A federal magistrate judge told a fired Houston ISD principal Wednesday that her father cannot act on her behalf in litigation after the father sent what HISD’s attorneys called “threatening and harassing communications” with Taylor Swift lyrics.
Herod Elementary School’s former principal Jessica Berry is asking for $3 million in damages and the removal of state-appointed Superintendent Mike Miles in a federal lawsuit. She is alleging that the district violated federal whistleblower regulations and the Family Medical Leave Act. She was among many HISD principals removed in 2024.
Jessica Berry is representing herself without an attorney, according to court documents. But HISD alleged that the ex-principal’s father, Michael Berry, was violating state law by doing the duties of a lawyer. Those duties include preparing pleadings or other documents on behalf of a client and providing services outside of court.
Houston ISD’s legal representation – including attorney James Byrom from Thompson and Horton LLP – and Jessica Berry appeared in court after HISD filed this motion. Berry, who lives and work in the San Antonio area, traveled to Houston with her foster child for the brief court appearance. Citing high attorney costs, the educator said she is navigating this process by relying on ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence tool by OpenAI.
Alleging the father’s actions “border on the unauthorized practice of law,” the district’s attorneys wrote in the Nov. 12 court filing that the father “continues to send the Defendants threatening and harassing communications in furtherance of his illegal representation of Plaintiff.” The district alleged that Jessica Berry “facilitated the unlawful practice of law by her father.”
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U.S. Magistrate Judge Peter Bray said he was not doing the district’s request to find “probable cause to believe that Plaintiff Jessica Berry is facilitating the unauthorized practice of law by Michael R. Berry.” Instead, he told Jessica Berry that all her communications for this lawsuit should be from her and described how most of what happens for legal proceedings occur outside the courtroom. The magistrate judge said that Michael Berry had also been sending emails to the case manager as well.
Bray said he would like this case to proceed in an “orderly, normal fashion.”
Noting Michael Berry was not a lawyer and cannot act on Jessica Berry’s behalf in this case, Bray told Jessica Berry, “He needs to not do that. Do you understand?”
Afterwards, Berry told the Houston Chronicle that her father only had a role in communications with HISD before she filed in court. However, Houston ISD’s recent motion indicated otherwise and that Jessica Berry engaged in an email thread with HISD and her father.
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Houston ISD’s allegations, documentation
Michael Berry tried to resolve Jessica Berry’s dispute with HISD through letters and emails with HISD’s attorneys in summer 2024, according to HISD’s Nov. 12 motion. That correspondence included “threats of litigation and settlement demands.” The school district’s attorneys communicated with Michael Berry “as a professional courtesy” before Michael Berry allegedly approached “the unauthorized practice of law.” HISD’s attorneys requested proof that Michael Berry could carry out duties ordinarily done by attorneys. That led to Michael Berry contacting the president of the district’s appointed Board of Managers, court documents show.
HISD further alleged that Michael Berry participated in legal proceedings without the district’s or the court’s “knowledge or consent” and that Jessica Berry repeatedly added Michael Berry back into email threads in early communications about the case.
In a virtual court conference, the district’s attorney advised Jessica Berry that if Michael Berry remained involved that HISD would ask for clarification from the court on the propriety of his role. Jessica Berry assured HISD that her father was not representing her in this case.
In an Oct. 28, 2025 letter, Michael Berry said he was in the room during that virtual court conference and that he “inserted” language into what’s called the Joint Case Management Plan, HISD indicated, attaching that email.
HISD also indicated that on Oct. 28 that Michael Berry emailed all of HISD’s attorneys, with copies to a reporter not affiliated with the Houston Chronicle, an employee of the U.S. Department of Justice, and Jessica Berry. The parent “generally threatened further investigation and publicization of his complaints concerning Plaintiff’s separation from HISD if he did not receive direct communication from HISD Superintendent Mr. Mike Miles (inaccurately referred to as Mr. Morath in the letter) by 5:00 p.m. that afternoon.” Michael Berry also wrote HISD would “never get this bond approved,” referring to the district’s $4.4 billion school bond on the November 2024 ballot.
Michael Berry also included in that Oct. 28 communication excerpts of Taylor’s Swift’s song “Father Figure”, which included “You want a fight you found it, I got the place surrounded, You’ll be sleeping with the fishes, Before you know you’re drowning.”
Berry also quoted the following lyrics from this song: “My dear boy, They don’t make loyalty like they used to, Your thoughtless ambition sparked the ignition, On foolish decisions, which led to misguided visions, That to fulfill your dreams, You had to get rid of me.”
On Nov. 12, the date of the district’s motion, Michael Berry emailed the court directly and copied the district’s board president and general counsel with the subject line “Amicus Note” where he appeared to accuse “the lawyers involved in this litigation of potentially criminal misconduct related to their representation of their respective clients in this case,” the court filing reads.
The email, included in the court filing, concluded: “I do know how far you people are willing to go. That didn’t work to (sic) well in Chicago folks. Want a list? And for the record, I had nothing to do with the demise of Ms. Groebner… Good luck. To the lawyers (all of you) you should be much more respectful to Dr. Berry.” Michael Berry included what appears to be a link to a Chicago Tribune obituary titled “Susanne Groebner, prosecutor elected to Cook County bench in 2020, dies at 46.”
HISD alleged that Jessica Berry “attempted to benefit from Mr. Berry’s inappropriate behavior” and asked HISD on Oct. 29 if it would discuss a settlement considering “recent correspondence.” Michael Berry later emailed without Jessica Berry copied after defendants did not respond. Jessica Berry sent a third email seeking settlement negotiations on Nov. 11 and filed that communication with the court.
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Representing herself in court
Jessica Berry was one of many principals HISD removed from their posts at the end of the 2023-24 school year, drawing parent protests against the district. She said she makes $30,000 less in her new role after that job loss.
Parents who are part of a group called Houston Stitching Together” hold a crocheted sign as they protested outside Gary L. Herod Elementary School in the in the Maplewood/Meyerland West area in Southwest Houston, TX on Wednesday, May 22, 2024. Parents say their principal and several teachers are being being forced out. (Sharon Steinmann)
Berry said she’s learned to navigate court relying on ChatGPT and maintained that her father is not involved in these legal proceedings.
“Before we moved it to court, I did ask my dad to help write my communication,” she told the Chronicle. “Just because … I was looking for a job. I didn’t have a place to live because I didn’t have an income. I was dealing with my foster child, who was in a lot of legal trouble at the time … And honestly, people don’t even respect educators. They go, ‘Oh, this is just a teacher. This is just this person.’ So I said, ‘Hey, let me have my dad formally write my thing down and communicate it for a settlement’ before it ever went to court. As soon as I decided to file for court, that became me and ChatGPT and the $20 a month I pay to ChatGPT.”
According to her lawsuit, Berry was approved in October 2023 for intermittent Family Medical Leave, and she reported special education noncompliance that the Texas Education Agency ultimately found substantiated. Her complaint also indicated she allegedly refused to alter public records at the direction of district officials. She was placed on notice for possible termination in March 2024, later pressured to resign and effectively fired in June 2024.
Berry is also alleging defamation and violation of the Rehabilitation Act because of her foster child’s disability.
The district alleged it offered three months’ salary that Jessica Berry “repeatedly rejected, despite the District’s unambiguous right to unilaterally terminate the contract,” according to an Aug. 21, 2024 letter from HISD’s hired attorney James Byrom.
This article originally published at Houston ISD files in court after ex-principal’s father sent ‘threatening and harassing’ emails.