Lawsuit Claims DOE Head Shamed Former NYC Teacher Over His Military Service

By:  Hellen Zaboulani

A former Queens teacher and Air National Guard reservist has filed a lawsuit claiming a New York City Department of Education executive tried to shame him and illegally demoted him after he was deployed to active duty.

As reported by the NY Post, Taalib Boyd, was hired as a teacher in 2003 and joined the Air National Guard in 2006.  In 2018, the 38-year-old had been promoted to director of instructional technology for 150 Queens schools.  The trouble began when Boyd told his boss, DOE’s Executive Director of Queens South Marlene Wilks, that he would be deployed for two months on an out of state military leave.  Wilks, 70, was executive director of Queens South NYCDOE Borough Office since its inception, and before that had worked as a Children’s First Network (CFN) Leader from 2007 to 2015, as per the DOE website.

The lawsuit alleges that this was the beginning of the end of Boyd’s successful career.   Wilks allegedly responded that she never would have promoted him if she had known about his military duty, court documents say.  The nearly $20 million Manhattan Federal Court lawsuit was filed by Boyd against the DOE and against Wilks on Feb 13, with Judge Eric N. Vitaliano presiding over the case.  Boyd claims in the lawsuit that he was subsequently demoted, and that Wilks told him he was “wasting taxpayer money” to kill “black and brown people,” as per court documents.  She had also allegedly told Boyd to “forget about your raise”, shutting down his efforts to try to get a pay increase to make up for his $10,000 pay cut when he was promoted as director and left his 15-year teaching position.

As per the Post, Boyd holds the rank of captain, and said his active duty deployment details are classified.  Wilks reportedly left the DOE in 2021.  Boyd says in his employment discrimination complaint that his demotion by the DOE violates the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, which prohibits hiring discrimination against uniformed service members.  Boyd said he is still employed by the DOE, but has not returned to work since going on active duty at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. He said he receives $150 bi-monthly in differential pay from the DOE.  “I’m somebody that’s contributing back, but yet I’m in this situation where I’m fighting for my career and I’m being harassed,” Boyd told the Post. “It’s a horrible situation.”   Boyd says that he tries to help others, including volunteering on Christmas of 2011 to spend time with the children of Iraqi special operators.

“Once it ended, I just never returned because I don’t want to deal with DOE,” Boyd said, referring to his military leave. “I don’t want to ever deal with this place again. It’s not healthy.”

The DOE did not respond to the Post’s requests for comment.