Sacramento teacher sues over racial discrimination, alleges class was segregated
A former Sacramento City Unified kindergarten teacher has filed a lawsuit against the district, alleging she was racially discriminated against, denied disability accommodations and later wrongfully terminated.
Lanisha Barney, a Black teacher hired to teach kindergarten at David Lubin Elementary School in September 2024, alleges in the lawsuit that she and her predominantly minority class were kept apart from other two kindergarten classes taught by white teachers.
The complaint alleges that during lunch, Barney’s students had to sit on the far side of the cafeteria, separated from the other kindergarten classes. The lawsuit also alleges that kindergarten students had played together before Barney took over the class, but that after she became their teacher, two white teachers would not let their students play with hers.
In an interview, Barney described the alleged separation as painful to watch.
“It was really heartbreaking to see my students playing on one side of the playground while the two other kindergarten classes were on the other side, and they could not have any interactions with each other, even getting lunch,” Barney said.
David Lubin, which serves the wealthy neighborhood of East Sacramento, had a student enrollment of 454 students in the 2024 school year, according to the California Department of Education. White students made up about 40% of its enrollment, followed by Latino students (34%), students of two or more races (14%) and Asian students (9%). The 63 kindergarten students enrolled that year had similar demographics.
The complaint also alleges that during a field trip in late 2024, Barney’s students were not allowed to ride the same bus as students in the other two kindergarten classes and were “effectively segregated to a different bus,” and that she was denied basic teaching resources that white colleagues received, including assessment tools.
Barney said she raised concerns with the school principal because she hoped the situation would be addressed.
“I had brought these concerns to the school principal, in hopes that there would be some resolution,” Barney said. “However, there wasn’t.”
Al Goldberg, a spokesperson for SCUSD, said the district is aware of Barney’s case.
“As a policy, SCUSD does not comment on pending litigation, and will not be doing so this instance,” Goldberg said.
Complaints, medical leave and termination
In January 2025, Barney filed formal complaints with the district’s human resources department, alleging race and disability discrimination by the principal and other administrators, according to the lawsuit.
After HR received those complaints, the principal barred Barney from speaking with other kindergarten teachers, the complaint alleges.
In May 2025, according to the complaint, Barney was told she would not be rehired for the next school year and was placed on unpaid medical leave through June 15 after being diagnosed with a workplace-related injury.
The district terminated Barney on June 13, while she was still on approved medical leave and two days before she was scheduled to return, the complaint alleges. Barney described the experience “devastating and truly traumatic.”
The lawsuit does not specify a dollar amount, but seeks more than $35,000. Barney’s attorney, Erik Oh, said the figure is a jurisdictional threshold, not the amount Barney is seeking.
“It doesn’t mean we’re asking $35,000,” Oh said.
“The damages we’re requesting in this goes beyond the money — it is (to) stop the racial discrimination around here is basically what it is. It’s almost an injunction,” Oh said.
