Updated: DPS School Board Candidate Accused of Sexual Harassment

Durham school board candidate Atrayus Goode, who is running against Joy Harrell in the only contested school board race on March 5, was accused of sexual harassment in a meeting on Saturday.

The INDY reviewed a recording in which the alleged victim’s father, Keith Corbett, spoke during the time allotted to speak for or against candidates at the endorsement meeting of the Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People, which was held via Zoom with around 150 members on the call. Corbett said that Goode sexually harassed his daughter in 2013, when she was just out of high school and working at the National Institute of Minority Economic Development in Durham, where Goode was a manager. 

The INDY is not naming the alleged victim, who was 18 at the time of the alleged incident. Corbett did not name his daughter in his remarks either, but a screenshot of a 2019 email message outlining similar allegations against Goode was sent to the INDY last week and included her name. When the INDY reached the alleged victim by phone, she said she did not want to comment. 

“This was my daughter’s first job,” Corbett told the committee. “He saw that she was gullible, he struck.”

He said his daughter recorded audio of Goode committing what he described as a lewd act: “You could hear her in the background crying, ‘no, no, no,’ you could hear him pressing on.”

Corbett said she played the recording for the organization’s co-founder and director at the time, Andrea Harris, and that Goode was fired “on the spot.” Harris died in 2020. 

Corbett says his daughter reported the incident to the Durham Police Department, which investigated it but did not pursue charges. The INDY has requested police records related to the alleged incident. Update: The INDY received an incident report from Durham PD on January 19 related to the incident, which was reported as “forcible rape” on January 9, 2013. The location of the incident was reported as the 100 block of West Parrish Street in Durham, the address of the Institute of Minority Economic Development in Durham. Neither party’s name is listed on the incident report and police disposed of the case on February 15, 2013.

Corbett elaborated on the allegations and his daughter’s interactions with Goode in a letter, sent on January 7 of this year, to Barbara Jessie-Black, the chair of the board of directors for the Youth Mentoring Collaborative, a nonprofit organization of which Goode is president and CEO. 

“Atrayus saw her as prey,” Corbett wrote. “He is very smooth.”

Corbett continued stating that Goode “did not rape” his daughter, but “he did perform a lewd act right [in front of] her.  

“We’ve been silent about this because it has been traumatic for our family,” the letter continued. “However, when I saw he was running for the Durham Public School Board it stirred up a lot of raw emotions.”

At the meeting, the committee’s attorney cautioned Corbett to be clear that the account is an allegation rather than a legal finding. 

The Youth Mentoring Collaborative, Goode’s employer, provides mentoring, training, resources, and advocacy to Black and brown youth in the Triangle. Goode has spent his career mentoring young people since founding the Movement of Youth as an undergraduate at UNC-Chapel Hill. 

Goode made the case for his candidacy on the Zoom call, but candidates were not allowed to listen in while participants spoke about them, so Goode did not hear Corbett make the allegation against him. 

“False statements were made about me while I was sequestered in the candidate waiting room during Saturday’s DCABP meeting,” Goode said in a statement to the INDY. “Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity to respond to the untrue allegations. These accusations have begun circulating publicly and are, in turn, damaging my reputation. I am in consultation with legal counsel. I have no further comment at this time.”

In a separate incident, Goode was arrested on a charge of simple assault in November 2012, according to court records. The alleged victim in that case was Desmera Gatewood, the mother of Goode’s daughter. (Disclosure: Gatewood is an occasional INDY contributor). The two met in 2011, when Gatewood was 19 and Goode was 24, and were in a romantic relationship that began when Gatewood was in college. Their daughter was born in 2012. The case was dismissed after Goode encouraged Gatewood not to pursue the charges, according to court documents from a 2019 custody trial.

The court documents also state that Gatewood “experienced other angry outbursts during her relationship with Goode in which he punched holes in the walls twice in their home.” He also punched a hole in a wall and hurt his hand when they were on vacation after he discovered her smoking a cigarette when he thought she had quit.

In 2013, according to the documents, Goode “lost his job after an allegation of sexual harassment where no charges were filed against him after a police investigation.” Goode acknowledged the firing in a 2021 YouTube video. The timeline would fit the allegation Corbett described at the hearing, though the specific job is not named. Goode’s public LinkedIn page lists his employment at the National Institute of Minority Economic Development from February 2008 to August 2011. 

Alexandra Valladares, who currently holds the at-large seat on the school board, endorsed Goode in a lengthy post published on Facebook in December and reiterated her support in a post on January 9. In a statement to the INDY, she made mention of the 2013 accusation and noted that law enforcement investigated the incident. She added that Goode has “shared his journey openly on TED talks and videos on YouTube.”

“Despite character assassination attempts by a few individuals, we hold fast to the belief that every person has inherent dignity and worth,” Valladares wrote in the statement. “We advocate for redemption and growth, recognizing that everyone can learn from mistakes and contribute their unique talents towards a greater good as Atrayus O. Goode has shared over and over in words and action.”

The Committee on the Affairs of Black People voted later in the meeting to endorse Harrell, by a 67 to 17 percent vote. Another 16 percent of the members on the call abstained. The PAC is one of several influential organizations that will make endorsements during this primary election cycle. The People’s Alliance, another influential Durham PAC, will make endorsements in local races on January 21.

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