|
THE D.C. STATEHOOD GREEN PARTY
MEDIA RELEASE
For immediate release:
Wednesday, May 8, 2002
Contact:
Tom Briggs, 202-265-3109
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator
202-518-5624, scottmclarty@yahoo.com
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Teacher Tom Briggs, fired for breaking a Hatch Act
rule that forbids D.C. public school teachers from running for public
office, returns to Dunbar High School as an unpaid volunteer on Wednesdy
morning, May 8. Meanwhile, members of the D.C. Statehood Green Party
urge D.C. government and school officials to rehire Briggs and reinstate
him in his former position at Dunbar.
"I'm looking forward to getting back into the classroom, to being
with the students again," said Briggs, who was fired on orders from
the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) because he ran as a Statehood Green
Party candidate for Ward 2 member of D.C. Council in 2000. The Hatch Act
rule, passed by Congress in the early 1990s, applies only to teachers in
Washington, D.C. Public school teachers everywhere else in the U.S. are
exempt.
Statehood Green Party members demand that the Mayor's office and
Council, the Board of Education, and School Superintendent Paul Vance
take immediate action to restore Briggs's job. The party earlier called
on D.C. government and school officials not to obey the OSC order to
fire Briggs, a popular and award-winning social studies teacher.
On Monday, April 22, the day before his dismissal, the D.C. Statehood
Green Party held a rally outside Dunbar High School at which several
students, School Board president Peggy Cafritz and vice president
William Lockridge, and one D.C. Council member spoke in Briggs's
defense.
(NOTE: Some press accounts gave the incorrect impression that the Briggs
rally was organized by the D.C. Board of Education or other officials.
The rally was organized solely by the D.C. Statehood Green Party.)
But Briggs was dismissed, to the dismay of students and fellow teachers
-- and to the anger of activists for D.C. statehood, who call the Hatch
Act rule a vicious violation of the rights of D.C. residents, especially
students and parents. After he was fired, Briggs reapplied for his job;
the outcome of his application remains uncertain.
Statehood Greens, including Tom Briggs, have noted that the Hatch Act
rule affecting D.C. teachers proves that the only solution to the lack
of democracy in the District is full self-determination and
self-governance. Briggs's dismissal under the Hatch Act -- like other
violations of the rights of D.C. citizens -- cannot be prevented by
voting rights in Congress, which is the stated goal of some D.C.
democracy advocates and the "No Taxation Without
Representation" campaign.
MORE INFORMATION
The D.C. Statehood Green Party http://www.dcstatehoodgreen.org
1314 18th Street, NW, lower level, Washington, DC 20036, 202-296-1301
|
