Former Mt. Whitney High School campus supervisor Sean Knox believes he was dismissed by the Visalia Unified School District (VUSD) because of racial discrimination, and he is taking his one-time employer to court.
Firing Followed Multi-Student Fight
Knox being fired came in the wake of a fight on the MWHS campus on September 16, 2024. Knox, an African-American, was supervising students when a group began an altercation that turned physical. While breaking up the melee by restraining a female student, Knox “effectively displaced the subject student’s balance, bringing her to the ground, …” the suit states. He held the girl down while calling for assistance. The incident was recorded on video.
The Visalia Police Department watched the footage and found Knox acted appropriately.But following a VUSD investigation into Knox’s handling of the matter, he was fired on October 21, 2024.
According to the lawsuit filed on Knox’s behalf in Tulare County Superior Court last month, the firing “was based on a racially prejudicial rush to judgment” and resulted from “a both flawed and incompetently conducted investigation.” The suit further claims two other non-Black campus supervisors who reacted similarly in nearly identical circumstances faced little or no fallout from their behavior.
Knox is represented by Los Angeles-based attorney Loyst Fletcher.
“There’s a disparity and what we believe is institutional racism,” Fletcher said of his client’s treatment by the district and the resulting legal action. Knox’s suit claims he suffered unduly because of the alleged mistreatment and seeks monetary damages.
The suit was filed on October 24, 2025. A preliminary court date is set for February 23 before Judge Brett Hillman.
Fired Supervisor Asked for Crisis Training
Fletcher said his client was unwillingly placed in a potentially dangerous situation without getting adequate training. But it was not for lack of trying. Knox submitted several written requests for instruction on how to deal with violent situations such as the one he was eventually forced to confront.
“Everyone gets this de-escalation training,” Fletcher said. “They’re having problems at this school.”
Fletcher’s legal filing claims that the trio who investigated his client’s conduct admitted he had never gotten the training he’d repeatedly asked for, but ultimately found him at fault anyway. Knox, according to the suit, was the only campus supervisor t VUSD who did not receive training to aid in ending conflicts between students.
“He was taking a proactive approach, but he was subjected to this unfair investigation,” Fletcher said of Knox. “How do they explain that he put this (his requests for conflict training) in writing?”
The case against the VUSD claims Knox’s dismissal “was based on a racially prejudicial rush to judgment” and resulted from “a both flawed and incompetently conducted investigation.” Knox’s supervisors, his attorney said, showed a bias by punishing others less severely.
“You (VUSD administrators) view his conduct differently than you would with someone else,” Fletcher said. “Those other people are still there. They aren’t African-American.”
Knox, who is also a football coach at other schools and a mixed martial arts fighter, did not harm the student he restrained, his attorney said.
“He didn’t put this student in danger,” Fletcher said. “The procedures, and I had an expert look at them, she was never in harm. Her intent on the other hand was to create harm.”
Fired Employee Didn’t Want Dangerous Assignment
The suit claims a “troubling pattern of racial bias” is at work inside the VUSD. Not only were other non-Black campus supervisors treated differently, Fletcher said racial bias appears to have been the reason Knox was given the job of supervising students in front of the school as they arrived.
According to Fletcher, MWHS has been experiencing increasing conflicts among students, especially when they are outside class. The danger may have been why Knox was given the assignment, one he didn’t want.
“He agreed to it, but he didn’t like it,” Fletcher said. “They assigned him to stand out in front of the school. He wanted to know, why are they giving this assignment to me?”
The VUSD issued the following statement about the lawsuit: “Student safety remains a priority for Visalia Unified. While the District does not comment on active litigation, it does take seriously any claim of discrimination, and is committed to fair and equitable treatment of employees.”
VUSD Needs Reform to Avoid Future Bias, Suit Says
Members of VUSD’s leadership have an “implicit bias” based on “stereotypes that unconsciously affect the decisionmakers’ understanding, actions and determinations,” the suit claims.
Racial bias, the suit claims, led Knox’s supervisors to believe he was more aggressive and not as competent as his non-Black coworkers.
“The decision to terminate him, in contrast to the leniency shown to his non-African American counterparts, underscores the need for a thorough examination of the underlying biases that influenced this process,” Fletcher wrote in the suit against VUSD.
Additionally, a law enforcement investigation found no reason to charge Knox with a crime because of his behavior during the incident. This, along with the discrepancy the suit claims between how Knox and others were treated by the VUSD, shows the school district needs to reform and more closely enforce its none-discrimination policies, Fletcher said.
“The decision to terminate him, in contrast to the leniency shown to his non-African American counterparts, underscores the need for a thorough examination of the underlying biases that influenced this process,” he said.
They fired him for no real reason.