Superintendent demoted former McCluer North principal for refusing sexual advance, suit says

Frank Williams sued the Ferguson-Florissant School District on Monday, claiming he was unjustly removed from his post as principal in the wake of several student fights in early February. Multiple fights in one day caused the building to be put under “precautionary lockdown” and ended with one student’s arrest and in-person classes being canceled the next day.

The lawsuit called his subsequent administrative leave and demotion to assistant middle school principal “highly unusual without any type of misconduct occurring first” and claimed it was retaliation after Williams refused a sexual advance by Joseph Davis, the district’s superintendent.

“A community meeting was held demanding answers as to why (Williams) was no longer principal, but no answers were supplied by” the district, the lawsuit said.

Williams, who is now an assistant director for the district’s Mark Twain Restoration & Re-Entry Center, declined to talk about the lawsuit Tuesday when reached by a reporter.

The district declined to comment as well, saying it does not discuss pending litigation or personnel matters. Davis could not be reached for comment.

The lawsuit says Williams was hired in July 2018 as principal of Cross Keys Middle School, and about a year later, he became principal of McCluer North High School.

He earned principal of the year honors for the 2020-21 school year and also achieved one of the highest annual performance ratings in north St. Louis County for the 2022-23 school year, the lawsuit says.

Williams said the sexual harassment began when Davis invited him to dinner in 2021 and Davis introduced him to someone unaffiliated with the district, then went on to discuss “this person’s marital issues and infidelity in a sexually explicit way,” the lawsuit said.

Williams says Davis asked him to mentor this person.

“The use of the word ‘mentor’ was charged with sexual innuendo,” Williams’ suit says. “Dr. Davis explicitly told plaintiff, ‘Don’t (expletive) me, Frank.’”

Later that year, the lawsuit said the two men once again went to dinner, this time to discuss Williams’ future with the district.

During that encounter, Williams says the superintendent told him to stay “close” to him and let Davis “mentor” him, “using the same sexual innuendo as before.”

The sexual advance that led to his demotion, the suit says, happened during a meeting March 8, 2023, with Williams, Davis and an education consultant.

Davis was discussing potential changes to McCluer North that “could significantly impact the operational dynamics” when Davis touched William’s thigh and the principal had to remove Davis’ hand, the lawsuit says.

A few months later, Williams interviewed to be the district’s assistant superintendent but did not get the job.

Then, despite his high annual performance rating, the lawsuit says Davis expressed concerns about Williams’ school and told the principal to draft a “reset” plan in December 2023.

After the winter break, at least three student fights broke out.

At a 10 p.m. meeting on the day of one of the fights, Davis told Williams he was being put on administrative leave.

The next morning, the lawsuit says Davis told the school’s staff that Williams was no longer the principal.

Kurtis Downing was appointed as interim principal of McCluer North for the remainder of the school year, according to a message sent to the school’s community in February.

Two weeks later, Williams was told he was being “demoted” to a middle school assistant principal for the remainder of the year “for his own mental health,” the lawsuit says.

Williams, who is Black, sued the district for race discrimination, sexual harassment and retaliation. He’s asking for more than $25,000 in damages.

The Ferguson-Florissant School District oversees the education of almost 10,000 students in 11 municipalities, including Ferguson, Florissant, Kinloch and Berkeley.