Caucasian Principal Sues School District, Claiming She Was Fired Because of Racial Preference

Samuel Allegri
By Samuel Allegri
July 24, 2019US News
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Caucasian Principal Sues School District, Claiming She Was Fired Because of Racial Preference
School buses at a parking lot.(Marc1969/Pixabay)

Shannon Blick, a Caucasian principal at a school in Ann Harbor, Michigan, claims that she was racially discriminated by her superiors and is suing the school district for $5 million.

Blick alleges she was “harassed, berated, lied to, humiliated, threatened and ultimately suspended without notice or cause and constructively terminated because of her Caucasian race,” reported Local 4.

Her attorney, Will Tishkoff was interviewed by Fox 2, who said that “It doesn’t make a difference if you are white or black, the law still says you can’t use race in an unlawful way.”

“She was never told why she was suspended and told to leave the premises and stop doing her duties on April 26,” said Tishkoff. “(She was) simply told to get out. So she is on suspension now—we have her personnel files and there is no evidence in there that shows basis for a suspension.”

“There are some things that happened in this lawsuit more extreme than I have seen—like the First Amendment issues I have talked about, directing a principal not to go to a public meeting of a school board,” Tishkoff said.

Thishkoff added that “she has been traumatized severely.”

Blick claims that she had been discriminated by African-American managers who made her go on paid leave and blocked her from going to her job and even going to a public school board meeting, without reason or explanation.

Her complaint includes an assertion saying that she was told not to contact any students, parents, or staff regarding the issue, and that she was told if she did otherwise, she could face punishment and termination.

She was allegedly even banned from her child’s 5th-grade graduation.

A day before some parents were intending to speak on her behalf on a board meeting at the school, Blick was instructed not to attend.

“I’ve never seen a case this extreme,” Tishkoff told Local 4.

Tishkoff had won a case against a school district that had similarities to Blick’s case, but her clients were African-American.

“I feel no differently about my white client than I did my black client in Ohio,” Tishkoff said. “Either way, we still have a school district that, in my view, needs to act within the law.”

The lawsuit stated that Blick started working at the school in 2013.

She said that everything was going well until the assistant principal was reassigned.

The lawsuit says that the assistant principal wanted Blick’s job and is an African-American person.

Tishkoff she has an impeccable past.

“That was the beginning of anything negative in my client’s personnel file,” Tishkoff said. “So she went from being the star, loved principal—overnight, things changed.”

Local 4 contacted the school district for comment and got the following answer:

“Ann Arbor Public Schools has not been served with a copy of the complaint. AAPS does not comment on pending litigation or personnel matters.”

“White people have rights,” said Tishkoff,  “So yeah, this is a reverse [discrimination] case. Right now, it’s very timely in terms of what’s happening in our country.” reported the Detroit Free Press.

Blick’s attorneys assert that the district and it’s board have a history of “harboring, and acting on, racial animus towards Caucasians and non-minority individuals.” She would like to get her job back and get compensation for lost payment and distress.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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