Shayma Alzubi, the Muslim educator reassigned from her role as Western Hills High School principal after online backlash over her past social media posts, is suing Fort Worth ISD in federal court.
The June 18 lawsuit was filed in the Northern District of Texas. The lawsuit alleges the FWISD violated Alzubi’s First Amendment guarantee of free speech and 14th Amendment equal protection rights after announcing her promotion.
The complaint asks a judge to reinstate Alzubi as Western Hills High School principal for next school year. It also seeks damages, attorney fees and litigation costs.
Gadeir Abbas, a Council on American-Islamic Relations attorney representing Alzubi, said the lawsuit could end quickly if FWISD restores her to the role it announced in May.
“If Fort Worth ISD puts her back in her role as high school principal, everybody can just focus on the kids,” Abbas told the Fort Worth Report.
In a news release, Abbas called Alzubi’s reassignment a First Amendment violation and urged the district to change course.
CAIR is a national Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization. In November, Gov. Greg Abbott designated CAIR a “foreign terrorist organization” and “transnational criminal organization” under Texas law, allegations the group has denied and challenged in federal court.
Fort Worth ISD did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit, the status of Alzubi’s employment and whether the district’s investigation is still ongoing. During the summer, the district is closed Fridays.
Alzubi, an Arab Muslim administrator of Palestinian national origin, has worked for FWISD since 2013, according to the complaint. She has served as a chemistry teacher, freshman success coach and assistant principal at Amon Carter-Riverside, Arlington Heights and Southwest high schools.
Fort Worth ISD announced May 22 that Alzubi would become principal of Western Hills High School. Four days later, the district reassigned her pending an investigation into past social media posts.
The posts included support for Palestinians, Black Lives Matter, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients and Fort Worth ISD’s mask policy during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the lawsuit. Another post shared a definition of Sharia law, which the complaint describes as an expression of Alzubi’s religious beliefs and an attempt to educate the public about Islam.
The lawsuit alleges the posts came from Alzubi’s personal social media accounts, on her personal devices and outside of business hours.
“FWISD is disciplining Ms. Alzubi, not because she violated the district’s social media policy; instead, the punishment was inflicted because of a hysteria manufactured by people who object to the school district promoting a Palestinian Muslim to be principal,” the complaint states.
The lawsuit is the latest development in a decision that drew religious leaders, educators and parents to defend Alzubi after her reassignment. At a May 28 news conference, supporters described FWISD’s decision as an “anti-Muslim witch hunt.” At a June 1 school board meeting, parents and community members urged the district to reverse course.
FWISD previously said the district was reviewing whether Alzubi’s posts aligned with its social media policy and expectations for staff.
“Our district leaders, educators and staff will not inject personal political perspectives into classrooms,” Louis Kushner, FWISD’s chief of staff, wrote in a May 26 statement.
The district also said it is complying with a state law limiting how educators discuss widely debated and currently controversial issues of public policy or social affairs.
Public school employees have First Amendment rights when they speak as private citizens on matters of public concern, but those protections are not unlimited. Courts generally weigh those rights against a school district’s interest in preventing disruption to its operations, students or campus community.
That balance has surfaced before in Fort Worth ISD. In 2019, the district fired longtime teacher Georgia Clark after she tweeted to President Donald Trump that her school had been “taken over by illegal students” and urged him to intervene. A Texas Education Agency hearing examiner later found Clark’s tweets were constitutionally protected, but a Travis County district court upheld FWISD’s decision to terminate her.
Legal experts previously told the Fort Worth Report those cases often turn on whether the speech caused a real disruption — not merely whether it was unpopular or drew public criticism.
Abbas said FWISD cannot rely on backlash that was manufactured online to justify Alzubi’s reassignment. He pointed to the “heckler’s veto” doctrine, the idea that the government cannot suppress protected speech simply because opponents object loudly enough.
“These posts themselves are years and years old and have never, ever caused any kind of disruption, until one was manufactured online,” Abbas said. “It’s like a moment of truth for school district officials. Are they going to stand up for their longtime employee or are they going to just give in to the bigots online?”
Alzubi’s lawsuit alleges the district used its social media policy as a pretext to punish protected speech.
The complaint says Alzubi was first contacted May 26 by Dorene Benavidez, the district’s lead executive director for the central region, about the online backlash. Benavidez told Alzubi to lock down her social media accounts, but said the posts had already been vetted before she was offered the job, according to the complaint.
Later that day, Kyndra Tyler, the district’s regional chief for the central region, and Isaac Williams, regional chief for the southern region, met with Alzubi at Southwest High School and told her she was being temporarily reassigned to the Department of Performance Management and School Choice, according to the lawsuit. FWISD also removed the online announcement of her promotion.
Since then, Alzubi has been told not to attend onboarding, leadership summits and hiring fairs tied to her new role, according to the complaint. It also says she missed work she would have done to prepare for the school year, including helping oversee the campus master schedule.
Alzubi met with administrators on June 17 as part of the district’s investigation, according to the complaint. The lawsuit says she was questioned about her social media posts.
The lawsuit states Alzubi’s speech was made as a private citizen on matters of public concern, not as part of her job duties. It also says FWISD treated her differently than other employees who posted about similar political or social issues.
“It’s just bigotry dressed up,” Abbas said.
As of the lawsuit’s filing, Alzubi had not received an investigation results notice and remained reassigned to a position other than principal, according to the complaint.
Disclosure: FWISD manager Pete Geren leads the Sid W. Richardson Foundation, a financial supporter of the Fort Worth Report. FWISD manager Laurie George is a member of the Report’s reader advisory council. News decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
Matthew Sgroi is an education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at matthew.sgroi@fortworthreport.org or @matthewsgroi1.
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