A San Francisco school board member is suing her colleagues and the San Francisco Unified School District, alleging a violation of her civil rights in the fallout from a series of unearthed tweets she sent in 2016.
Alison Collins was stripped of her title as vice president of the San Francisco Board of Education and taken off her committee assignments in a 5-2 no-confidence vote last week after days of outrage and criticism over the controversial Twitter thread, in which she uses racially-charged language to describe Asian Americans.
Collins defended her tweets, claiming they were "taken out of context."
In a legal filing first obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle, the lawsuit seeks $12 million in damages from the district and board members, separately. It also asks for $3 million in punitive damages from each of the five board members who voted in favor of removing her as vice president.
Collins, who didn't recuse herself from the vote to strip her of the VP role, and Board President Gabriela Lopez voted against the resolution.
In total, Collins is asking for a judgement of $87 million.
"I will unapologetically pursue equity and empowerment of Black, Latinx, Asian, Arab and other communities regardless of the opportunist and meritless attacks directed towards me," Collins said at a rally on Wednesday.
Her attorney, Charles Bonner, told KCBS Radio late Wednesday that the lawsuit would be pulled if board members fulfilled three of his client's requests within seven days: issue Collins a written apology, reinstate her as Board of Education vice president and to her committee positions, and commit to not taking any future action against Collins.
A collection of city and state-level officials, including San Francisco Mayor London Breed, had called for Collins to step down after the tweets become public. Collins did apologize but resisted overtures to resign.
"I’d like to reemphasize my sincere and heartfelt apologies," Collins, who is Black, said during a contentious meeting last Tuesday. "I’m currently engaging with my colleagues and working with community for the good of all children in our district and especially Black children often left behind."
The thread in question, created in December 2016, used offensive racial stereotypes, accusing Asian Americans of using "white supremacist thinking" and believing "they benefit from the ‘model minority’ BS," among other controversial statements. It was found and released by a group targeting Collins and several members of the San Francisco Board of Education for recall over unrelated past decisions.
KCBS Radio reached out to the district for comment but was told administrators are just beginning to review the filing.
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