[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Pages 14386-14387]
[From the U.S. 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 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

[[Page 14387]]

     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.''
       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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