Florida Education Association

ED. HENDERSON, EXECUTIVE SECRETARY-TREASURER - JACK STEVENS, ASSISTANT EXECUTIVE SECRETARY

PHIL CONSTANS, JR., ASSOCIATE EXECUTIVE SECRETARY

FEA BUILDING - 208 WEST PENSACOLA STREET - TALLAHASSEEE, FLORIDA 32304

PHONE 904/224-1161

7 August 1967

FOR IMMEDIATE USE

Dear Editor:

Florida teachers do not stand alone in their fight for better schools.

Verbal and written support is coming in from civic clubs, college faculties, student groups, newspapers, cabinet officials, thousands of citizens speaking for themselves - not to mention a former governor.

That former governor - Leroy Collins - says Florida education is "a wasteland of mediocrity" and that our FEA is right in its fight to improve conditions for our children.

Attorney General Earl Faircloth, in a letter to state schools Superintendent Floyd Christiian, says that "...the invocation of sanctions appears to be the only lawful method whereby the teachers of Florida, who have been patient and long suffering in their attempt to have allocated to them a greater portion of the state's resources in order that their standard of living may be raised to a more justifable level, can focus public attention to their needs."

The faculties of the University of Florida's college of education and its laboratory school support the sanctions imposed on Florida by the FEA and the National Education Association.

Florida State University's faculty senate presents a resolution that paints a clear picture of the educational climate in Florida's centers of higher learning - and directs scathing reprimands against the governor and the Legislators.

Another resolution came from the State Council of Student Body Presidents (which met last month in Gainesville). It supports the FEA/NEA sanctions and says: "The maintenance of a healthy educational system - at any level - requires that the public authoritie meet the requirements faciliating the operation of that heathly system. That Florida has failed to do. In this light, we can only sympathize with the teachers of Florida, and concur with their position."

Parent-Teacher associations and civic clubs are lending their support. The Florida Young Democrats lent support, saying, "We support the FEA stand and will support them all the way."

PRESIDENT

DXTER H. HAGMAN

FT. LAUDERDALE

VICE-PRESIDENT

GEORGE DABBS

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS

PRESIDENT-ELECT

JANE ARNOLD

CLEARWATER

ARTHUR S. HAYS, CHAIRMAN

DEPARTMENT OF CLASSROOM TEACHERS, FEA

DELAND

DIRECTORS

HARRY L. BURNEY

CRESCENT CITY

JOHN R. CLARK

LAKELAND

J. WILLIAM COWEN

NEW SMYRNA BEACH

GARNET W. CRAIG

MELBOURNE

RODNEY H. DAVIS

SARASOTA

CLARK GANDY

FORT MYERS

TOMMY GIBBS

TARPON SPRINGS

E. W. GRAHAM

WHITE SPRINGS

BEN D. GRIFFIN

TAMPA

U. G. HORNE

DANIA

MRS. DORIS JONES

TALLAHASSEE

ROBERT JORDAN

PANAMA CITY

MRS. FRANCES G. LUNSFORD

GAINESVILLE

ANTHONY F. MALAFRONTE

MIAMI

ROBERT J. PEARSON

PENSACOLA

C. SPENCER POMPEY

DELRAY BEACH

EUGENE ROBINSON

FT. MYERS

ERNEST F. ROSS, JR.

TAMPA

THOMAS H. ROTHCHILD

REDINGTON BEACH

JOHM B. SCHELTER

FT. LAUDERDALE

BENJAMIN STEPHENSON

DEERFIELD BEACH

ALAN STRATTON

MIAMI BEACH

JOE R. STRICKLAND

WILDWOOD

MRS. ANN TILLMAN

ATLANTIC BEACH

W. C. WHITE

PANAMA CITY

HAROLD B. WHITEHURST

WILDWOOD

MRS. DOROTHEA WILLIS

WINTER PARK