Ethel DeZonie has the memories of her teaching career meticulously organized, behind plastic, in binder after binder.
“This was a Black history program,” she said, pointing to one photograph of young Black children on an auditorium stage. “I made their bowties, and it made it more festive. Those kids are grown now.”
The time she spent as a full-time teacher in city public schools takes up fewer pages of those binders than she would have liked.
“Countee Cullen. P.S. 194,” she read from another page. “That’s where I was terminated from.”
DeZonie lost her job as a teacher at the Harlem elementary school in the early 2000s – because she failed a state certification exam used by the city, called the Liberal Arts and Science Test. She went on to teach in private and charter schools, or in part-time positions assisting other teachers or at after-school programs – for less money, with less stability.
“I lost life – a precious commodity of my life: teaching,” she said.
She wasn’t alone. Black and Hispanic educators were disproportionately likely to fail the test. A group of them first sued over it in 1996, and in 2012, a judge ruled the exam was discriminatory.
A special master began calculating what teachers like DeZonie would have earned if not for the test. NY1 first interviewed her in 2020 and she was skeptical she’d ever see a cent. But the city ultimately stopped appealing those awards, and began paying out last December.
A Law Department spokesman said: “We believe the court rulings against the city were not grounded in law and unfairly held it liable for a test created and mandated by the state. However, we determined it was time to bring this decades-long case to a close and enter into an agreement for scheduled payouts.”
The class action suit now includes 4,700 teachers. According to the Wall Street Journal, more than 800 million dollars has been awarded so far, and that will grow: the city has set aside one point eight billion dollars to pay all the teachers who have sued.
DeZonie has begun receiving installments of a six-figure settlement. But it brings her little comfort.
“The money doesn’t mean anything at age 77. What am I going to do with money now? I have the things I need,” she said. “Maybe I get in a couple trips around the world, or one trip around the world, and settle for that.”
She wants something else: the opportunity to teach again, without having to take another test.
“They cheated. I didn’t. I don’t think I should have to worry about: did I take a test? I need them to do the right thing, besides the monetary value. Give me my certification,” she said.
She's made that request in letters to the city.
“I worked hard, stayed up at night, raising my family, to get my master’s, to go from one degree to another degree. So I don't think it’s fair to say, ‘Here take the money, and we’re through with you,’” she said. "No, I’m not through with them.”
Despite not having that certification – and despite getting the pay-out – she still plans to work, at an after-school program.
“I feel that I have something to offer: the truth about life,” she said.