Bianca Seward/Houston Public Media

The president of the Houston Education Association teachers' union filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against Houston ISD and several district administrators on Tuesday.

HISD board members twice voted to terminate Michelle Williams, a 26-year-veteran teacher, most recently in April. She filed her civil rights suit under the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution as well as the Texas Whistleblower Act and is alleging "institutional retaliation" by the district beginning in August 2024, when she was first disciplined.

In the complaint, Williams is seeking reinstatement, back pay, punitive damages and compensatory damages for emotional distress and medical expenses.

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"[Williams] is clear she wants accountability from HISD," said her attorney, Omer Khwaja. "Punitive damages, compensatory damages, exemplary damages are designed also, in addition to bringing monetary compensatory relief to people, also to modify behavior and make it better, and so that’s what we’re trying to accomplish."

Houston ISD did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The district put Williams on administrative leave in 2024 for social media posts criticizing the district. She was later reinstated after an independent examiner recommended she get her job back after a two-day hearing.

In August 2025, while teaching third grade at Benbrook Elementary, Williams filed a grievance regarding special education concerns and the implementation of state-appointed Superintendent Mike Miles' controversial New Education System (NES). Days after filing the grievances, the district put her on home duty for "not following protocols" and accusations of insubordination.

Home duty requires employees to be at home during the hours they would be at work. After months of being confined to home duty, Williams was diagnosed with adjustment disorder with anxiety, and she notified the district the home confinement had negatively affected her mental wellbeing, according to the lawsuit.

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HISD's state-appointed board of managers subsequently voted to terminate Williams in October, prompting her to appeal and remain on home duty.

In February, another independent examiner reviewed Williams' second removal and found that the district failed to establish good cause for termination and recommended reinstatement.

Nonetheless, the board voted again in April to terminate her.

RELATED: ‘They've been trying to get rid of me': HISD board again votes to terminate teachers union leader

Williams has maintained the district's actions against her were retaliation for her grievance and public criticism of the district.

The complaint alleges district leaders executed a coordinated sequence of adverse actions against Williams, including campus surveillance, after her August 2025 speech at a board meeting in which she criticized the district. It also alleges the state-appointed board of managers have established and maintained a policy of retaliating against educators who report NES-related or special education violations.

RELATED: HISD under federal investigation over plans to restructure special education services

"I’ve done enough of these kinds of cases to know that when folks start getting shuffled around after they make complaints, there’s something else afoot," Khwaja said. "I think it points to a bigger culture of retaliation at HISD. So this case is one of many that I have that have come to my office. They all follow the same pattern. The pattern tends to be, you know, identify the whistleblower, isolate the whistleblower, and neutralize the whistleblower."