Darnise Williams, the Antioch Unified School District superintendent placed on administrative leave in August, has sued the district and trustee Mary Rocha, alleging race, gender and age discrimination, harassment and a hostile work environment. The lawsuit, filed in Contra Costa County Superior Court, also names 50 unnamed individuals accused of authorizing, ratifying, aiding or failing to prevent unlawful conduct against her.
According to The Mercury News, Williams claims she was treated less favorably than white counterparts who exercised forceful leadership, disputed trustee demands, enforced fiscal controls or raised compliance concerns. The lawsuit alleges that Rocha and other aligned decisionmakers characterized Williams through racialized stereotypes, labeling her angry, aggressive, threatening, bullying, incoherent and unprofessional — descriptions the complaint says would not have been applied to a white leader in the same circumstances. Williams, who is Black, also alleges that Rocha told her she was not the board's preferred choice because Rocha wanted a Latino superintendent.
The complaint further alleges that Rocha accused Williams of physical assault during a recess at a board meeting, then advanced that accusation in Williams's superintendent evaluation and circulated it to other trustees as part of a push for her removal. The lawsuit also claims Williams discovered unauthorized cash-in-lieu health-benefit payments being made to the board of trustees, including Rocha, and that she moved to stop them — a decision the suit frames as a turning point in her conflict with the board.
District Says It Never Explained the Leave
The district's Board of Trustees voted 4-1 during a special meeting in August to place Williams on leave until further notice, effective immediately, according to the East Bay Times. Board President Jag Lathan cast the sole dissenting vote. Per the Mercury News, the district did not provide a reason for the leave and failed to investigate Williams's complaints or take measures to prevent discrimination and harassment against her. The lawsuit also alleges the district and board failed to complete her performance evaluation, which Williams claims breached her employment agreement.
The same meeting produced a unanimous vote to install retired superintendent Jose Banda as interim leader, with Banda set to begin Aug. 31 and Director of Educational Services Ed Dacus serving as acting superintendent in the interim, the East Bay Times reported. Williams has said she suffered severe emotional distress, humiliation, anxiety, panic symptoms, sleep disruption and headaches, along with fear for her career, as a result of the conflict.
Rocha Calls the Suit Political
Rocha declined to comment specifically on the lawsuit but told the Mercury News she believes Williams's claims are politically motivated, saying Williams targeted her because she was campaigning for reelection to the school board and the suit could damage her reputation. The district did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Bay Area News Group.
Williams's attorney, Dominique Westmoreland, said her client is eager to resolve the dispute, resume her duties and continue serving the community, while also planning to litigate the claims and seek all remedies available to her, per the same report.
A District Already Under Fiscal Strain
The lawsuit lands amid one of the most difficult financial stretches in the district's recent history. Williams inherited Antioch Unified's budget deficit when she started as superintendent in 2025 and has faced criticism over how she has managed it since. The district's financial certification was downgraded from positive to qualified and then to negative, triggering additional county oversight, the Mercury News reported.
Williams has said the structural deficit had been building for about five years, partly because the district relied on one-time money to cover ongoing costs, according to Contra Costa News. The county separately identified a $31.5 million budget shortfall and said the district had found roughly $22 million in unrestricted reductions, while the Mercury News also described the gap as $31.5 million over two years — figures that other outlets have rounded differently, with Coastside News citing a $30 million deficit and the East Bay Times describing it as nearly $32 million.
The board approved an $18.27 million reduction plan for the 2026-27 fiscal year by a 3-1 vote in May, with Rocha casting the lone no vote, the Mercury News reported. That followed a preliminary February plan to lay off about 300 staff members, and the district went on to issue layoff notices affecting roughly 303 full-time-equivalent positions in March, according to Contra Costa News. FCMAT is expected to conduct a fiscal-health review of the district, and has cautioned that failing to show near-term corrective action could escalate state intervention, per a report from Citizen Portal.
Williams's case joins a small but notable pattern of school leaders turning to litigation amid board conflicts. In San Diego County, the Cajon Valley Unified School District sued one of its own trustees for harassment and discrimination, according to NBC 7 San Diego, while a New Jersey superintendent sued her former district over alleged harassment and gender discrimination before later being placed on leave, per NJ.com.
