UPDATE: Teacher Fired for Relationship with Ex-student Sues LMSD for Defamation, Civil Rights Offenses

Update, 3:30 p.m.

Robert Schanne, the former Lower Merion physics teacher after school officials informed township parents almost a year ago that he had initiated a relationship with a female student before she graduated, has sued the Lower Merion School District, claiming defamation and multiple counts of civil rights violations. (See attached PDF for the full 16-page filing.)

The suit also names School District Superintendent Christopher McGinley; each individual member of the School District Board of School Directors; and Marty Yoder, the school district’s director of human resources.

On Jan. 4, 2011, LMSD sent a letter “to all Lower Merion School District parents, defaming Plaintiff’s character and reputation,” the suit reads.

The school district, in a statement to Patch Tuesday afternoon, said the lawsuit is "baseless and shameless, and that "the District will move aggressively to have it dismissed."

"The consequences Mr. Schanne faces with regard to his reputation are a direct result of his own transgressions, not the District’s appropriate response," a spokesman said. 

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, demands that Schanne be reinstated in his position; be given back pay and benefits since his suspension and termination; awarded actual damages for “the pain, suffering and humiliation caused to him by Defendants’ actions”; awarded additional punitive damages; and awarded legal costs and attorneys’ fees.

Schanne was a popular and well-regarded teacher, and students testified on his behalf after the tryst became public. However, in late January, in a unanimous vote, the School District Board fired him.

No criminal charges were ever brought against Schanne, who did not deny having an affair with Jenna Addis, a former student at Lower Merion High School (contending it started only after she graduated), who reported the relationship to the school board in late 2010. Dec. 16, 2010.

According to the suit, filed in Eastern District Court, the school board members fired Schanne “despite” their “knowledge that Plaintiff had specifically requested and been summarily denied an opportunity to defend himself against the allegations that led to his firing.”

The school district says this claim is "patently false."

"Mr. Schanne had numerous opportunities to present his case and instead refused to cooperate with the District's investigation," the spokesman said "His refusal to cooperate formed the basis for denial of his unemployment benefits claim by an independent third party."

in the wake of the scandal. In March of this year, he sued Addis herself. Addis was 26 as of March.

Addis told the school district in December 2010 that her relationship with Schanne began when she was 18, during her senior year at Lower Merion. Schanne has maintained that the relationship began in 2004, the year after.

“Now, with a hell-hath-no-fury-like-a-woman-scorned theory, Schanne is suing Addis, saying that she got him fired because she was jealous,” said a March report on the suit aired on NBC10, which quoted details from a March 17 Philadelphia Daily News report that said he was seeking in excess of $75,000 from his former lover.

Schanne’s attorney, Timothy Kolman, told the Daily News that his client could find no work because of the suit, and that Schanne’s state teaching license was in jeopardy.