[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 5 (Tuesday, February 3, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E73]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               A PIONEER FOR MIAMI-DADE COUNTY EDUCATION

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 3, 1998

  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Ms. Speaker, It gives me great pleasure to rise to 
recognize the outstanding accomplishments of Mr. Pat Tornillo, who has 
played a major leadership role in Miami-Dade's public school system for 
almost four decades.
  As chief negotiator for Dade County's teachers since 1963, Mr. 
Tornillo is widely credited for raising the salaries of Miami's 
teachers to the among the highest level in the nation. Pat has also won 
numerous benefits and professional initiatives that have given our 
area's teachers a wide variety of opportunities for growth and 
professionalism. He is recognized nationally for his progressive and 
innovative work in the professionalization of teaching and educational 
reform in South Florida.
  Pat came to Miami in 1956 from the Newark, New Jersey school system. 
As a new teacher in the Miami-Dade County school system, he soon became 
active in the Dade County Classroom Teachers Association (which later 
became the United Teachers of Dade). He presently serves as Executive 
Director of the United Teachers of Dade, President of the Florida 
Education Association/United and Vice President of the American 
Federation of Teachers.
  He has been a pioneer in blazing a trail for quality education in the 
Southeast. He helped build our local school system into one of the 
largest and most culturally diverse public school systems in the 
nation. He has won many awards for this record including the Martin 
Luther King Jr. Memorial Brotherhood Award, the Outstanding Leadership 
Award from the United Way, and the NAACP Distinguished Award.
  As a former Dade County educator, I am happy to join with his many 
friends and colleagues who will pay tribute to him at a major event in 
his honor on February 7th. This event, ````A Gathering os Eagles, 
honoring Pat L. Tornillo, for his Uncommon Commitment to Public 
Education'', is a fitting commemoration of the record of one of 
Florida's leading educators.

                          ____________________