This story has been updated.
The former head coach of the varsity boys basketball team for Eastpointe High School is alleging he was terminated after he filed a racial discrimination complaint against the district’s superintendent.
Michael E. Railey was fired on April 15, just after his team won the district championship, a feat the school only achieved two other times, he says.
Railey recently filed racial discrimination complaints with the Michigan Department of Civil Rights, Michigan Department of Education, and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
The complaints are just the latest racial allegations to be leveled against Eastpointe Community Schools and its superintendent Christina Gibson.
Since July 2023, three Black school employees have filed racial discrimination suits against the district. Asenath Jones, a former principal, alleged racial discrimination, retaliation, and other violations. Renita Williams, a former secondary administrator, claimed racial discrimination and retaliation. And Leah Black, a former administrative assistant and grant specialist, alleged racial discrimination and a hostile work environment.
Railey tells Metro Times he plans to file a federal discrimination lawsuit against the district “in the very near future.”
Railey was fired about six weeks after he filed a racial discrimination complaint with the school district’s human resources department. In the complaint, Railey alleges Gibson “spearheaded a conspiracy to illegally terminate me because of my racial identity as an African American.”
Railey says Gibson tried to get Jones, who was then the school’s principal, to give him “an unsatisfactory recommendation in an attempt to terminate me.” Jones refused, and she was later terminated. According to the complaint, Gibson attempted to “coerce” Assistant Principal Fatima Thompson to change his positive work evaluation so the superintendent had a basis to fire him.
In a witness statement, Thompson corroborated Railey’s version of events, saying Gibson insisted Railey’s previous evaluation prevented her from taking action against the coach.
“She went on to say that he’s arrogant and she doesn’t like him, he’s a horrible coach and didn’t even win games because the kids don’t like him either,” Thompson wrote in the witness statement.
“Michael Railey was discriminated against based on personal feelings and not professional merit. This behavior was completely unacceptable. Michael Railey should have been treated with dignity, respect, and equality. The actions I witnessed went against the principles of fairness and workplace professionalism.”
The human relations department insisted there was no evidence of racial discrimination after what Railey described as a “cursory investigation.”
In a letter to the Michigan Board of Education, Railey said he expects to be fired from his job as a special education teacher because a principal finally agreed to give him a negative evaluation at Gibson’s request.
“I will also most likely be relieved of my duties as a special education teacher because a coconspirator Principal Todd Yarch has given me extremely low evaluations … at the superintendent’s behest.”
Metro Times previously wrote that Gibson did not return a call for comment. We missed her message. When asked to comment Thursday, she declined to discuss the case and referred us to the district's attorney, who also wouldn't comment.
