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Texas Thirteenth Court of Appeals (Corpus Christi-Edinburg)
Ex-Principal’s “Private Photo” Suit Can Continue
Ruling: An ISD can’t force the dismissal of a gender discrimination suit filed by an ex-middle school term-contract-principal who was fired after an intimate “private photo” that was reportedly meant only for her husband was widely disseminated online in her community without her prior knowledge or permission. Edinburg CISD v. Cristina L. Esparza, No. 13-18-00540-CV. Issued Aug. 22.
A three-member Thirteenth Court panel upheld the trial judge’s ruling that Esparza had met the state-law deadline for seeking permission from the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) to sue ECISD for gender discrimination, and rejected the ISD’s contention that she had missed the deadline. (The TWC ultimately gave Esparza permission to sue.)
Esparza’s troubles began in early Summer 2016 (when school was not in session) — when she had been a 14-year ECISD employee and was principal of a middle school under a term contract.
That’s when what was described as a cell phone nude selfie Esparza took that was meant to be sent to (and seen by) only her husband was somehow obtained by an unauthorized party, who posted the picture on social media, where it was widely seen in the community and was the subject of reports in the news media.
The education commissioner upheld her termination in 2017 for reasons that included a finding that her future effectiveness as a principal was impaired due to the photo’s distribution, despite the fact that it was obtained and distributed by an unauthorized person.
Esparza claims in her suit that the district did not treat several similarly situated male principals the same, including principals whom her attorney said (in a legal brief) had had extramarital affairs or had been accused of sexual harassment.
The appellate justices sent the suit back to the trial judge for further proceedings.