People were turned away from a due-process hearing for Lee McFerren held Monday at the Farrell City Building.

Forty-five minutes before the hearing was to start, city council chambers were filling to capacity. Some lined the walls of the back of the room — which holds 150 officially, fire Chief Joe Santell said.

He “had no choice” but to turn people away when the standing areas pushed that capacity to more than 200.

Interest in the case of the suspended Farrell High School principal is so great that the lobby and doorway areas of the city building remained packed with people who couldn’t hear what was going on inside.

The crowd included current and former teachers, administrators and coaches, along with parents, students and residents with no ties to the district.

Applause from some reverberated as McFerren and his lawyer Barbara Ochs of Sharon walked in at about 6:30 p.m.

James Nevant II, the school district’s solicitor, presided at the hearing and the nine-member Farrell school board sat as judge and jury.

The case against McFerren was laid out by Huntington Valley, Pa., attorney Michael Levin.

He presented an overview of the case against McFerren that alleges the principal “willfully neglected duty” … was in “violation of school standards” and acted in a way that was “immoral and intemperate.”

“You will hear evidence that will show Mr. McFerren has been out of control. He repeatedly said inappropriate things in inappropriate ways … and was at times threatening, demeaning, hostile and aggressive,” Levin said.

McFerren once told a student — along with the child’s father — that things will only get worse for the student.

“He (McFerren) said in the real world … wait till the white man knocks you on your a--” Levin said.

McFerren was repeatedly warned by his superiors, who included former Superintendent Richard Rubano and acting superintendent Carol Borkowski, to change his behavior, Levin said.

In 2006, Rubano told McFerren he had “anger management problems that need to be taken care of,” Levin said.

There are a “dozen or more incidents where Mr. McFerren engaged in inappropriate or unprofessional conduct,” Levin said.