Update: Michael Madison, a defendant referenced in the lawsuit, was a union representative at the time of the allegations referenced from the lawsuit. A previous version of this story did not contain that information.

ANN ARBOR, MI -- An Ann Arbor school principal has broken her silence about her abrupt leave of absence from Lawton Elementary, filing a lawsuit alleging discrimination.

Shannon Blick, 39, filed a $5 million federal lawsuit Saturday, July 20, against the Ann Arbor Public School District, its board, Superintendent Jeanice Swift and other administrators.

The lawsuit, filed by Ann Arbor attorney William G. Tishkoff, claims Blick faced racial discrimination, was forced into paid leave, stripped of her duties as principal and deprived of her right to free speech when she was asked to tell supporters not to comment on her behalf at a public school board meeting.

In addition to financial compensation, Blick is asking her full duties as principal be restored.

“The Ann Arbor Public Schools has not been served with a copy of the complaint," Ann Arbor Public Schools spokesman Andrew Cluley told the Ann Arbor News/MLive. "The AAPS does not comment on pending litigation or personnel matters.”

Hired as principal of Lawton Elementary School in September 2013, the district announced her indefinite leave in a message to parents on May 1.

The lawsuit alleges the district “constructively terminated” Blick on April 26 when it forced her to take leave, in part because of her race, and also because Assistant Principal Taneia Giles, who is black, wanted Blick’s job.

Nine days earlier, Dicken Elementary School Principal and then-administrators’ union President Mike Madison, while at a dinner party for district principals at Blick’s home, “cryptically announced" Blick should take medical leave until the end of the school year and then “hide out as an assistant principal at a middle school until the dust settles,” the lawsuit says.

Madison told Blick the district was investigating her in connection with the theft of $25,000 over four years by a Lawton Elementary School janitor, for which she was being held responsible, according to the lawsuit.

Rumors of theft from the district by a custodian swirled at the time of Blick’s departure, but the district’s elected board members and superintendent’s office declined any comment. They also denied requests from the Ann Arbor News/MLive for investigative documents, claiming the release of any records might interfere with an ongoing criminal investigation.

When asked if police were investigating any possible fraud related to billing by an employee at Lawton, Ann Arbor Police Lt. Aimee Metzer wrote to the Ann Arbor News/MLive in an email: “At this time, we do not have a report on file referencing over-billing at Lawton.”

Blick’s lawsuit alleges that Ann Arbor school district officials “maintain a custom, policy and practice of: treating Caucasian and nonminority administrators disparately and less favorably than similarly situated African-American and minority administrators; subjecting Caucasian and nonminority administrators to hostility and harassment in the workplace based on their race; accelerating the promotion and advancement of African-American and minority administrators at the expense, and to the detriment, of Caucasian and nonminority administrators.”

When Blick on April 26 met with the Executive Director of Elementary Education Dawn Linden and Human Resources Director Shonta A. Langford, both also defendants in the lawsuit, they handed her a letter stating she was being placed on administrative leave and was no longer allowed to enter school grounds or interact with teachers, students or staff, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit also claims Langford sent Blick a text message on April 30 instructing her to submit a formal letter of resignation by June 30 in order to stop any investigation into her knowledge of or failure to stop theft by the school janitor.

On May 7, Blick appeared for a requested meeting with Linden and others. Linden indicated a group of parents planned to speak in support of Blick at the May 8 Board of Education meeting, and asked Blick to contact the parents and tell them not to speak, the lawsuit alleges.

Blick has three children who were attending Ann Arbor Public School District and claims she was banned from attending certain events, including her fifth-grader’s graduation, and blocked from fully communicating with teachers, due to her suspension.

Despite being placed on leave, Blick remains listed as the acting principal of Lawton Elementary School on its website.

Following Blick’s departure, the district hired Dottie Davis, who retired in 2018 after nearly 40 years with Ann Arbor Public Schools, to fill in as “guest” principal at Lawton at a salary equivalent to nearly $120,000 per year.