How to reference an array created in Doc Class

programming flash
1

Hi, I need to reference an array created in doc class that consists of Navigation Movie Clip objects.
When the mouse over happens on one of those Nav Objects, I need to reference the array that I created in Doc Class.

Doc Class Code:
var newPageNav:NavButton = new NavButton(sId,sTitle,sStatus);
menuItems.push(newPageNav);
addChild(newPageNav);

Now I need to remove them from the stage:
So when the NavButton is clicked I need to go back through that array and remove items from the stage. But when I call a function from the NavButton:

public function onButtonClick(e:MouseEvent):void
{
removeSlide();
}

the function that lives in the DocClass, removeSlide()

public function removeSlide():void {
trace(menuItems.length.toString());
}

trace returns 0, saying the array doesn’t exist.

Logically I understand that I am inside a NavButton class that has a handler, so even when I call removeSlide function at the Doc Class, I am still inside Nav Button Class.

So how do I get access to that array so I can remove elements from the stage.

Thank you very much for your time.
-d.