Community activism proves: 'You can fight and win!'
By
Sharon Black
Baltimore
Community activists won an unprecedented victory on June 3
when the Baltimore School Board was forced to offer teacher
assistant Bill Goodin his job back with lost wages.
Bill Goodin, a teacher assistant and community activist, was
fired on March 30 by Greenspring Middle School Principal Gerry
Mansfield.
Goodin is president of Unity for Action, a community-based
group that has campaign ed against police abuses and other
issues.
What triggered the firing, according to a letter written by
the principal, was that Goodin accompanied students to a City
Council meeting a week earlier.
Television coverage of this council meeting showed young
students testifying to the problems in school: the difference
in funding between county and city schools, lack of school
books and gym showers, and no doors on bathroom stalls.
The school administration also claimed Goodin's job was
temporary and that he could be terminated at their whim.
Bill Goodin asserted, "This is a violation of my
constitutional rights. The students who attended the council
meeting had parent's written permission. This written
permission clearly stated that this was not a school
activity.
"My firing is not only a violation of my rights. It affects
every school worker and worker at large who will be intimidated
from exercising their rights."
Members of community organizations agreed.
Liz Lowengard, a school activist and organ izer for the
Concerned Citizens for Police Accountability and Review,
stated, "Bill Goodin should be rewarded for caring enough for
the children of Greenspring Middle School to take children to a
council meeting on his own time without pay."
Activists mobilized press conferences and picket lines and
packed school board meetings.
Unity for Action, the All-People's Congress, the Nation of
Islam and other groups mobilized for every school board
meeting.
Others who actively supported the campaign to rehire Bill
Goodin included Council President Lawrence Bell, State Senators
Clarence Mitchell Jr. and Joan Conway, civil rights activist
Clarence Mitchell Sr., and AFSCME labor organizer Jeff
Bigelow.
After close to three months of pressure the school board
reversed their position.
Andre Powell, an organizer for the All-People's Congress,
said, "This victory is the first for a provisional, temporary
employee. It will send a clear message to all workers that you
can fight back and win!"
Bill Goodin also proclaimed victory: "This shows that the
people can win when they are out there fighting for their
rights. The people have the power. They try to hide this from
us but this victory proves what we have been saying: that you
can fight and win.
"This victory is not mine alone," he concluded, "it is
everyone's."
This article is copyright under a Creative Commons License.
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