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
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