White Principal Claims She Was Bullied Into Quitting After Racist ‘Slip of the Tongue’

White Principal Claims She Was Bullied Into Quitting After Racist ‘Slip of the Tongue’


Aformer Virginia school administrator claims she was “forced out” of her job after a “slip of the tongue” during a racial training exercise. Now, she’s suing the school district.

The lawsuit filed this month by Emily Mais alleges that white employees in the Albemarle County Public School system were placed in a “no-win” situation when they participated in racial equity training.


Mais, a former assistant principal at Agnor-Hurt Elementary School in Charlottesville, claims that she was retaliated against for questioning the “anti-racist” program designed for educators.

In November 2020, Albemarle County public schools introduced a mandatory online class about the district’s anti-racism policy for teachers, according to Mais’ lawsuit. The training was based on Glenn Singleton’s Courageous Conversations about Race, a handbook that provides educators with an understanding about racial equity and the systemic implications of racism.

But Mais, who is white, claims in the lawsuit that “instead of training faculty members to embrace students of all races, [the Albemarle County School Board] uses a teacher-training curriculum that promotes racial division and encourages racial harassment.” She also asserts that the district implied that if anyone was opposed to the new training methods they should find a new job.

During the last training session in June 2021, the lawsuit says Mais accidentally used the term “colored people” instead of “people of color” while making a comment during the presentation. The suit claims Mais immediately apologized for the derogatory term but was verbally attacked by a teaching aide for her poor word choice. Mais was then asked to attend meetings with the school guidance counselor, an equity specialist, and the district’s superintendent and assistant superintendents.

Mais alleges in the lawsuit that she was specifically targeted because she’d questioned the training exercise, and then accused by colleagues of being racist and needing additional equity training. In September, she said she was pushed to resign “from a job that she loved to preserve her mental health” because of the treatment she’d received from colleagues, according to the lawsuit.

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