[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 144 (Monday, September 26, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5987-S5989]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TRIBUTE TO GROVER CLEVELAND ``G.C.'' GARLAND
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to an
accomplished educator and veteran who has dedicated his life to
teaching young Kentuckians. Mr. Grover Cleveland ``G.C.'' Garland was
involved with the Laurel County School System for over 50 years, where
he played a vital role in changing the face of education in Laurel
County before finally retiring in 1988.
G.C., 79, graduated from Bush High School in 1948 at the age of 16.
At 18, he began teaching at Sasser School, part of the Laurel County
School District, after only 2 years of college--his oldest student was
16, barely 2 years younger than him. G.C. spent another year teaching
before he joined the U.S. Air Force to serve his country in the Korean
war.
G.C. received his basic training in San Antonio, TX, and was
transferred around before ending up in Fairbanks, AK. While on leave
from his duties G.C. met his wife of 56 years, Joan, at the Ocean Wave
Skating Rink in Fariston, KY.
In January 1956, G.C. was discharged from the Air Force and returned
to Kentucky, where he returned to school at the University of Kentucky
and received a degree in secondary education. He majored in math,
history, and political science. After graduation, G.C. and his family
returned to Laurel County and he began teaching at Bush. During his 8
years at Bush, G.C. received his master's degree and also assumed the
role of part-time guidance counselor.
In 1965, G.C. assumed the position of central office supervisor after
Laurel County School Superintendent Hayward Gilliam asked him to help
build Laurel County's first million-dollar high school. He spent 13
years as supervisor before being hired as the Laurel County
superintendent in 1978. In his 10-year tenure as superintendent, he
oversaw several major projects, including the construction of Cold Hill
Elementary and junior high schools North and South Laurel Middle
Schools.
In 2006 Mr. Garland was honored when the Laurel County school
administration named one of the new office buildings after him--the
G.C. Garland Administration Building, on the campus of London
Elementary School. Furthermore, two of G.C.'s daughters, Jan and
Sharon, currently work at Bush Elementary School.
Grover Cleveland ``G.C.'' Garland's lifetime of work and dedication
to the education of Kentuckians is truly an inspiration to the people
of our great Commonwealth. The Laurel County Sentinel Echo recently
published an article highlighting and thanking G.C. for his service to
the people of Kentucky. I ask unanimous consent that the full article
be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
[From the Laurel County Sentinel Echo, Spring 2011]
Building a Legacy
(By Sue Minton)
For more than 50 years Grover Cleveland (G.C.) has been
involved with the Laurel County School System, except for
four years he served his country in the U.S. Air Force, and
one year teaching another county.
The 79-year-old entered Murray Elementary School (Clay
County) at the age of five
[[Page S5988]]
and finished his elementary years at Burning Springs
Elementary.
``Burning Springs was a three-room elementary school and
they didn't teach every grade every year,'' Garland said.
``They were not teaching the fifth grade the year I was
supposed to be in the fifth. I was promoted to the sixth
grade and this put me two years ahead of myself. I always did
well academically, but socializing and sports were a problem
for me. I was a nerd in today's language.''
Before Garland entered high school, his parents moved from
Clay County to Laurel County and he continued his education
at Bush High School, graduating in 1948 at the age of 16.
Then having completed two years of college, the 18-year-old
found himself teaching at a one-room school.
``The year was 1950 and I was teaching in the Laurel County
School District at Sasser School, teaching grades first
through eighth,'' he recalls. He had one student, a girl, who
was 16, just two years younger than he was at the time.
``That first year I also had two beginners. This concerned
me,'' he added. ``I thought, how would I ever deal with them.
By the end of the school year I was more proud of them than
any of the other students. You could really see what they had
accomplished.''
For his second year Garland was transferred to Valley
Grove, the last one-room school built in Laurel County. ``I
had only taught there half a year when I received greetings
from President Harry Truman. I didn't let them draft me; I
joined the Air Force. The Korean Conflict was raging at that
time.''
Garland received his basic training at Lackland Air Force
Base in San Antonio, Texas. He was later transferred to
Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Miss., where he remained
for two years before going to Low Air Force Base in Denver,
Colo.
``I was in Denver three months before I was transferred to
Fairbank, Alaska with Project Remote,'' he said. ``While
there I developed back trouble and was transported to a
bigger hospital at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois. The
doctors were getting ready to do surgery when the surgeon
went on leave. I was sent to Walter Reed Medical Center in
Washington, D.C. where I had surgery.''
``After recovering from back surgery, I returned to Laurel
County to get my wife, Joan, and my car,'' he added. ``I got
married before going to Alaska, but she couldn't go with me.
I only had about six months left in my enlistment period and
we returned to Washington, D.C.''
Although both Garland and his wife, Joan, were from Laurel
County, they had not met before.
``I met Joan on leave from the Air Force at the Ocean Wave
Skating Rink at Fariston,'' he recalls. ``We planned on
getting married at Christmas in 1954, but I got my orders for
Alaska in October. I asked her if we could get married before
I left and she said `yes.' '' The couple have been married 56
years.
In January 1956, Garland was discharged from the U.S. Air
Force. He and Joan returned to Kentucky and Garland returned
to education.
He attended the University of Kentucky, receiving a degree
in secondary education majoring in math, history and
political science. While at UK, Garland taught one year at an
elementary school in Bourbon County. Also, his son, Ronald
Wayne, was born. (Wayne is now a chemical engineer for
Eastman Chemical Company in Kingsport, Tenn.).
Garland and his family moved back to Laurel County and he
started teaching at Bush School. For eight years he taught
mostly math.
He remembers teaching trigonometry to one senior class.
``The class had an average I.Q. of 120. Those students have
gone on to do great things. I wish we put more emphasis on
the Gifted and Talented Program these days.''
``Also, our daughters, Sharon and Jan, were born during my
tenure at Bush.''
Garland later accepted the responsibilities of a half-time
guidance counselor.
``The guidance counselor program began while I was at
Bush,'' he said.
``I picked-up my master's degree while I was teaching at
Bush and it was at this time the National Defense Education
Act began. The government got all excited after Russia
launched the satellite Sputnik, thinking other countries were
superior to the United States in math and science. This
spurred more training for math teachers and guidance
counselors. I was in both categories, so I got a lot of those
institutes. I made a summer job out of going to school. Joan
said I was a professional student.''
It was during one of the institutes at UK during the summer
of 1965 that Garland was contacted by then Laurel County
School Superintendent Hayward Gilliam. ``Mr. Gilliam told me
he wanted to bring me into the central office as a
supervisor. He said he was going to build a new high school
and wanted me to help him. At that time we still had 12 to 14
one-and-two room schools. They had been good in their day,
but their day had long since passed.''
Garland relates a story pertaining to a one-room school.
``When I went into the central office it was during Lyndon
Johnson's term and they had just discovered poverty in these
hills.' The Council of Southern Mountains in Berea had
gathered some books they wanted to send to our one-and-two
room schools. People had donated the books; they were mostly
for adults. One of the schools received some of these books
in a blue footlocker. A representative from the council came
down to see where his books had gone and what good they had
done. I took him to the school. They had a substitute teacher
that day and she had no idea where his books had gone. He
noticed a big blue patch on the front door and said `at least
the box was useful.' They had taken part of the footlocker
and patched a hole on the front door.''
He recalls how the new school, Laurel County High School,
was built.
``Before I took the supervisor's job I talked to some
people and was told they didn't think the district could
build a new school. The district was in debt. But, Mr.
Gilliam was determined. That was the same year of the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the ``big''
federal aid program that offered funds to areas in poverty.
It was broken down into different programs, one being the
Title I Program. Laurel County's first allotment of Title I
money was $414,860. That was a lot of money in those days. We
still had those one-and-two room schools, were short on
teachers and short overall on classrooms. The people over
ESEA first said no construction with the funds. Susan Lou
Young and I came into the central office at the same time as
supervisors and we went with Mr. Gilliam to Frankfort to
speak with the state coordinator of Title I. We were told we
could not use the funds for construction. Mrs. Young said,
`Looks like we are just too poor to be helped.' The
coordinator later said he thought about that and went to
Washington, D.C. They agreed some of the money could be used
for construction.''
Among the first building projects were libraries and
reading rooms on the existing consolidated schools, followed
by a lunchroom at Bush School.
Mr. Gilliam approached Garland saying he could purchase a
60-acre farm for $2,000 an acre if he could get $80,000 from
the Title I money.'
``We told them in Frankfort how we were going to do away
with the one-and-two room schools and consolidate so the
students could have more Title I services,'' Garland added.
``London School, and independent district, was bursting at
the seams and had no room to expand. At this time they merged
with the Laurel County School District, and in the 1970-71
school year Laurel County High School opened, partially built
with Title I funds.''
``This was the first million-dollar school in Laurel
County,'' he added. ``And the four old high schools became
junior highs.''
After 13 years as a supervisor and federal programs
coordinator with the school district and the retirement of
both Mr. Gilliam and the assistant superintendent, Garland
pitched his hat in the ring for superintendent.
In 1978 Garland was hired as superintendent with a two-year
contract. Joe McKnight came on-board as assistant
superintendent.
In 1980 Garland's contract was not renewed and with 30
years of service to the district, he retired.
``That fall, the political climate changed. The
superintendent was terminated and I applied to come back,''
Garland said. ``I was hired, finished the former
superintendent's term and received a four-year contract. I
was superintendent for 10 years minus the 6 or 7 months when
my contract was not renewed, retiring under my own steam in
1988.''
Under Garland's administration, Cold Hill Elementary and
the junior high schools, now North and South Laurel Middle
Schools, were the major projects.
In 2006, Laurel County's current school administration paid
tribute to his legacy in education by naming one of the new
administration office buildings after him--the G.C. Garland
Administration Building, located on the campus of London
Elementary School.
Assistant Superintendent Joe McKnight succeeded Garland as
superintendent. ``Joe did a lot for the system. The second
high school, north Laurel High School, Hunter Hills and the
new Bush school were built while he was superintendent.''
With two daughters in education--Jan teaching fifth grade
and Sharon a guidance counselor, both at Bush Elementary
School--Garland thinks the education field has changed a
great deal.
``The facilities have changed dramatically over the years.
We have always had good people, but there is no comparison to
the facilities today as to 1965 when I went into the central
office. Teachers are better trained today, at least in terms
of college years and degrees and there is more and better
funding of services for students. Teachers see it harder
because of paperwork involved and discipline. I think
paperwork takes away from time that could be used for
instruction. But I guess students are like the rest of us,
they are spoiled by all that has been handed to them. I just
hope we don't hand them the debt to pay.''
``I don't think society in general appreciates a good
education. Not necessarily the children. I think we are a
spoiled society. In my days in school when they talked about
rights, they talked about responsibility as well. Since the
60s we have majored on rights with very little talk about
responsibility.''
``Again, we have always had good people in the Laurel
County School System and I was always for the principals and
assistant principals,'' he said. ``In my time we kind of used
them as a board of directors. They made it easier on us in
the central office. They had a hand in setting the policies
and they backed the policies.''
[[Page S5989]]
Garland said he missed the students terribly for a while
after he left the classroom, as well as the good people he
worked with at the central office and the school system in
general.
``I worked with a lot of good people,'' he said. ``We had a
great team. I give any credit due to my family, my church and
all the people I worked with. Also, I think we all owe a debt
of gratitude to our current board members and to all who have
ever served in that role.''
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