   A clean sweep. Our voices were heard; our kids will benefit."

John Nori and Steven Seleznow abruptly left their employment with the school system several months later.

Paul Hassler announced he will quit teaching and coaching.

In a school district often touted as the nation's finest, records showed that 75% of Paul Hassler's Algebra II students received D's or E's on the county-wide final exam. 

Parents of his students were shocked to discover that Hassler's own college transcript, made public during his lawsuit, report 18 D's and F's, many of them in the mathematics he now teaches. Requests for transfers out of his classes continued to mount.  "We told them at the start of the school year," one father reports, "NO HASSLER."

In his testimony, Principal John Nori stated that Hassler's college transcript  was "average for a teacher in Montgomery County Public Schools, " and that concern over Hassler's ability to teach  math was "nobody's business."

"It is very much our business," a parent group asserted.  "We made it clear that he needed to take remedial math himself, or quit teaching.  He chose to quit."

"In a subject that is so cumulative - and so important," another parent said, "it's an outrage that someone so clearly incompetent was permitted to teach a subject he himself failed.  It's good he's leaving.  He was a bad example of laziness and low standards.  Our kids need the opposite."

"I'm still making up for what I didn't learn in his class," a former student reports.  "Who knew?  I got A's, and thought I was learning the curriculum until I got to the next course and wasn't prepared for it."

"When I got to college, I had to repeat the class Mr. Hassler taught me and even then I couldn't get better than a D, I was so unprepared for it.  And he had given me A's," another student reported.

Deposition of Paul Hassler, Part 2

Deposition of John Nori, Principal of Magruder High School in which he admits to shredding all student testimony.

Deposition of Steven Seleznow, Associate Superintendent of MCPS in which he explains his failure to protect students.

The complete Trial Transcripts
Day 1    Day 2

"This man Hassler brings a lawsuit against a parent who wrote a letter of concern, he involves the whole community, forces 17 and 18 year-old kids to testify at a trial, and then jumps his own ship because he lacks the courage to take the stand?" a courtroom observer commented.  "It sure raises the ugly picture that the lawsuit itself was nothing more than a retaliation that he never took seriously. He abused not just these kids and this family, but the legal process itself."

Motion for Summary Judgment

Trial Transcripts Detail School's Knowledge of Teacher's Abuses

Principal Admits To Shredding All Testimony about Abuses, then quits

Paul Hassler, a math teacher in Montgomery County Maryland, sued a parent and tutor to many of his students and athletes, after she wrote a letter of concern at the instruction of the principal, John Nori.  As ABC-TV's 20/20 was setting up in the courtroom to cover Hassler's own testimony, and witnesses gathered to testify against him, Paul Hassler told the judge he was afraid to be cross-examined, and wanted to quit. 

This is the fourth loss by Hassler in legal battles he's waged since his abuses against county students were exposed in 1997. 

The trial did not go well for Paul Hassler. After being torn apart by his own witnesses in the first hours of the trial,  in which the full history of   his violations and abuses was outlined for the jury, Paul Hassler claimed his heart condition wouldn't let him continue, and he wanted to quit his lawsuit. 

The principal, John Nori testified to longstanding knowledge of Hassler's abuses, to shredding all student testimony in his investigation, and to lying to superiors.  He quit his position suddenly in June.

  Unable to garner more than one student to support him, Paul Hassler told the judge that he wanted to quit his year-long lawsuit. The judge instructed Hassler that he could not file the suit again, even insisting that Hassler indicate his acceptance of this aloud, before the court.  The judge also decreed that Hassler was required to pay all costs.

Hassler's panic is also evident in the transcripts of his deposition, in which he is questioned in detail about specific abuses against students. 

Courtroom Discoveries: MCPS - "We Knew"

The testimony from Nori and Seleznow shocked the courtroom.  Nori testified that MCPS officials knew of Hassler's abuses against students for many years. 

Court documents also revealed that Dr. Seleznow and the Board of Education knew of Nori's failure to investigate back in Feburary, 1998, but reappointed Hassler as coach and continued to ignore his abuses in the classroom.

Steven Seleznow has quit his job with the school system.

Parent Outrage

"Aside for his slurs and his temper, he clearly is not qualified for the job," a Magruder parent commented.  "He doesn't know the math.  Look at his transcript.  My daughter had to repeat the course he taught her when she got to college - and she'd gotten an A from him."

"Not with my child, they won't," another parent remarked.   "We've already made it clear to them: no Hassler."  

As parents examine the performance of his students, and his own preformance in the classroom, the pressures on Hassler to quit continue to mount.

Bombshells at the Trial: Hassler's 27 year history

Principal Nori was Hassler's first witness.  His testimony revealed that another letter had been written, by another parent requesting Hassler's removal from another coaching position. He also disclosed that he had received many more complaints from parents afraid to "go on the record" lest Hassler turn his torment on their child. Other letters and repeated reprimands were discovered in Paul Hassler's personnel file, going back 27 years.

In one example of the incidents recorded in his personnel file, Hassler received a formal letter of professional misconduct in office, in 1976, which reprimanded him for losing control in a rage in which he physically attacked a student, and for telling students, as justification, that he had served in Vietnam when he had never even been in the military. His 27 year file shows repeated incidents of losing control verbally and physically, with repeated warnings of "stronger measures" should they continue.  Yet the file makes clear that despite repeated violations, no stronger measures were ever taken.  Associate Supterintendent Seleznow, in his deposition, refused to answer why this was so. In an earlier meeting  he explained, "Mr. Hassler is active in the union."

High Failure Rate Disclosed

Hassler's own college transcript shows he received 18 D's and F's while attending a community college during three separate enrollments over an 8 year period, many in the math he now teaches.

Complaints in his file also revealed that students in his classes performed significantly worse than students from other teachers on the county-wide final exams.  A report in Hassler's personnel file revealed that 75% of Hassler's Algebra II students received D's or E's on the county final exam.  In his deposition, Hassler stated that such low grades on the county exam "didn't really matter"   Students testifying reported that Hassler's artificially high grading curve masks his failure to teach. "A 65% score will still get you an 'A'.   He doesn't teach, and we try to get transferred to another teacher, but the counselor tells us we have to stick it out," an honor student reports.  "I got an 'A' in Pre-Calculus both semesters in his class, and when I took the same course in college, I got a 'D.' This is wrong.  My counselor told me they know he doesn't teach, but there's nothing they can do about it." 

Students Asked to Lie

One of the many issues in the case was Hassler's instruction to the girls on his softball team to lie about their participation in his illegal clinic.  Nori admitted under oath that he did not investigate this charge either, yet told his superiors that he had.  Testimony from ten girls revealed that each was asked to lie, and had told Mr. Nori this during his investigation.

In a suprising disclosure, it was learned that Steven Seleznow, and all members of the Board of Education knew of Nori's failure to investigate, back in February of 1998, but took no action.

John Nori then shredded the entire file, with all testimony from students, staff, and parents.

A Strong Union

"There is one person missing in this courtroom," the trial began. "One person who should be here to listen to this testimony.  And that is Jerry Weast,  the new Superintendent of Montgomery County Public Schools."

As the facts came to light, the picture emerged of a school system bogged down by bureaucracy and protections for its staff, but without similar protections for children. 

"If they can't do anything to remove an abusive and incompetent teacher, fine.  Admit that. Just tell us," a parent said.  "But to tell us 'we care' and 'we can' and 'we want to hear from you' and then leave a parent hanging out there alone to fight the nightmare of a million dollar lawsuit, for following the exact steps they ask us to follow...this is wrong."

Jumping Ship

Twice in the 15 months of his lawsuit, Paul Hassler was required to testify under oath.   Each time he claimed the physical stress of taking the oath was too great.  And each time, he was back at work immediately after claiming his health wouldn't permit him to testify. 

The community was outraged at Hassler's refusal to take the stand. Students and families had been dragged into Hassler's lawsuit, a nightmare not only for a single mother and her daughter, who was Student Government President, and Captain of the It's Academic team -  but for the high school community at large.  Hundreds of students were required to come forward to testify.

"The man brings a lawsuit against a parent who wrote a letter of concern, he involves the whole community, forces 17 and 18 year-old kids to testify at a trial, and then jumps his own ship because he lacks the courage to take the stand?" a courtroom observer commented.  "It sure raises the ugly picture that the lawsuit itself was nothing more than a retaliation that he never took seriously. He abused not just these kids and this family, but the legal process itself."

All evidence obtained regarding Paul Hassler's abuses of students, and the administrators' destruction of evidence has been turned over to State's Attorney's Office in Montgomery County, Maryland.