Prosecutors are seeking to introduce evidence of other bad acts at the upcoming trial of a third grade teacher at Severna Park Elementary School who’s accused of sexually abusing eight students.

Assistant State‘s Attorneys Anastasia Prigge and Sean Fox allege that Matthew Schlegel touched additional students in a sexual manner without their consent.

They also assert that he deviated from the curriculum and allowed his students to play a computer math game as a means of distracting and grooming them.

“There were irregularities that were happening in the classroom,” said Prigge, who’s chief of the Special Victim’s Unit in the Anne Arundel County State‘s Attorney’s Office. “Essentially, he was teaching what he wanted to teach.”

But Peter O’Neill, one of Schlegel‘s attorneys, contended that testimony was irrelevant and should be excluded from the trial.

“They’re simply trying to say, ‘See, he didn’t follow the curriculum. He must be a molester,’” O’Neill said. “I have no idea why the state wants to go down this path.”

Schlegel, 45, of Severna Park, is charged in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court with sexual abuse of a minor, third- and fourth-degree sex offense and second-degree assault. He maintains his innocence.

Circuit Judge Pamela K. Alban did not issue a ruling and scheduled a second motions hearing for May 12. She asked prosecutors and defense attorneys in the meantime to get back to her about other issues.

Alban noted that they want her to read 380 names that might come up at trial during jury selection to see if any potential jurors recognize them. She also mentioned that the assistant state‘s attorneys requested comfort dogs for the children testifying in the case — and the provider had inquired whether it was an issue if one of them had a “snoring problem.”

Jury selection is set to begin on May 19 in the case. Schlegel is being held in the Jennifer Road Detention Center without bail.

Prosecutors called six witnesses that included teachers, administrators and students who faced intense cross-examination and, at times, contradicted their argument.

Susan Linthicum, a fourth-grade teacher at Severna Park Elementary School, testified that she discussed Schlegel with her colleagues and went to the principal to express concerns about his teaching methods.

For instance, Schlegel, she said, did not use math workbooks in his class.

She said she later taught his students and felt that some of them exhibited gaps in their knowledge. They’d first stop at his classroom in the morning for candy and ask to play a computer math game.

“Just not being familiar with certain strategies that had been introduced in the curriculum,” Linthicum said. “They didn’t seem familiar with certain materials in the curriculum.”

Linthicum testified that she saw Schlegel at recess give students “more involved hugs.”

She said she felt that was inappropriate. But she later clarified that she did not believe she witnessed a crime that she was required to report under Maryland law.

On cross-examination, Linthicum acknowledged that she did not personally observe students in Schlegel‘s classroom playing the computer math game.

And during a contentious line of questioning about how frequently Schlegel used the copy machine, Linthicum conceded that she did not tell the truth.

“You understand that your words matter?” said Patrick Seidel, one of Schlegel‘s attorneys. “Tell the truth. That‘s all we‘re asking of you.”

Next, a 10-year-old girl testified that Schlegel often rubbed her shoulders and back.

She said she also sat on his lap a couple of times.

“I thought it was normal,” said an 11-year-old boy who reported that he witnessed the behavior, “because it happened so much.”

An 11-year-old girl testified that Schlegel twice touched her leg: once with his hand, and another time with a pencil.

“It was moving closer to my shorts,” she said. “It felt uncomfortable, and I was just scared.”

She broke down in tears on the witness stand and could not continue her testimony.

Later, Severna Park Elementary School Principal Kyle Butler testified that two teachers came to him with concerns that Schlegel was not following the math curriculum.

But Butler said he conducted research and learned that teachers are not required to use the math workbooks. He said he‘d visit the class for evaluations and dropped in on other occasions unannounced.

Butler said he never witnessed Schlegel inappropriately touching a student.