Millicent Borishade, the former superintendent of St. Louis Public Schools, has taken her fight to court. She filed a lawsuit in St. Louis on March 20, 2026, alleging she was wrongfully terminated and insisting that her roughly 15 months at the helm were “exemplary.” The suit challenges the school board’s Oct. 17, 2025 vote to remove her and reopens a tense local battle over leadership, school closures and the district’s shaky finances. It lands at a time when SLPS is already dealing with tornado-damaged campuses and a tight budget.
Filing Lays Out Wrongful-Firing Claim
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Borishade’s lawsuit argues that her personnel evaluations and other district records document strong performance, and that the board had no lawful basis to end her contract. The Post-Dispatch also published photos of Borishade leaving SLPS headquarters and quoted her blunt assessment: “I was terminated without cause.”
Board Points To ‘Change In Leadership’
The school board voted last October, after closed-door deliberations, to remove Borishade, saying it needed a change in leadership to “move the district forward.” The St. Louis American reported that labeling the move “without cause” activated a contractual payout of about $475,000. Board leaders defended that cost as the price of moving on.
Union Backlash And Closure Fights
Borishade’s stint in St. Louis was anything but quiet. Her tenure saw a petition from the teachers union and heated resistance over a district study that suggested closing dozens of schools after May’s tornado damage. St. Louis Public Radio reported that the union’s no-confidence move, combined with the timing of the proposed closure plan, stoked community tensions in the run-up to the board’s vote on her future.
Why The Lawsuit Matters For A Cash-Strapped District
SLPS has been under the microscope from state auditors and has watched enrollment slide, straining an already thin budget. That makes any legal payout in this case politically touchy. Reporting by The 74 and other local outlets has highlighted a pattern of leadership churn since 2022, a backdrop that now hangs over Borishade’s claims and the board’s defense…