A St. Paul Public Schools teacher whose brief suspension for sexually harassing colleagues sparked controversy last summer has agreed to resign after spending the first five months of the school year on paid leave.
Bruce Goodwin quit Jan. 31 as part of a settlement agreement with the school district. He’d been paid $39,840 since August, when he was placed on administrative leave.
Goodwin, who last year said he underwent counseling and has been a “model teacher” since his suspension, declined further comment Wednesday.
His teaching license remains active. The Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board said there is no public discipline on his file; state law prohibits the board from saying whether it’s actively investigating him.
School district records show Goodwin was warned in 2010 about unprofessional interactions with school staff.
In 2015, he was suspended for two days for sending a photo of his penis to a co-worker and repeatedly asking another teacher for hugs. Weeks later, the district paid $33,000 to settle unspecified claims brought by a teacher who worked with Goodwin at Benjamin E. Mays Elementary.
Goodwin transferred to Galtier Elementary, where he taught until 2018, when four women who had worked with him publicly criticized the school district for continuing to employ him.
Those women did not accuse Goodwin of harming them but said they tried to assist colleagues whom Goodwin had harassed.
The following month, at the July school board meeting, two Galtier parents complained that Goodwin’s presence was dividing their school. Some parents and staff were angry he was there, but others were not, PTO leader Clayton Howatt said then.
The following month, the district placed Goodwin on leave, saying they were investigating a formal complaint against the teacher.
The district resolved that complaint in December when Goodwin agreed to retire Jan. 31. He continued to be paid until that time.
Teachers Paddy Boyt, Janey Moe and Diane Thomas, who spoke out in June, said in a written statement Wednesday that the district finally “did the right thing with regard to multiple reports of sexual harassment in their schools.”
But they said teachers still fear the district will retaliate against those who report misconduct.
“It is the responsibility of the St. Paul Public Schools to guide, protect and keep all teachers safe, and all teachers must be confident that when they report incidents of any type of harassment, their district will act to protect them and not punish those who report it,” they said.