The Associated Press

AKRON - A middle-school science teacher has sued six students he said falsely accused him of fondling them, claiming being attached to the dropped criminal charges is hurting his reputation.

Christopher Dennis, 24, of Kent, says in the lawsuit that the girls in his honors class at Erwine Middle School in Akron resented his strict discipline and tough grading policy.

"In the days where we have registered sex offenders, this is not your average stigma where you call someone names and get over it," said Dennis' lawyer, Michael Connick.

"Here's a 24 year-old, first-year teacher who has been put through - you fill in the adjective," Connick said Tuesday.

The girls created "The I Hate Mr. Dennis Fan Club" about November 2002 and a "blog," a Web page that functions as a publicly accessible journal, to post comments about Dennis, Connick said.

After a three-day field trip in April to an environmental education center, the girls claimed Dennis went into the girls' dormitory and grabbed the buttocks of three of them.

After the Summit County Prosecutor's Office investigated and refused to pursue the case, a sheriff's detective filed charges of voyeurism and sexual imposition in Cuyahoga Falls Municipal Court. Dennis was arrested May 23.

"Mr. Dennis is in jail! My mission for 7th grade is now completed!" one of the online blog entries read, according to the lawsuit.

The Cuyahoga Falls prosecutor dismissed the charges Aug. 27, shortly before Dennis was to go on trial.

In the lawsuit, Dennis asks for hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages. The lawsuit also names as defendants the Coventry schools board of education, the girls' parents and former school officials he said mishandled the investigation.

A school board-appointed referee is scheduled to begin hearings Wednesday on whether Dennis can have his job back. Connick said several students on the trip will testify Dennis did not fondle anyone.