title: "Serving two masters"--an interview with school teacher and union organizer Debra Askwith.
abstract: Debra Askwith is a teacher, union member, and environmental health and safety activist in the public schools of Springfield, Massachusetts. In the following interview, she talks about her experiences organizing around the right to public information as a teacher and a union member. Working with the assistance of lawyers, she has learned to maneuver in the hierarchy of city and school administrators as well as the city's department of education, finding allies and meeting resistance in a variety of places. She has worked on asbestos, mold, indoor air quality, infectious disease, and civil rights to protect all students and workers.
authors.affiliation: Boston University School of Public Health, Department of Environmental Health, Boston, MA 02118, USA. mls@bu.edu
authors.forename: Madeleine Kangsen
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Scammell
authors.forename: Ema
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rodrigues
mesh_terms: D004777:Environment; D004782:Environmental Health; D005178:Faculty / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007750:Labor Unions / Q000458:organization & administration*; D016273:Occupational Exposure; D012574:Schools / Q000458:organization & administration*; D014481:United States