Houston ISD
Ginny McDavid, a Houston ISD parent, speaks during a school board meeting on Oct. 9, 2025.
Ginny McDavid, a Houston ISD parent and former United Airlines flight attendant, is trying to get her job back after saying she was fired for confronting and criticizing state-appointed Superintendent Mike Miles while off duty in the United Airlines lounge at Bush Intercontinental Airport.
McDavid filmed the encounter, which happened on April 9, and then shared it to social media. She alleges shortly after local news outlets reported on the altercation, Miles and his now-Deputy Chief of Staff Nici Esch, who McDavid says was with Miles during the incident, filed a complaint with United Airlines urging them to fire McDavid.
“I think [the news coverage is] kind of what irked Esch and Miles and prompted them to file a complaint,” McDavid told Houston Public Media. “Because they didn’t file their complaint until the following Monday.”
During the minute-and-a-half video, in which neither McDavid nor Miles can be seen, McDavid can be heard telling Miles, “You need to get the hell out of town,” and calling Miles a “disgrace to Houston ISD.”
Miles, installed by the Texas Education Agency in 2023 because a Houston ISD high school received a string of failing grades from the agency, has become a polarizing figure after implementing instructional reforms that have improved standardized test scores but also led to widespread staffing and curriculum changes.
In a statement, Houston ISD said, “While traveling on United Airlines and waiting for his flight in a United lounge, Superintendent Miles was verbally accosted by a United Airlines employee who used vulgar and aggressive language, which she later posted to social media and shared with the press. Any personnel decision made by United Airlines regarding the conduct of its employees is a matter between United Airlines and that employee.”
United Airlines terminated McDavid in May. The airline declined to comment.
McDavid made an appearance at Thursday’s school board meeting and spoke to Miles and the board of managers about her termination.
“I guess Miles sleeps better at night now that his contract includes a bodyguard to protect him from 5-foot-2 disgruntled HISD moms like me lurking in the shadows instead of teaching our kids about the land of the free and home of the brave,” she said, adding, “We have an uncertified superintendent.”
McDavid and the district chapter of her union, the Association of Flight Attendants and Communications Workers of America, AFA/CWA, is appealing her termination, according to documentation McDavid shared with Houston Public Media.
The union did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The union argues her termination lacks “just cause and [is] disproportionate in light of the evidence and mitigating circumstances.”
Courtesy of Ginny McDavid
Ginny McDavid says she was terminated by United Airlines in May over her confrontation with Houston ISD Superintendent Mike Miles in an airline lounge at Bush Intercontinental Airport.
McDavid asserts that although Texas is an at-will employment state, where an employee can be terminated for almost any reason, she is covered through the Railway Labor Act. It also represents flight attendants, and McDavid said the act requires the company to establish “just cause” before terminating an employee even in an at-will employment state.
In a letter sent to McDavid by United Airlines and reviewed by Houston Public Media, the airline opened an official investigation into McDavid on April 28 for a complaint received on April 14. The documents from United Airlines show Esch filed two complaints against McDavid, one by telephone and another by email. In the email complaint, Esch said she felt personally attacked and that McDavid was yelling at Miles and being “extremely agitated.”
On May 17, United Airlines terminated McDavid for the incident with Miles, publishing the interaction and inappropriately accessing the United Lounge, according to documentation provided by McDavid.
The letter sent by a United Airlines performance support supervisor states that while McDavid was not previously under any disciplinary performance warning, “the gravity of [McDavid’s] actions including posting them to social media and the potential damage to the United brand, coupled with your refusal to acknowledge that your actions violate our policies compel me to terminate your employment.”
In documents outlining her appeal, the union says McDavid acknowledged her error in entering the lounge incorrectly and pledged not to repeat the error emphasizing at the time McDavid believed her actions were in line with what she believed to be proper policy. The union also says accessing the United Club as McDavid did is a “widespread practice among flight attendants.”
The documents also note that during the investigation, McDavid said in defense of her actions “first and foremost, I am a mother. I will do anything I have to do to protect my child.” The union argues “United’s policies cannot be so rigid and robotic that they govern every aspect of an employee’s life.”
In a statement to Houston Public Media, a spokesperson for AFA said the union cannot comment on individual grievances but is committed to defending the fair employment of flight attendants.
McDavid says she has spoken with lawyers about her options if her appeal is not successful.
“I would love for them to offer my job back, but short of that I want a settlement,” she said. “Litigation is not out of the realm of possibility.”
McDavid added that she believes her termination is a violation of her free speech rights under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
“I wear more than one hat. I’m an HISD taxpayer, I’m an HISD parent, I’m a member of the community, and yes, I also happen to have a job,” she said. ” I think people need to feel strong enough to speak out and to stand up for their rights and to make sure they aren’t silenced or censored over things that should be within their rights to exercise.”