A federal civil rights lawsuit has been filed against the Fort Worth Independent School District over its decision to reassign a newly promoted high school principal after parents and community members raised alarms about her pro-Palestinian and pro‑Sharia social media activity.
In May, Fort Worth ISD announced that longtime district administrator Shayma Alzubi had been promoted to serve as principal of Western Hills High School for the 2026–27 school year.
Alzubi signed her principal contract and compensation paperwork earlier that month, according to the suit.
Days after the public announcement, conservative activists circulated screenshots of posts from Alzubi’s personal social media, including content stating “Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine,” a photo with a Palestinian flag filter, posts with “Black Lives Matter” and “I SUPPORT DACA” overlays. Other posts saw her praising mask mandates as well as a repost defending “Sharia” as a personal religious framework.
As the online controversy escalated, district leaders reassigned her, pending an investigation into whether her posts aligned with the district’s staff social media policies.
On Thursday, the Council on American‑Islamic Relations (CAIR) and its Texas chapter filed a lawsuit in federal court in Fort Worth on Alzubi’s behalf, accusing Fort Worth ISD of yielding to “anti‑Muslim, anti‑Palestinian hysteria” and punishing her constitutionally protected speech.
CAIR bills itself as the nation’s largest Muslim civil‑rights and advocacy organization, with a national office and independent chapters around the country, including in Texas.
However, CAIR has been designated a foreign terrorist organization by Gov. Greg Abbott.
“The Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR have long made their goals clear: to forcibly impose Sharia law and establish Islam’s ‘mastership of the world,’” said Abbott late last year. “The actions taken by the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR to support terrorism across the globe and subvert our laws through violence, intimidation, and harassment are unacceptable.”
The organization has also filed a lawsuit challenging Abbott’s designation.
In the FWISD case, Alzubi claims she has been left in a limbo reassignment in the district’s Performance Management and School Choice department, without a formal outcome to the investigation. She argues that Fort Worth ISD’s actions violate the First Amendment’s Free Speech Clause and the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause.
The complaint asks a federal judge to order Fort Worth ISD to put Alzubi back into the Western Hills principal job for the coming school year. It also seeks compensatory and punitive damages, attorneys’ fees, and litigation costs, arguing that the district’s actions have damaged her career, reputation, and ability to carry out the duties of a campus leader she had already been hired to perform.
CAIR attorney Gadeir Abbas called the case “the clearest violation of the First Amendment” the organization has seen this year and is urging the district to reverse course without waiting for a court order.
For now, Alzubi remains reassigned while Fort Worth ISD’s investigation continues and the federal case gets underway.
Fort Worth ISD did not respond to a request for comment before publication.
