Virginia ex-school official says she was forced to quit over 'slip of tongue' at anti-racism training
An ex-assistant principal is suing a Virginia school board for allegedly forcing her out of her job for a “slip of the tongue” during a mandatory “anti-racism” training. Emily Mais, a former assistant principal at Agnor-Hurt Elementary School, said that the school pushed her out during a 2021 training based on Critical Race Theory when she used the words “colored people” by mistake, while rallying against the training session.
Mais claimed in the lawsuit filed in Albemarle County that although she apologized for the “slip of the tongue", a teacher's aide, who is Black, verbally abused her in the presence of the training attendees. The aide allegedly accused her of “speaking like old racists who told people of color to go to the back of the bus," stated the complaint.
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Mais said that after the training, her colleagues told her that the aide and her friends were openly calling her abusive names at work, such as "that white racist b***h” and “that two-faced racist b***h”. Mais then told the principal that the attacks were causing her “substantial emotional distress, preventing her from focusing on her job, and making it impossible for her to effectively manage the employees involved in the harassment.” However, the principal refused to take any action against the abuse, the complaint said.
Mais had to submit her resignation on August 29, and she left her job on September 10. Before leaving, she was made to apologize to her colleagues, which her lawyers claimed was “ritual shaming.” “On information and belief, from beginning to end, the apology meeting was carefully orchestrated by district officials to humiliate, shame, and traumatize Ms. Mais for an accidental slip of the tongue in order to make an example of her and to communicate to other district employees the type of punishment that would occur if anyone dared question the new reigning anti-racist orthodoxy, which is racist at its core,” the filing says.
The 45-page lawsuit has sought back pay, compensatory and punitive damages, and attorneys’ fees. The lawsuit was filed by conservative Christian legal advocacy group Alliance Defending Freedom on Mais' behalf. “Instead of training faculty members to embrace students of all races, Albemarle County school officials are using a curriculum that promotes racial discrimination,” Kate Anderson, director of the ADF Center for Parental Rights, said in a prepared statement. “The training sets up a classic Catch-22: It encourages all staff members to ‘speak their truth,’ but when a white person like Emily raises concerns about the divisive content, she is deemed a racist in need of further ‘anti-racism’ instruction. Emily believes every person is made in the image of God and entitled to equal treatment and respect and refuses to participate in using harmful ideology to indoctrinate students, teachers, or staff.”
A district spokesman, Phil Giaramita, told New York Post that officials have yet to be served with the lawsuit. He also said that they did not yet get the chance to review its allegations. “We are looking forward to the opportunity at some point in the future to responding to the suit’s claims in the appropriate legal forum,” he said.