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Nearly four years after she was fired, former Woodside High School counselor Sharlett Downing will be facing the Sequoia Union High School District in a civil jury trial set for October 2026. Downing originally filed a lawsuit against the district in 2024 alleging wrongful termination, disability discrimination and failure to provide reasonable accommodations.
“There is nothing that they can do to make me settle,” said Downing. “I want the district to understand what they did and be apologetic. I want accountability.”
Downing’s case is among five active lawsuits filed against the district. She is currently being represented by Sacramento-based law firm, Reed Williams, which is also representing Chloe Gentile-Montgomery, a former Menlo-Atherton High School ethnic studies teacher who is alleging the district is guilty of discrimination, retaliation and a hostile work environment.
Downing worked at Woodside High for 16 years but was diagnosed with anxiety, depression and ADHD in the midst of her career. In 2016, she began to receive work accommodations for her mental health but after the turnover of district administrators during the COVID-19 pandemic, new administrators denied her requests for continued flexibility.
According to Downing, former Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Todd Beal denied her request for six weeks of medical leave for therapy and placed her on a 39-month re-employment list in 2022.
The list is used to terminate employees who have exhausted all paid and unpaid leave and are still medically unable to work with reasonable accommodations. However, it promises them priority in the hiring process for vacant positions.
Since being placed on the list in April 2022, Downing said she was never offered any vacant counseling positions, nor did she receive any notification that the period would be ending in July. She described the 39-months as “purgatory.”
By the time the 39-month re-employment period ended, Downing had also filed two civil rights complaints and two unfair practice charges with the state Public Employment Relations Board.
Over the past three years, Downing has also experienced worsening mental health conditions and two breast cancer surgeries. She told this news organization that despite sending multiple emails to the district and its Board of Trustees about the re-employment process, she has never received a response.
“No one should have to fight cancer and fight for due process at the same time,” she said.
“It appears that the district isn’t willing to accept responsibility for their treatment of Ms. Downing and take accountability for their actions,” said Donald Reed Williams Jr., who hopes that the lawsuit will encourage the district to take responsibility in assisting employees with disabilities and to accommodate them in the future.
A jury trial date has been scheduled for Oct. 13, 2026, in the South San Francisco courthouse.
