3 white former executives at NYC's Department of Ed to receive huge payout, following 'evidence of race-based discrimination'

In yet another blow to DEI initiatives across the country, three white former executives with the Department of Education in New York City will soon receive a hefty payout after they had allegedly been demoted in favor of "less-qualified" employees "of color," the New York Post reported.

Five years ago, Lois Hererra, Jaye Murray, and Laura Feijoo filed a lawsuit alleging that the city's DOE had discriminated against them on the basis of their race, as Blaze News previously reported. The lawsuit originally sought $90 million in damages.

Hererra, a Harvard alumna who had become executive director of the Office of Safety and Youth Development following decades at the agency, had been demoted in favor of Mark Rampersant, a black man with a GED. Murray, a former executive director of the Office of Counseling Support Programs, was demoted three rungs and had to report to Rampersant at one point. Finally, Feijoo, a former senior supervising superintendent who once supervised all other DOE superintendents was passed over for an opening at deputy chancellor by one of her black subordinates, Cheryl Watson-Harris, who did not even have the license necessary for the position at the time she was hired.

Those staffing changes occurred under the leadership of former Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza, a lackey of Democrat former Mayor Bill de Blasio, who was "fixated on diversity," according to an internal DOE email written by then-chief operating officer Ursulina Ramirez.

According to the lawsuit, Carranza threatened the job of any "Caucasian DOE employees" who dared to question his "equity platform." "Get on board ... or leave," he allegedly warned them.

In sworn depositions in connection with the lawsuit, both Carranza and de Blasio admitted that they wanted to create a DOE that "looked like New York City," the Post reported. Carranza resigned from his position in February 2021, and de Blasio was term-limited out of office the following December.

Three months ago, a judge ruled that the lawsuit showed "evidence of race-based discrimination in Carranza’s DOE," and a trial had been set for June.

Rather than proceed with the trial, the city elected to reach a settlement with the plaintiffs. Hererra, Murray, and Feijoo will now each receive $700,000.

Their lawyer, Davida Perry, called the settlement "a resounding affirmation that discrimination of any form should not be tolerated in educational institutions, regardless of the race of those negatively impacted." She also claimed her clients "feel justified and vindicated."

Though the city will have to shell out more than $2 million to settle with the three white women, it still has not admitted wrongdoing. "The DOE and City are fully committed to fair and inclusive employment practices, and we maintain that these claims lack merit,” a spokesman for the Law Department said. "Nevertheless, settlement of this long standing case was in the best interest of all parties."

Hererra has since retired, and Feijoo left for another job three and a half years ago. Murray is the only plaintiff who remains on the NYC DOE payroll, but her duties have been "sharply reduced," the Post said.

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