Fifth lawsuit filed against Eastpointe Community Schools, superintendent

EASTPOINTE — Last month, Eastpointe Community Schools Superintendent Christina Gibson was one of the guest speakers at Eastpointe’s State of the City address held at the Lutheran Fraternities of America Hall Post No. 57.

She let attendees know the district is in the process of reconfiguring the four elementary schools, educators have invested in a new math and English language arts curriculum for all K-12 students, the Eastpointe High School swimming pool is scheduled to open sometime this year, and many building improvements have been completed.

One topic missing though were the lawsuits that have been filed against her and the district from former employees who claim she discriminated against them because they are Black and created a hostile work environment for them because of their race. Gibson is white.

On July 14, 2023, former Eastpointe High School Principal Asenath Jones filed a formal complaint against Gibson and the school district accusing the superintendent of creating a hostile work environment, race discrimination and retaliation. According to court documents, a jury trial for the Jones case is set to begin July 15.

Later that summer, on Aug. 23, former secondary administrator Renita M. Williams filed a lawsuit against Gibson and the district after suffering inequality, retaliation and a hostile work environment, according to the lawsuit. In the Williams case, the last update posted on court records was that a settlement conference set for March 12 had been canceled.

On Jan. 5, 2024, former district employee Leah Black filed a lawsuit claiming she was discriminated against and forced to work in a hostile work environment because of her race. According to court records, there is a motion to dismiss deadline on April 21 in the case. This is a request to the court to resolve a legal dispute without a full trial.

On Oct. 11, 2024, former special education teacher and basketball coach Michael Railey filed a complaint, charging Gibson with three counts of race discrimination, retaliation, wrongful termination and hostile work environment; one count of First Amendment retaliation; one count of breach of contract; one count of violation of the Michigan Revised School Code; and one count of violations of the Whistleblower Protection Act. According to court documents, a trial in the Railey case is set to begin next year on May 5, 2026.

The fifth and latest lawsuit was filed March 28 by Pleasantview Elementary School Principal Falicia Moreland-Trice, who accused the district and Gibson of race discrimination, retaliation, creating a hostile work environment, and constructive discharge. Moreland-Trice came from another district to become Pleasantview principal at the start of the 2022-23 school year. According to the lawsuit, she is the only Black principal left in the district because of racial discrimination and Gibson’s allegedly unlawful employment practices.

All five lawsuits were filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan by attorneys Jeffrey Hart and Charissa Huang, of the law firm Smith, Haughey, Rice & Roegge in Ann Arbor. Despite the lawsuit, Moreland-Trice is still the principal at Pleasantview.

In Moreland-Trice’s complaint, court documents list several occasions in which Gibson was allegedly hostile toward her. For instance, on July 9, 2024, Moreland-Trice was with Gibson during a training session at the University of Virginia on its Charlottesville campus. She alleged that the superintendent told her “that Blacks would be more inclined to shop at Whole Foods if it offered chitterlings and greens.”

Another issue arose in 2024 when Moreland-Trice said she was threatened by a parent who was attempting to enter a school bus with a handgun and was later charged with brandishing a firearm by local police. The parent was told she could not attend a moving up ceremony at Pleasantview where students graduate from one grade to the next and was given a no trespass letter. However, Gibson reportedly invited the parent and family to the moving up ceremony anyway.

“Plaintiff advised Gibson that she was fearful for her life and would not attend,” the formal complaint states. “Gibson forced plaintiff to attend the ceremony. At the ceremony, plaintiff was physically and verbally assaulted by the parent and family members of the student.”

Moreland-Trice also alleges she did not receive an ESSER I grant, although her white peers did. The Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief I grant is hazard pay provided to those who worked in person during the COVID-19 period “when the virus was virulent and thought to be deadly,” the lawsuit states.

Moreland-Trice is requesting the court enter judgement in her favor against Gibson for all compensatory, exemplary, punitive and treble damages, penalties, equitable and injunctive relief to which she is entitled, along with costs, interest and attorney fees.

 

School board president responds
On April 9, Eastpointe Community Schools Board of Education President Chineva Early released a statement on the district’s website at eastpointeschools.org regarding the allegations. In the letter, Early said the lawsuit was filed by the same attorney who has filed several other lawsuits against the district on behalf of current and/or former employees.

According to Early, in each of the previous cases, the district’s legal counsel was requested to review the allegations and make a preliminary finding as to the merits of the lawsuit. In each case, Early stated, the district’s counsel found that the allegations were not supported by the evidence, and many of the allegations could be clearly established as false.

As per Early’s statement, the district’s legal counsel is conducting the same review for Moreland-Trice’s lawsuit. The board is expected to receive a report the week of April 14.

Speaking only for herself, Early said that based upon the evidence provided to date, she stands “firmly behind the superintendent and her administration as being in the best interests of the students served by the district.”

“The merits of the lawsuit will only be resolved through the courts. I implore staff, parents and community members to let the judicial process work as intended, and not let that process distract us from the critical work of educating our children,” Early said in the prepared statement. “In closing, I thank our staff, parents, and community members for their service and support in working together with the board to provide our children with the best educational opportunities we possibly can, and again urge that we not allow unsubstantiated allegations to distract us from our student-centered mission.”

Gibson has been superintendent since July 1, 2022. In 2021, she received the Michigan Association for Media in Education Service Award for School Administrators. The award recognizes a school administrator or team of administrators who have made a unique and sustained contribution toward furthering the role of the school library and its development in a school program.