White v. Florida Hearing Transcript

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HEARING RE THE SUSPENSION OF: 
ALBERTA WHITE 

TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA 
AUGUST 21, 1969

MEMBERS PRESENT:
PETE GUARISCO, CHAIRMAN 
MIKE J. BEAUDOIN 
ERNEST MENENDEZ 
T. B. REVELL

Charles McClure 
McClure, Wigginton & McClure 
Tallahassee, Florida 
For the Board
Reese Marshall 
625 West Union Street 
Jacksonville, Florida 
For the Respondent

CAROL C. CAUSScAUX, CSR.
308 Leon County Courthouse 

P. O . Box 964 
Tdllahassee,Florida 32301



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NAME OF WITNESS

I N D E X

DIRECT CROSS REDIRECT RECROSS

JAMES N. TOOKS 19 53 76

E X H I B I T S

NO. & DESCRIPTION I.D. ADMITTED
1 - Notice to Mrs. White re hearing 18
2 - Notice of charges 18
3 - Notice from Mrs. White requesting hearing 18
4 - Cover letter from Supt. Ashmore 18

(Nos. 3 & 4 composite)
5 - Notice of hearing signed by Chairman 18

with cert, of service on Mrs. White 18
6 - Mrs. White's contract 18
7 - Supplement " 18
8 - Memo from Principal to teachers 23 36
9 - Letter to Mrs. White 41
10 - Evaluation of Mrs. White 42 45
11 - March 25 memo from Principal to Mrs. White 50 51
12 - Letter April 1 51
13 - Letter April 24 52



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MEETING WAS CALLED TO ORDER BY THE CHAIRMAN AT THE 

APPOINTED HOUR OF 10:00 O’CLOCK, A.M., AUGUST 21, 1969:

MR. GUARISCO: Are we ready to proceed?

MR. MARSHALL: Mrs. White is not here yet.

MR. GUARISCO: Let the record show that we are wait­
ing for the respondent, Alberta White.

MR. McCLURE: Would it be appropriate for me to move

for a short recess?

MR. GUARISCO: Yes, sir, but as soon as she comes in

we will need to start the hearing. Let’s take a few min­

utes recess here until she comes in.

MR. McCLURE: All right, sir.

MR. GUARISCO: While we’re waiting, why don’t you

gentlemen, for the benefit of the Court Reporter, intro­

duce yourselves and proceed to that preliminary so that 

it can be taken care of.

MR. MARSHALL: My name is Reese Marshall and I rep­

resent Mrs. Alberta White in this cause.
MR. McCLURE: I am Charles McClure and I have been

retained to prefer the charges against Mrs. White and pre­

sent them to the Board.

MR. GUARISCO: Mr. Marshall, would you give your

address for the record?

MR. MARSHALL: My address is 625 West Union Street,
Johnson and Marshall, Attorneys at Law, Jacksonville,



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Florida, 32202.

MR. GUARISCO: 

MR. MARSHALL: 

MR. GUARISCO: 
Mr. McClure, do you 

MR. McCLURE:

I believe Mrs. White is here now.

May I have one further moment, please'] 

Yes, if you need a few minutes furthea 
need a moment, also?

Yes. sir, I want them to study a dia­

gram of the school.
MR. GUaRISCO: Let the record show that Mrs. Alberta

White has made her appearance here. This is a hearing 

with the regard of the dismissal of Alberta White, 1112 

Orange Avenue, Tallahassee, Florida. We will make part 

of the record the notice of charges and I am sure counsel 

will probably introduce those and also the notice of the 

hearing which was mailed to the respondent. At this poin 

then, with these preliminaries, Mr. McClure, are you 
ready to present your case?

MR. McCLURE: Yes, sir, I am. I would like the

Board's permission for a brief opening statement and ther

the presentation of my case.

MR. GUARISCO: For the record, to make sure that we

can show that the Board members present are four, these

are Mr. Mike J. Beaudoin, Mr. Ernest Menendez, Mr. T. B. 
Revell, Pete Guarisco, and the record will also show tha :

the Superintendent is also in the room representing the
the Executive Secretary, officer of the system,system as



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Freeman Ashmore. Did you want to invoke the Rule, by the 

way, before we get started?

MR. McCLURE: Yes, I would like to. I think it would

be a proper procedure at this time.

MR. GUARISCO: I think it’s fair to both sides if

you do invoke the Rule. Do you want to make the statement 

now and then invoke the Rule after that?

MR. McCLURE: No, I would like to invoke the Rule
first.

MR. GUARISCO: Why don’t you get your witnesses to­

gether and we will get the Reporter to swear them in and 

invoke the Rule at this point and then proceed from there.

MR. McCLURE: All right, sir.
MR. GUARISCO: All witnesses that are going to appear

if you will come forward.

MR. McCLURE: Mr. Chairman, we have one witness who

will be coming in and who is at this point manning the 

school, I believe, and is at another meeting. She will 

be coming in later on.
MR. GUARISCO: All right, do you have any witnesses

at this time, Mr. iMarshall?

MR. .'1ARSHALL: No, but I would like to make an an­

nouncement after the Rule is invoked to the Board.

MR. GUARISCO: Does anyone in the room here repre­

sent anyone that you're going to use as a witness?



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MR. MARSHALL: No, except, of course, Mrs. White.

MR. GUARISCO: The respondent is all right, but those

who are in here, once we invoke the Rule you can't use 

them as witnesses.
MR. McCLURE: Mr. Chairman, Mr. Tooks is here and I

have asked .Mr. Marshall for a stipulation that he would 

be able to remain here in the hearing room.

MR. GUARISCO: Do you stipulate to that?

MR. MARSHALL: Yes, sir.

MR. GUARISCO: All right, it is stipulated that

Mr. Tooks may remain in the room. All right, Mrs. 

Causseaux, you may swear the witnesses and instruct them 

as to the Rule.

(WITNESSES WERE SWORN AND PLACED UNDER RULE BY 
REPORTER.)
.MR. GUARISCO: Sterling, you can make these people

comfortable in another room somewhere and perhaps you 

can act as bailiff.

(WITNESSES WERE ESCORTED TO WITNESS ROOM.)

MR. MARSHALL: Mr. Chairman, I would like to move

for a continuance of this hearing because the witnesses 

for Mrs. White, after my having contacted some twenty 

persons, failed to appear because, in their mind, this 

was an adversary proceeding and they were not clear as to 

whether or not it would be ethical for them to appear b e ­

fore the School Board. All of them indicated that they



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would like some reassurance from the Board that it is 

proper and that they can appear and that they can give 

testimony in this cause on behalf of Mrs. White. For tha 

reason we only have one witness here today but there are 

other names that we have and I can certainly furnish all 

of those names to the Board and I would like for the 

Board, in some form either formal or informal, to assure 

them that it is proper for them to appear before this 

Board and it is not an adversary proceeding in the sense 

that the Board is moving against somebody as a defendant.

MR. GUARISCO: You are asking for a continuance for
the entire hearing?

MR. MARSHALL: Not for the entire hearing, no, but

for my - -
MR. GUARISCO: You mean for your side of the case? 

MR. MARSHALL: Yes, for my side, yes, sir.

MR. GUARISCO: Well, that’s understandable, and I

think that request can be granted. If there is no objec­

tion to that, we can proceed with the case that the Schoo 

Board has and we can have a continuance for your side of 

it. The motion is granted on that basis.

MR. McCLURE: Mr. Chairman, was this continuance for

another day this week or would it be for a specified timefi 

MR. GUARISCO: I think we can arrive at a date here

before we get started now. We can select a date now,



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and place, and proceed from there.

MR. McCLURE: Well, I did want to speak in oppositio

to the motion here.

MR. GUARISCO: Oh, you did, I’m sorry.

MR. McCLURE: Yes, sir, because I believe that the

notice was mailed out to Mrs. White on August the 8th and 

the certificate of service shows that it was mailed on 

that day to her through the United States mail and it is 

the position of my client that they have had sufficient 

notice to bring their witnesses before this hearing today 

and that the plaintiff in this case is ready. There was 

no prior notification of a motion for postponement and I 

have gotten my witnesses here today. We have arranged 

for them to be present and we have had no problem on get­

ting witnesses and I think, without a prior motion being 

filed, it would be an undue delay on the part of the 

respondent here to ask for another continuance.

MR. GUARISCO: Your argument is well taken, counsel.

This hearing cannot go beyond 12:30 today due to prior 

committment of members of the Board, so that we can allow 
you to put on your case and if you are through, I think

Mr. Marshall can put the witness that he has heie on the 

stand and then any continuance we might have would be in 

respect to time running out, in which event we would have 

to continue the case anyway. I agree with you that there



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was ample notice and there is no excuse for the witnesses 

not being here, but on the basis of the fact that we mighl 

have to continue it for reasons other than the witnesses 

not being able to be here, we can give them an opportunity 

to bring them in at a later date. Now, we can get off th« 

record and decide on a date and a time.

(DISCUSSION OFF THE RECORD.)

MR. GUARISCO: Let the record show that after 12:30

today the hearing will be continued to Saturday morning, 

at 8:00 o'clock in the same room, the same place, and tha-: 

both counsel have agreed that there will be no more con­

tinuances for this case after today. You may proceed,

Mr. McClure.

MR. McCLURE: Members of the School Board, I would

like to make a few brief opening remarks to acquaint you 

with what to expect will be presented today in support of 

the charges for dismissal of Mrs. Alberta White, the 

respondent. We are here today on a landmark decision in 

Leon County. Your job, as members of the School Board, 

is not a pleasant one; it's one that people would rather 

not have, as a matter of fact, to prefer charges against 

someone who has been in the school system for a long time 

and prefer those charges in an attempt to terminate her 

contract and terminate her services as a school teacher. 

It's one, certainly, that the witnesses would rather be



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someplace else than to be here to testify and certainly, 

with the witnesses that we will call today as being con­

temporaries of Mrs. White, fellow faculty members for one 

or two years, and maybe even more. It's one that Mr. Took

the principal of Pineview Elementary School, certainly 
doesn't like to bring up, but because of the responsibilit

and importance of this particular type of proceeding and 

the effect not only that he has had in the past but would 

be projected in the future if Mrs. White were allowed to 

continue in teaching, the effect on our children is the 

primary importance here today. It is not pleasant for 

me to bring these charges, to draw them up, to interview 

witnesses and to ask people to appear here and testify 

today of the things they observed during the past two 
school years, '67-'68 and '68-'69. It's not pleasant for 

anybody, but the importance of this job is similar to 

other jobs that juries have to maintain order in our 

society and mairtain the peaceful community and to save 

the taxpayers money. Today evidence will be introduced 

that will attack the very competence of Mrs. White. She 

has taught for nearly forty years, I'm told, in the 

school system of our State but this evidence, some of it 

will border on insubordination, neglect of duty, or in­

competence. It's going to be embarrassing to have people 
come up and testify to that. We don't like to do it but



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we have a job to do. You will hear testimony that Mrs. 

White couldn’t control her children in her classroom.

You will hear testimony that the children were even slip­

ping out of her classroom while Mrs. White was there, 

without any authority and without any purpose or any 

place to go. You will hear testimony that Mrs. White 

couldn't even stay awake in her classroom. These are not 

pleasant things; the testimony will show that she went to 

sleep, not on isolated instances, but on numerous occasio 
throughout two school years, at least two school years, 

and that she was so sound asleep in her classroom that 

some of the fellow faculty members and secretaxies from 
the school went to the door where Mrs. White's classroom 

was, and, from the door, saw that she was asleep and call 

her and walked all the way across the room to her desk 

and called several times to her before she waked up.

These are not nice things to talk about but they are im­

portant things to talk about. You will hear evidence tha 

Mrs. White couldn't or wouldn't keep her room or her desk

straight or clean. For example, you will hear testimony 
of old food wrappers and things like that on her desk

that were not just from a recent snack, but appeared to 

be left there from several days. You will hear testimony 

of papers on the floor. Now, everybody knows that childn 

in grammar school, these children are going to have paper:



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and things dropping on the floor and we're not saying tha 
teachers should have a custodial duty here in Leon County

They have a professional duty, but to offer a proper edu­

cational climate in the classroom for the students, they 

have to keep some order and maintain some sort of clean­

liness there, but you will hear testimony that her desk 

and her room were filthy and what sort of educational 

climate is derived from that type of condition? You will 

hear testimony that Mrs. White couldn't, or wouldn't fol­

low directions and orders from her principal, Mr. Tooks. 

These are very basic things, not technical things, but 

very basic things that she could not or would not do.

You will hear testimony that there was no evidence of an̂  

lesson plans in her classroom. What effect does this ha\ 

on a school day for elementary school children? You wil] 

hear testimony that she wouldn't read any messages that 

came from Mr. Tooks, her own principal; that when the

messages were sent to her by one of the secretaries, tha1 
she would either sign them and not read them or just say,

"They say I'm not a teacher, anyway, so there's no use oi 

my reading these messages". You will hear after a con­

ference with Mr. Tooks, after a continued attempt by 

Mr. Tooks to have Mrs. White correct these different 

discrepancies, that she directly disobeyed his order not 

to return to the classrodm and you will hear the circumsf



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whereby Mr. Tooks - - I mean Mrs. White, that she was al­

most in a state of hysteria; that she was crying and 

screaming end hollering, and this is the reason Mr. Tooks 

told her not to return to her classroom because of the 

example and the emotional impact that it would have on 

her students. You will hear testimony that she did, in 

fact, return in this state to her classroom. You will 

hear testimony that she failed to prepare any records or

any plans for field trips and you will hear the importanc 
of this. Students need to have field trips and principal

need to have some sort of plans to show that the teacher 
has planned field trips. You will hear evidence that

there was no physical evidence or documentary evidence 

that she had even taken her children to the library. How 

important is the library to students, to youngsters try­

ing to learn, and trying to get ahead in this world?

You will hear evidence that there was no grouping of 

students in reading level groups or capability groups 

or any group at all, but that they were all sitting as 

one great big classroom. You will hear evidence that 

the children's work was not displayed on the bulletin 

board and each of you knows the importance of a child 

getting involved in their work and having something to

be proud of, no matter how simple or how complicated it j 
They need to have something to show off and say that the}



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did it. You will hear evidence that there was none of th 

displayed in Mrs. White’s classroom and you will hear 

evidence that the very one program, an assembly program, 

that she had during the past year at Pineview on Memorial

Day was completely disorganized; that there was no point, 
that there was no organization, there was no follow throe

and the results of the program itself were just tragic, 

more than anything else. You will hear the testimony tha 

she continually sent a stream of students down to Mr. Too 

office for things that she could have controlled herself 

and that a teacher normally would control herself. No, 

these things aren't pleasant to talk about, but these are 

all things, that, lumped together, you must take into 

consideration who are the losers. The children are the 

losers; they are the ones that are not able to catch up 

because they weren't properly oriented and programmed in 

their schooling. We are here today to present the case

and you have, as your job on the School Board, to listen 
to all the testimony and to make your decision of whethei

or not Mrs. White should continue in any capacity in the 

Leon school system and continue teaching our youngsters 
and our children and to continue setting the example of

what she has set in the past few years and what effect 

this may have on the children in the future. Thank you. 

MR. MARSHALL: Mr. Chairman, I would like to reserve



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my opening statement to the time when I put on my case.

MR. GUaRISCO: All right, Mr. McClure, are you ready

for your first witness?

MR. McCLURE: Yes, Mr. Chairman, but first, Mr. Mars

and I have stipulated on the introduction of certain docu 

mentary evidence dealing with the chages and notification 

of charges and the response from Mrs. White, and Mrs. 

White's continuing contract and her supplement to her con 

tinuing contract, and we have also stipulated to the inti 

duction at this point of the record book showing the date 

the charges were originally brought before the School 

Board, which are contained or which were decided on July

of this year. I would like at this time, without any ob­
jection, to submit to the Board these documents, the firs

being, as plaintiff's exhibit No. 1, and if you will help 

me keep up with the numbers here, Carol, is the notice to 

Mrs. White informing her of her right to a public hearinc

and her right to counsel and cross examination of witness 
and, without objection, I would like to introduce that ir

evidence.
MR. GUARISCC: Let's call these County exhibits in­

stead of plaintiff's exhibits. Let's make this County 

Exhibit No. 1.

MR. McCLURE: And at the end of the hearing here I

would also like, and I think Mr. Marshall has agreed, tha



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some of the documents which belong in Mrs. White’s per­

sonnel jacket, could be removed from the hearing record 

and copies substituted in there, and also the record book 

could be substituted. This is the notice of charges 

specifying that Mrs. White has been accused of neglect 

of duty, incompetence and gross insubordination, with the 

specification as to times and places of these charges, 

and that would be County Exhibit No. 2.

MR. GUARISCO: You don't have any objection to Ex­

hibits No. 1 and 2, do you, Mr. Marshall?

MR. MARSHALL: No, in fact I have already stipulatec

to the introduction of those.

MR. GUARISCO: That they could be introduced now?

MR. .MARSHALL: Yes.
MR. McCLURE: Thirdly is notification from Mrs. Whii

of her request for a hearing. Fourthly, and this probabi 

should have been numbered earlier, but this is the cover 

letter from Mr. Ashmore on the charges and if we could 

make that a composite exhibit.

MR. GUARISCO: All right, I*ve marked 3 and 4 as a

composite.
MR. McCLURE: Next is the notice of hearing signed

by the Chairman with a certificate of service on Mrs. Wh:

MR. GUARISCO: That's 5.

MR. McCLURE: Next would be Mrs. White’s continuing



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contract of employment. I have previously shown all thes 

to Mr. Marshall.

MR. GUARISCO: Do you have copies now that you want

to submit?
MR. McCLURE: No, I don’t have them all. I have

copies of the contract and the supplement to the contract

MR. GUARISCO: You have no objection to substituting 

the copies?

MR. MARSHALL: No, I have no objection.

MR. McCLURE: The next one is a supplement to her

contract, '68-*69.

MR. GUARISCO: All right, sir, that will be Exhibit

6 for the contract and Exhibit 7 for the supplement.

MR. McCLURE: At this point, the last thing is the

record book and I would like to read into the record the 
book and page number. These are the official minutes of 

the Board of Public Instruction. I furnished Mr. Marshal 

with a copy of the page and I would like for the Board tc 

take official notice of the time and the minutes of the 

meeting contained in the book, Minute Book 9, beginning 

at Page 475 and continuing on Page 476, as it relates to 
this particular case, showing that the origination of the 

charges by Mr. Tooksand the Board'oaction, showing the 

members present at the Board to be a majority of the 

Board and that the vote was unanimous on preferring the



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charges. I would like to submit this for the Board to 

take official notice of it.

MR. GUARISCOi Let the record show that the Minute 

Book is here and available to the Board members and take 

official notice of it and if you want to look through the 

minutes now or at any time later you can do that.

MR. McCLURE: I have it marked with a piece of paper

I have other documentary evidence that I will introduce 

as the testimony goes along here.

MR. GUARISCO: All right, let the record show, then,

that County Exhibits 1 through 7 are admitted into eviden:

County Exhibits 1 through 7 
admitted into evidence.

MR. McCLURE: Mrs. Lavania Lackey is here and she

is the custodian of the files and I have no longer need 

for her to remain. Her presence was merely to have her 

introduce these but we have agreed that the documentary 

evidence could come from the files and records of the 

School Board.

MR. GUARISCO: Mr. Marshall, have you stipulated to

that?

MR. MARSHALL: That’s fine.

MR. McCLURE: I’m sure that Mr. Ashmore needs her
back at the office if it would be all right for her to

leave at this point.

MR. ASHMORE: Mr. Chairman, if she could be excused.



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we are in the midst of compiling our new schedules and 

things and there are many important matters to be attende 

to in the office.
MR. GUARISCO: All right, we'll excuse her.

JAMES N. TOOKS

was called as a witness and having been sworn, was examii 

and testified as follows:

DIRECT EXAMINATION

BY .MR. McCLURE:

Q Give the Board your name and address, please, sir.

A James N. Tooks, Principal of Pineview Elementary School,

3303 Wheatley Road.

Q And you say you are the principal of Pineview Elementary 

School?

A Yes, sir.

Q Do you know the respondent, Mrs. Alberta White?

A I do.

Q Would you point her out to the Board?

A She is sitting to my left at the end of the table here.

MR. McCLURE: We would like the record to show that

he did point to Mrs. White.
Q How long have you been principal of Pineview Elementary 

School?

A Since July 1, 1967.



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Q Have you ever been a principal before?

A Yes, I was principal of Barrow Hill School prior to assum­

ing the principalship at Pineview.

Q All right, sir, and how about before that, were you a 

teacher?

A I was a teacher at Barrow Hill one year prior to that tim =

Q How long have you been a principal, Mr. Tooks?

A I started teaching the school term of '56-'57 at Griffin 
Junior High School, teaching mentally retarded children.

Q Now, I would like to refer you to the school term of 1967- 

'68 and direct your attention, so we can bring out an 

orderly presentation of the evidence here, and was Mrs. 

White a teacher at Pineview Elementary then?

A Yes, sir, she was.

Q Where was her room at the time?

A (No response.)
W*. McCLURE: For the purposes of identification

here, and Mr. Marshall has agreed, Mr. Tooks has preparec 

a diagram of Pineview Elementary School and I would like, 

at this time, to have him testify as to where his office 

is and where Mrs. White’s room is located.

Q For identification purposes, will you tell the Board 
where you got that diagram and what it is of?

A This is a diagram of the floor plan of Pineview Elemental 

School. This is the room assignment for the past school



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term. There were one or two changes - -

Ml. GUARISCO: I believe if you would take it to the

easel that it would be able to be seen by everyone.

Q All right, could you give us first the location of Mrs. 

White's room?

A This is the school's office here and Mrs. White's room 

is located here, or was located here during the '67-'68 

school term. During the '68-'69 school term her room 

was located here.

Q For the record would you identify where you office is anc 

how many rooms are in between your office and Mrs. White' 

room for the '67-'68 school term and the '68-'69 school 

term?
A I am putting my finger on the exact location of my offic« 

now.

Q All right, and where does that appear on the chart here?

A In the southeast corner here. There are two rooms betwee

the office and Mrs. White's room during the '67-’68 schoo 

term, including a boys'and a girls’restroom.

Q All right, and what about the '68-*69 term?
A The boys' and the girls' restroom were the only existing

structures betweenmy office and Mrs. White's office.
Q All right, I would like to direct your attention - - and

you may be seated now (witness seated). I would like to 

direct your attention to on or around November 11, 1967,



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and have you testify as to what event happened with rela­

tion to Mrs. White and your school plan for the school 

year?

A During this time all teachers at Pineview were issued a 

memorandum of the things in which I would be looking for 
upon visiting their classes. The memorandum had referenc 

to do with schedule of principal's official classroom 

visitation. Each teacher at Pineview was given this. I 

indicated to all teachers at that time, after this visit, 

that I would have a personal conference with each of the 

classes visited. Upon visiting Mrs. White's class, she 

was in receipt of this memorandum.

Q Would you identify that memorandum, does it have a letter 

head on it and someone's name?

A All right, this is a typical memorandum that I sent out t 

all teachers from the school's office.

Q All right, and what is the subject matter of the memoranci

A The schedule of principal's official classroom visitation

Q Was one like this sent to Mrs. White, this memorandum?

A Yes, it was.
MR. McCLURE: I would like to show that to opposing

counsel here. (Document examined by Mr. Marshall.) With­

out objection I would like to have it marked for identi­

fication.

MR. GUARISCO: That will be marked as Exhibit 8 for



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identification.
County Exhibit No. 8 sub­
mitted for identification.

Q And do you also have a classroom visitation check list?

A The checklist corresponded with the items that I observec 

or did not observe in the classroom. This, of course, I 

went through with each teacher here.

MR. GUARISCO: Is this a composite or will this be

individual exhibits?

MR. McCLURE: Well, without objection, I would like

to introduce it as a composite because they relate to th< 

same thing.

Q Does this show a name of the teacher?

A Yes, it does.

Q Who does it show?

A Mrs. A. White.

Q All right, and where did you get that form from?

A This form was developed at Pineview School.
Q Is this the form that appears in Mrs. White's jacket at 

your school?

A Yes, it did.

MR. McCLURE: All right, I would like to have this
marked as a composite exhibit.

MR. GUARISCO: All right, this is part of the County

Exhibit No. 8 for identification, a composite.

Q Mr. Tooks , I would like for you to tell the Board in youh



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own words what you did insofar as Mrs* White and what you 

observed in the classroom after receiving notification, 

and I would like for you to explain to the Board where 

this form came from, who agreed on it, and go through the 

form and explain, item by item, what you expected and 

what you found.
aA The form itself was/result of several years experience 

as a principal observing certain things in the classroom

and listening to the teachers and the comments that they 
would make and I would suggest at this point that the

entire instrument, as a composite of feelings and expres­

sions of teachers and the type of things they would like 

to be informed about prior to a principal's official visi

Q Was this form decided on by the teachers at Pineview 
Elementary or did they assist in making it up?

A A committee of teachers did, yes.

Q All right, go ahead and explain your classroom observatio

at that time and the date of it.
A Well, the first thing that’s listed here, the first ques­

tion asked is whether or not lesson plans, since the be­

ginning of the school term, were present in the classroon 
There was no indication of this. It’s reasonable to ex­

pect that there is a tremendous amount of spontaneous 

learning going on in a class but you would not expect all 

of it to be spontaneous.



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Q You didn't find any lesson plans?

A None were presented to me when I walked into the classroo 

and, of course, I would assume, inasmuch as all teachers 

had this form, that I had specifically stated that I want 

certain things in a particular area when I walked into th

classroom so that I would not have to disturb the teacher 
while teaching. These are the things that were not there

the lesson plans. I did not see any samples of the 

childrens' work. I did not see any evidence of grouping 

other than the fact that the entire class was sitting to­

gether as a body.
Q Why is it necessary to have grouping?

A Well, I think just because - - we believe that children 

are different and they learn at different rates. Their 

interest span is different and we can see that when the

bell rings all children are not ready for math and all 
children are not ready for social studies and all childr*

are not ready to eat, so it's reasonable to expect that 

the different interest levels of children would vary so, 

therefore, we need to meet the needs of the children.

This is especially so in the area of reading. We need tc 

think in terms of different levels that children read on 

and provide the individual interest and the individual 

teaching procedures and this, of course, could not be 

carried on when students were sitting together as a body



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The next four or six items on here related to things in 

which were not necessarily present in the classroom. I 

did not make any comment, whether they were existing yes 

or no, because these records were available in the libra 

or other places. For instance, with regard to the film 

strip and records - -
HR. MARSHALL: Excuse me, Mr. Chairman, but I'm ha1

difficulty following this, Mr. Chairman, and is it my 

understanding that this is offered in evidence or - -

MR. GUARISCO: This is for identification purposes

at this point.
MR. McCLURE: I do plan to introduce it into evidenc

after he has finished his testimony.
MR. GUARISCO: This is still introduced as an exhibi

for identification at this point. Just identify the iten

and explain what it stands for, that item.

Q All right, continue now.
A Item 4,"Records in your class, number and names of film 

strips used since opening of class," and this, of course 

I did not indicate on the check list that she should 

direct her attention to because this information was 

available in the library. Item b,"Names and places of 

field trips,list of places planned for the rest of the 

school term." This, of course, I did not see in the 

classroom and I did not indicate it on the classroom



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visitation check list because duplicate copies of these 

are available to me in the office. Item b, "Names of 

parents visited this school term." This, of course, was 

not present neither was it presented to me. This infor­

mation also is available to me in the office. No. 7,

"The number of times and dates the class visited the 

library." This she was not checked on in the evaluation 

check list, the classroom visitation check list.

Q Did you find any evidence of her class visiting your 

library?

A No, I did not.

Q All right, continue.

A No. 8, "The number and name of library books read by

students in the classroom." This, of course, was not

present at that particular time and, of course, it is not 
checked on the evaluation check list. Now, with regard

to the type of things I felt really reflected learning 
in the classroom, I underlined evidence of children's 

art work as no, that I did not see that at this time and 

there had not been any indication that it had gone on as 

of the 20th of November of '67.

Q All right, why is it important to have children's art wor

A I think that as a result of children working and express­
ing themselves through the art media they get a chance to

relieve their inhibitions and get a chance to develop



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their finger dexterity by using the finger paint, using 

paste, being able to do things in three dimensional. This 

develops a self-concept and at the same time it develops 

their concept of the world around them. Then No. 10, 

"Evidence of the classroom illustrating orderliness, good

taste and systematic procedure."
Q Would you explain what you would expect on that?

A Well, I don't expect chaos; I don’t expect regimentation;

I do think that children can be busy going about their 

classroom and be engaged in meaningful activities and 

experiences without feeling as though they are restricted 

from moving.

Q And what did you find?

A I found children going about doing this - - some children 

were working math problems out of work books. She was 

sitting to the desk. One or two were reading comic books 

and this sort of thing. The classroom, of course, was
disarrayed.

Q Would you go into detail as what you best recall about it 

being in disarray?

A In my way of thinking there is a systematic way of

disorder. You can look at a person's desk and you can sej 

that a person is busily engaged in something constructive. 

You can look at the desk and you can also see a lack of 

organization that they can't really put their hands on



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anything because they don't know where it is.

Q What did you find on Mrs. White's desk, if anything?

A Quite a bit of paper, the desk was very dirty, food wrapp
and candy wrappers. I can't say it was hers and I don't

know whether it belonged to the kids, but it was there.

Q It was on her desk?

A Some was on her desk and some of this was on the work

tables in the classroom and this sort of thing.

Q When you say that the desks in her room were dirty, what

do you mean by that? What did you find on the desk or in

the room that would make it dirty? 
as

A Such things/ broken chalk on the floor that certainly had

not been there for just that - - it had been there for a

period of time. The papers that were crumpled and paste
isand watermarks, this^/the general impression that I had.

Q Are these the type things that teachers are normally ex­

pected to correct or is that a janitorial service that 

the cleaners are supposed to keep up?

A Well, we don't want to have teachers doing custodial work 

but we certainly want them to involve children in trying 

to keep their surroundings clean. I don't mean they have 

to take a broom every thirty or forty minutes during the 

day or every ten or fifteen minutes during the day, and 
sweep, but they certainly ought to provide them with some 

housekeeping chores. I think this is a vital learning



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experience that teachers can provide for children. In 

many instances the custodians are available on the school 

grounds and many times are engaged in other things, but I 

don't think the students and teachers need to sit back 

and wait for them to do it. If a teacher can’t get this 

done, certainly the children on the fourth or fifth grade 

level really get a big kick out of doing this type of 

thing.
Q All right, and what grade was Mrs. White teaching in 1967-

A She was teaching fifth grade then.

Q What sort of educational climate does a room in Mrs. Whits 

condition create for the children?

A Well, I didn’t think that it created much of an educations 

climate at all. I was convinced that, in spite of perhaps 
something she had to offer the children, I felt that

teaching wasn't it.

Q All right, go ahead and continue with your items there 

and calling out the numbers, if you would.

A Well, 11 I think we have just explained, "Evidence that

your room and facilities are properly cared for." No. 11, 
"Evidence that work was evaluated and returned to pupils.'

MR. MARSHALL: I'm sorry, but could you give me

No. 11; I was on 10.

A "Evidence that your room and facilities were properly 

cared for." Then we go to No. 12, "Evidence that you



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evaluated and returned all work that pupils are required 

to turn in."

Q All right, and what were your results of the finding in 

that?

A This, of course, I have a Mno"check which means that I did 

not see any evidence of this.

Q All right, go ahead.

A 13, "Your personal appearance", and I have "no" here be­

cause it was certainly, in my opinion, unsatisfactory.

Q Could you go into detail on that because this is a very 

important thing here. Why should personal appearance be 

an important part of a teacher's duty?

A I think a teacher represents something to kids that many 
of them, perhaps, don't get from other people. I don't

think they have to come dressed as if they were going to 

a White House steak dinner but certainly they need to 

come attired pleasant, appealing, not, of course, sugges­

tive, either, but something that children can look at and 

admire. I don't think that it would be appropriate for

me to wear Bermuda shorts or a teacher to wear slacks. 
Neither do I think that it is proper for a teacher to

have on dresses that have been worn for a period of time, 

dirty. I know that teachers and ladies in many instances, 

because they get out of cars, they have a run in their 

stocking, but I don't think this should happen every day.



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I think that their shoes should be shined sometime if 

they are going to have those types of shoes that need to 

be shined. I think that their B.O. should be pleasant so 

that children can be happy to be around them and if this 

is unpleasant the children certainly don’t get any love 

and affection out of a teacher that they can’t enjoy 

smelling.

Q All right, go ahead and continue.

A 14, "Evidence of a warm and friendly relationship with

your pupils."

Q What were the results of your findings and would you ex­

plain this to the Board, what that means in your mind?

A I guess like much of us, it is debatable. On one hand it 

may be yes and on the other hand it may be no. If you 

are concerned bout the type of thing that is really good 

for the children, that is. I recall on one morning about 

7:30 Mrs. White had a group of children in her room and 

it had been reported to me that there had been modern 

dancing, not modern creative dancing, of course, but

modern dancing with the up-beat tempo. That was 7:30 in
the morning. I turned on the intercom and I happened to

have got a good ear of this and I said to her over the 
intercom that I was enjoying the music. So she came to

the office and said to me, "Oh, you are, I have spent a 

great deal of money buying these type of records and the



children love them." I think she missed my point.

Were you, in fact, enjoying the music or were you trying 

to make a point in this way?

I was trying to make a point, very hard, that I was not 

enjoying the music, and apparently it was not understood 

that way. But I did go back to her on another occasion. 

Perhaps at that time I indicated to her that this was not 

the type of thing that ought to be going on in school, not 

at 7:30 in the morning.

Do other teachers play this type of music?
It was never reported to me and I never heard it over the

intercom, nor did I ever see it.

All right, let me direct your attention back to this forrr 

here and ask you to go ahead with that.

Well, in this instance perhaps it would be a friendly

relationship for the kids for them to dance if they 
wanted to dance, but it was not that way with me. I did

not think that this would be a warm and friendly relation­

ship. I guess there are standards that you have, intan­

gible standards that an individual would have to have in 

dealing with children. This is a good example, I guess, 
of any. Perhaps there are standards that she had that 

did not dictate to her that there was nothing wrong with 

this. Perhaps these feelings transferred over into other

things.



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Q Go ahead and continue.

A 15, "Indication of classroom enthusiasm." I have that 

checked "no" because I did not see enthusiasm.

Q What sort of enthusiasm would you expect to see?

A Well, children excited and eager to learn; children who

want to participate in class discussions and children who 

want to talk about their experiences; children who are 

happy to be in school and children who are happy to be in 

a particular classroom.

Q You did not observe this when you were in the classroom?

A No, I did not observe it then, I did not observe it prior

to then and I did not observe it subsequent to that time

Q All right, then this was not just an isolated instance.

This, in your opinion, was over a period of time?

A Over a period of time and this is still my opinion.

Q All right, continue, please.

A 17, "Evidence of students'progress in fundamental knowlec

skills, abilities, attitudes, and appreciation of reading." 
17 I checked "no", because I did not see any evidence of

children's progress in fundamental knowledges and skills

and their understanding and concept and appreciation of

reading. If so, then we would seen an appreciable degree

of students participating in reading activities, going tc

the library, checking out books, and this we did not see

Q All right, go ahead, sir.



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A 18, "The following schedules posted on your bulletin board 

in your classrooms! 1, grade level; 2, classroom; 3, musi: 

4, P.E.; 5, speech schedule." This was not there and hers 

again, this would indicate the fact that the absence of 

the schedule - - the absence of these schedules would in­

dicate that children who would be scheduled for speech 

would not know when they were to go to speech. Neither

would they know when to go to music or to P.E.
Q Did you make an investigation as to trips to the library 

and, if so, what were the results of those trips, or that 

investigation?

A A few trips had been made to the library. There were son 

times in which activities had been scheduled for her clas 

to come to the library and, of course, on each occasion 
that the library had her scheduled to come she carried 

her class along, but there were many other instances tha1 

the library had not been used, nor the children in her 

classroom had not used the library.

MR. McCLURE: I would like to have this introduced

at this time into evidence.

MR. MARSHALL: May I ask a few questions?

MR. GUARISCO: Yes, sir.

BY MR. .MARSHALL:

Q Is this the original of this record, Mr. Tooks?

A Yes, sir.



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Q And these are your notes?

A Yes, sir.

MR. MARSHALL: No objection.

MR. GUARISCO: All right, this will be County Exhibi :

No. 8 in evidence.
County Exhibit No. 8 
received in evidence.

BY MR. McCLURE:

Q Mr. Tooks, after you made this plassroom observation did 

you go over this critique with Mrs. White at a subsequent 

time?

A Yes, sir, immediately after this visitation I had Mrs. WhL 

in the office and we went through this and she concurred 
in everything that was there and she indicated to me at

that time that she would try to do all she could to corre:

some of these inefficiencies. The lack of things that I

did not find in the classroom, on one or two occasions,

she would come to me and point out one or two things on

here that she had been doing. This was very sporadic,

though, without any consistency at all.

Q Did you make additional observations of the things that

you pointed out to Mrs. White after the conference?
the

A Yes, sir, none of this sort, none to/scope to which this

one complied. A casual observation or a regular observa­
tion by a principal should make, and anyone else would mal 

a point of going into the classroom from day to day and a



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a result of trying to learn the children, I think after 

this visitation I got a pretty good indication of the typ 

of things that were going in in the classroom. I might 

point out, too, that the form that we had, this was a 

form that each teacher had in her hands at least two week|= 

prior to the visitation, which would have given each 

teacher, I think enough time to prepare herself if she 

did not have it already.

Q All right, I direct your attention to on or about

December 11th. Did you have any communication, or what 
communication, if any, did you have with .Mrs. White with

regard to her duties as a teacher at Pineview Elementary 

School?

A I guess in the course of trying to get adjusted to a
school the first year that a principal does not have time 

to talk to teachers each time something comes up that the^ 

need to be reminded of. I simply followed a pattern that 

when teachers reported late for work, rather than having 

them to come in and make excuses, or something else that

would be of relative insignificance, to come in and ask 
for forgiveness or to be excused, that there is no need

to do this unless there is a consistent pattern and once 

I have been able to determine that there has been a con­

sistent pattern with somebody, we simply use a letter that 

we send out to the teachers, reminding them that they hav»



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been derelict in this or derelict in that and we wished 

that they make note of it and do something about it. This 

is the essence of it. On that particular day a letter

was sent to her with regard to not getting her absentee 
forms into the office by 9:00 a.m. We had generally 

stated that - -

MR. MARSHALL: Mr. Chairman, excuse me. I haven't
objected to anything thus far, but with the pleasure of 

the Chairman, Mr. Tooks refers, like he just did, to 

"what we do when a person is late". I don’t want to 

create any undue impressions about what we are talking 

about and, if we can, let him just address himself to 

the particular charges made relative to Mrs. White becauss 

all of these statements may not be exactly relevant or 

do not apply to her.

MR. McCLURE: Mr. Chairman, I think that we will con­
nect it up and show where it will apply to Mrs. White.

MR. GUARISCO: Well, I think the point is well taken

so let's stick to the charges and the individual here, 

who is the respondent, in these charges- Let's do this 

to keep the record straight and also, if we keep going 

back and forth, we will be here for two days trying to 

get this case tried.

NR. McCLURE: All right, sir, is Mr. Marshall object­

ing to this letter? The intent of the letter and the



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evidence

MR. MARSHALL: No, I'm not talking about the letter,

I'm talking about the response of Mr. Tooks to somebody 

being late for work and certain things that might not be 

relevant here. I see no connection about somebody being 

late here and Mrs. White. I have no objection to the 

letter.

MR. GUARISCO: I think the objection is well taken,
so let's stay with the respondent and her activity.

MR. McCLURE: All right, sir, we will certainly do

that.

BY MR. McCLURE:

Q Mr. Tooks did you have an occasion to send Mrs. White a 

letter on December 11th?

A Yes, sir, I sent her a letter reminding her that a summar 
of her absences had not been coming into the office as I 

had requested for it to be.

Q All right, sir, do you have a copy of that letter in your 

file?

A Yes, sir.
Q Is this a carbon copy of the letter that was sent to 

Mrs. White?

A Yes, sir, this is a copy of the letter that was sent to 

Mrs. White.

Q And what date is on that letter?



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A December 11, 1967.

Q All right, and where has this copy been since you sent it

out?

A In her personnel folder in the school.

Q Has it at any time left the personnel folder?

A No, other than now.

MR. McCLURE: I would like to offer this.

MR. .'MARSHALL: I would like to object to that copy

being offered in evidence because the best evidence is 

the original, unless there can be some good showing why 

the original is not here.

WITNESS: Well, she has the original.
MR. 'MARSHALL: Also, that this is not a proper - -

the proper foundation has not been laid to introduce the 

carbon copy into evidence.

.‘MR. GUARISCO: Mr. Tooks, has this copy been in your

records all this time?

WITNESS: Yes, sir.

MR. GUARISCO: And this is what you wrote in the

normal course of your duties as principal of Pineview

Elementary School?
WITNESS: Yes, sir.

MR. GUARISCO: All right, and where is the original

copy?

WITNESS: The original was mailed to her.



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MR. GUARISCO: All right, I will accept that as

County Exhibit No. 9 in evidence.
County Exhibit No. 9 
received in evidenceBY MR. McCLURE:

Q All right, sir, why was it necessary to send Mrs. White 

this letter?
A Because she had not done as had been requested of her to

do, to get the summary of absentees into the office, 

all right, and you had requested her to do that?

Yes, sir, I had requested all the teachers to do this in
order to do a school-wide count each morning.

Q And what reaction, if any, did (Mrs. White have to this 

memorandum?

A None to me personally.

She never responded to that memorandum?

A Other than perhaps to try to see that this was not done

anymore. I never had another occasion to write her a 
similar letter.

Q Now, at the end of the '67-*68 school term, did you make 

an overall evaluation of Mrs. White's duties as a teacher 

at Pineview Elementary School?

A Yes, sir, I did.

Q Is this it here?

A Yes, sir.
•MR. McCLURE: I would like to have this offered for

identification purposes as County Exhibit No. 10.



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Exhibit No. 10.
County Exhibit No. 10 
for identification.

Q Would you explain to the Board where this form has been 

and the results of your examination in this form?

MR. MARSHALL: Excuse me, but could I see this befoi

he testifies to it?
iMR. McCLURE: Excuse me, yes. (Exhibit supplied.)

MR. MARSHALL: Okay, go ahead.

A This form has been in Mrs. White’s personnel record at 

Pineview School and a copy of this has been in the 

Superintendent's office in the personnel records there.

Q Would you identify that as to what type form it is?

A This is a form that was developed by a group of Leon

County teachers, principals and administrators to evaluai 
the instructural effect of teachers.

Q Does it have a title?

A Yes, it does. The title is “Instructural Effectiveness,
Leon County Evaluation Instrument, Tallahassee, Florida."

Q All right, now is there a name on there as to who the

form was about and who made the evaluation and what year"’

A Yes, sir, the name on here is Alberta White and the 

evaluator is James N. Tooks.

Q and is that the form that you made?

A This is the form that I made.

MR. GUARISCO: It will be for identification County



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A Yes, sir, it is.

Q Would you tell the School Board, in a general summary 
way, of how you evaluated Mrs. White during the school

year 1967-68?

A The evaluation scale ranged from below average, 1 to 3; 

and average, 4 to 6; superior, 7 to 9. Only in seven 

instances did Mrs. White receive a higher evaluation 

score than 4.

Q And 4 is what, now?

A Average, low average. The average ranged from 4 to 6. 
Over all, on the entire instrument which includes a

professional person, under inter-personal relations, 

professional person under organization, she had an averac 

of 85% below average on all of the items listed. In man} 
instances she received 1 and in some instances she recei\

2.

Q The grade 1 and 2, is that what you're indicating there?

A The grade 1 and 2, receiving the grade 1 for some items

and the grade 2 for other items.

Q And in what category does that fall in?
A Below average.

Q What percentage of below average did she rate?

A On 85% of them.

Q All right, does it show writing in this form?

MR. McCLURE: I would like at this time to introduce



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that into evidence, if I may.

MR. MARSHALL: Mr. Chairman, I respectfully object to

this being introduced into evidence, No. 1, and No. 2, to 

move that all such testimony concerning this record be 

stricken. The charges against Mrs. White, specifically 

No. 4, relate to competency and it outlines four items. 

Certainly this is a complete surprise to her and this is 

the first I have heard of it, the first I have seen it, 

and it certainly should have been included in No. 4.

Since it is not, it is a complete surprise and certainly
she has not been informed of this and nothing in the recoi

reflects that she has been advised of this and I respect­

fully request that it be stricken, or that all testimony 

concerning this be stricken.

MR. McCLURE: Mr. Chairman, I think it is pertinent
to show her incompetency, in general, insofar as that is

concerned and this was done by her principal, Mr. Tooks, 

and this was done at the direction of the Leon County 

school system and I respectfully submit that this is a 

proper document for introduction at this time, going to 

the general incompetence of - - I believe it touches on 

some of the things that were in the specific charges.
MR. GUAR1SCO: I will overrule that objection and

use this to evaluate the overall evidence that you are 

going to introduce by testimony from the witness. He sho'



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N

try to stay within his knowledge of what constitutes in­

competency, as set out in charge 4, specifically his 

knowledge of what happened and specify those particular 
items. I will admit this in evidence as County Exhibit

No. 10.
County Exhibit No. 10
submitted in evidence.

Q Mr. Tooks, in light of the charges that we have preferred 

against the respondent here, I direct your attention to 

the year 1968-69. I would like for you to give a general 

summary of the things that you found to be missing in 

Mrs. White’s classroom insofar as her day to day work 

with the students and the lesson plans and the activity

plans and the plans that the teacher should have had or 
could have had for the students at Pineview Elementary

School.

MR. MARSHALL: Excuse me, but once again, not to

delay matters, but certainly Mr. McClure is being very 

skillful and has suggested all sorts of answers in a 

compounded question that even I couldn’t follow. Certair 

it leaves the field wide open and this man can testify tc 

anything he wants to. I would respectfully request of 

the Chairman that he not lead- the witness, what should 

have been there or what could have been there and was 

not there and just let him answer specific questions.

He is the principal and we should limit this to specific



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questions and answers as to his knowledge.

MR. McCLURE: I will be glad to rephrase that questio

MR. GUARISCO: I will sustain that objection,

Mr. McClure. Ask him specific questions and get specific 

answers. Be responsive to the question that he asks and 

if we move it in this direction, and a little faster if 

we can, I think that we can accomplish what we are here fc 

Q Mr. Tooks, I would like for you to tell us the results of 

any investigation that you might have made insofar as 

lesson plans that Mrs. White had for the school year 1968- 

A Would you repeat that question, please?

Q MR. McCLURE: Would you read the question, please?

(QUESTION READ BY REPORTER.)

A I never saw any lesson plans that Mrs. White had for 67-’< 

school term or the ,68-,69 school term.

Q All right, did you made an observation of her room and, 

if so, what did you find on the atmosphere or the - - 

MR. MARSHALL: Once again, just to make the same

objections, the question has been asked and it suggests

the answer and he is looking for a certain answer, and, 
once again, I don’t think that is necessary, Mr. Chairman

MR. GUARISCO: I will sustain that objection.

Mr. McClure, you might ask the question as to the particu!.
and

period of time that you want it,/as to the particular tes : 

mony that you are seeking.



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MR. McCLURE: All right, sir.

Q I would like to direct your attention to the cleanliness 

of Mrs. White's classroom. You have testified before as 

to the cleanliness. Did you make any observation as to 

that particular item during the year 1968-'69 and, if so, 

what were the results of that examination?

A I did not make, if I understand the question, whether or

not I made any examination with regard to the cleanliness 
in the room, I observed that the room was disorganized an<

there was a lack of orderliness in the room and I tried t<

do all that I could to see that this particular thing

would not happen.

Q What conferences, if any, did you have on or about 

November 12, 1968, with Mrs. White?

A I had a conference with regard to the things in which I 

had been dissatisfied with and the things that were - - 

the things that the two of us had talked about; that is, 

the areas of weaknesses that I felt she possessed and wha'; 

she should and could do.

Q All right, and what are the areas of weaknesses and what

conferences did you have on those?

A I had a conference with her as a result of the evaluative 
instrument and the result of the classroom observation.

In terms of classroom organization and her use of materia..

and resources within the classroom, her interpersonal



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relationship with the faculty, and her personal appearance

Q All right, who else was there at the conference?

A At this conference a Mrs. Hollis and a Mrs. Manning were

present and I mentioned to Mrs. White at that time that 

it would be good for the grade level chairman, Mrs. Hollis 

to be present and for the area coordinator, Mrs. Manning, 

to be present to offer any suggestions they might have to 

work with her and help her in any way possible. She ap­

peared to have been quite perturbed and upset over this 

after it was all over with and she left the office and 

she was very hysterical and upset and she walked into the 

teachers' lounge and I heard the noise and I guess every­

one else on the school ground heard the noise, too.
Since I represented the threat that had caused this emo­

tion, I sent the area coordinator, Mrs. Manning, to tell 

her not to go back to the classroom but to come back to 

the office and instead she went to the classroom so that 

the kids saw her in this condition.

Q All right, where did Mrs. White go, if you know, after 
you told her not to go back to the classroom?

A She went back into the classroom and I sent someone down 

for her a second time and the person who went returned 

with her and I told her that I did not think that she was 

in a condition to be with her children and that possibly 

it would be best for her to take the rest of the day off



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and she felt that she was not that bad off, but I felt 

that she was.

Q All right, and what directions did you give her, if any?

A I made it very clear to her that after she refused the

first time that I was suggesting very strongly for her to 

take the rest of the day off.

Q All right, now I would like to direct you to February of 
1969 and ask you if you had a conference with Mrs. White

on her duties as a teacher?

A Yes, sir, this conference with her bordered on the same

area that all the rest of the conferences had bordered on, 

We were trying to do the same thing in the same areas.

Q You mean, you had the objections that you had had before 

on her organization of the classroom?

A Yes, sir.
Q All right, I would like to direct your attention to on or 

about March 25th and ask you what communication, if any, 

you sent to Mrs. White?

A Well, I didn’t send it to her, I passed to her across my
desk the statement that I had written. "I am not satisfi?

with your performance as a teacher and suggest that you 

look real closely into retirement benefits," and I asked 

her whether or not she had any questions.

MR. MARSHALL: May it please the Court, I object to

what was just read being competent because the best evider



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as to what was being read is the instrument itself and it 

has not been offered into evidence and I respectfully re­

quest that it be stricken.

MR. McCLURE: All right, I will take that procedure,

Mr. Chairman. I would like to offer this and ask that it 

be marked for identification as County Exhibit No. 11.

MR. GUAR1SCO: All right, for identification, No. 11.
County Exhibit No. 11 
received for identificat i

Q All right, sir, I hand you this instrument here. Is this 
the communication that you read to Mrs. White?

A Yes, sir.

Q Whose handwriting is that in?

A This is in my handwriting.

Q Where has this instrument been since that conference?

A It has been in Mrs. White’s personnel record.

Q And where are those personnel records kept?

A At Pineview School.

MR. MARSHALL: May I just ask one question?
MR. GUARISCO: Certainly.

BY .MR. MARSHALL:

Q Who is the custodian of these records, Mr. Tooks?

A I am,

Q You are the custodian of the records?

A Yes, sir.



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MR. MARSHALL: No objection.

MR. McCLURE: I would like to introduce that into

evidence at this time.
MR. GUARISCO: This will be County Exhibit No. 11

admitted in evidence.
County Exhibit No. 11 
admitted in evidence.

Q What communication, if any, did you have with Mrs. White 

on or about April 1, 1969?

A I wrote a letter to Mrs. White stating at that time to 

her that I was not going to recommend her for - -

Q You wrote her a letter?

A That's right.

Q Is this a carbon copy of the letter that you wrote?

A Yes, sir.

Q All right, sir, and where has this been since you wrote

this to Mrs. White?

A In the personnel records at Pineview of which I am the 

custodian.

MR. MARSHALL: We will stipulate as we already have.
MR. McCLURE: I will offer that into evidence.

MR. GUARISCO: Without objection, this will be

County Exhibit No. 12 in evidence.
County Exhibit No. 12 
admitted in evidence.

Q What communication did you have with her, if any, on or

about April 24th?



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A

Q

A

Q

A

Q

A

Q

A

Q

I mailed her a letter.

Is this a copy of that letter?

This is a copy of that letter, yes.

Where has this copy been?

The copy has been - -

MR. MARSHALL: Excuse me, but we have already stipu­
lated to this and I have no objection.

MR. GUARISCO: With no objection, this is County

Exhibit No. 13 in evidence.
County Exhibit No. 13 
admitted in evidence.

Mr. Tooks, explain this letter and why you wrote it.

Those were the reasons that I felt that I could not reco­

mmend her for another year’s employment.

At Pineview?

At Pineview.

All right, I would like to ask you, with regard to studen|t 

being sent to your office by Mrs. White, would you tell 

the Board what you can recall during the 1968-'69 school 

year of any students coming from Mrs. White’s classroom 

to your office?
Yes, sir, I could be in my office and the secretary would 

come into my office telling me that there were some studeh 

out and we had a standing joke that I knew where they werp 

coming from before I saw the child.

MR. MARSHALL: Mr. Chairman, I object to that.



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A

Q 

A

Q

Q

MR. GUARISCO: Objection sustained. Give us the

actual events and how they happened and when they happened 

without editorializing the testimony.

Just tell on how many occasions you recall the students 

coming.

Oh, about two or three occassions a week students were 

reported to the office for disciplinary reasons.

What type disciplincary reasons were these, Mr. Tooks?

Well, I thought they were petty. It was a matter of 
children pushing or shoving in line coming from the rest­

room, making noise in the restroom, boys going into girl* ’ 

restroom and girls going into boys’ restroom.

Is that the type thing that teachers, in your professional 
opinion, normally send students down to the principal’s

office for?

No, sir, this was the only teacher that I had this happen­

ing with.

One last question, Mr. Tooks. In your professional opinion, 
what would you say about Mrs. White's appearance as a 

teacher during school hours at Pineview Elementary School 

I would say that it was below average.

MR. McCLURE: I have no further questions of Mr. Tooks.

MR. GUARISCO: Mr. Marshall?

CROSS EXAMINATION

BY MR. MARSHALL;



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Q Mr. Tooks, you say that a teacher who would discipline a 

boy for going into the girls’ bathroom, or vice versa, a 
girl going to the boys’ bathroom, that this is a petty 
disciplinary action on the part of that teacher?

A No, sir, this is not what I said. I did not say that.

Q Then what did you mean by saying that students would come

in for petty reasons and this was one of the reasons why 

they came in.

A They were sent in to be disciplined in the office because 

they were not disciplined in the classroom for these type 

things.

Q And you would say that a person who would send a boy or

a girl in for this reason would also, on the other extrem

play rock and roll music in her classroom, is that right?

A I don't understand your question.

Q The question is that earlier you testified to music over 

an intercom?

A I testified to hearing music, yes.

Q Would you say that the same teacher would do both acts; 

on the one hand she would send a student in to be disci­

plined for this reason and on the other extreme she would 
play unacceptable music in her classroom, is that what

you said?

A No, sir, that's not what I said. I didn’t try to relate 
one with the other. These happened in isolation and not



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necessarily this type teacher would do this type thing.

MR. MARSHALL: Mr. Chairman, may I have that first

evaluation report?

MR. GUARISCO: Certainly. (Supplied.) This is Exhib

Q Mr. Tooks, to the best of your recollection, when was thi 

sent out to the teachers, and I am speaking now about the 

did I understand you to say that this was sent out to the 

teachers at Pineview Elementary School?

A Yes, sir.

Q I am asking you now when was that sent out?

A At least two weeks prior to my first visit.

Q Two weeks prior to your first visit to the classroom?

A Yes, sir.

Q How did it go out to the teachers, can you recall?

A In the regular school distribution or memorandums.

Q And that would be what?

A I don't think I understand your question. You mean how 
did this particular teacher get the form, is that what

you're asking?

Q That's right.

A Specifically I don't recall how she got it in her hand.

Q So you don’t know whether she had it two weeks prior to 

your visiting the classroom or not, do you?

A Well, in most cases more than likely the teacher on the

fifth grade level, the teacher on grade level, talk abou",



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these type of things, the fifth grade teacher with the 

grade level chairman. I'm certain that she had her’s at 

least three weeks prior to this because I did not visit 
her the first week of visitation. This was done during

the following week.

Q Can you recall when you got together with various teacher 

there to plan this schedule?

A We had a steering committee. Each grade level chairman 

had a steering committee at that time. The librarian, 

the music teacher and the librarian were members of the 

steering committee and from the suggestions that they ad­

vanced to me these were the things that I compiled here 

and I also set some basic individual comments on the

things that they wanted principals to look for when they 
walked into the classroom.

Q Now, did I understand you correctly that after the 20th

of November, 1967, you didn’t make another evaluation lik 

this one, is that right?

A That's right, like that.
Q And according to this record you found only one item

present in the classroom that you expected to find, is 

that right?

A Yes, sir.

Q Now, in the column marked "Unsatisfactory" can you expla:. 
why you made no comments if you found this to be such as



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you say and nothing having been present in the room that 

you expected to find, do you know why you made no comments 

about it being unsatisfactory on this form?

A No particular reason.

Q Well, a situation this grave you did not feel as though 

it was necessary to make a comment, is that right?

A That’s right.

Q Now, you mentioned about the general appearance of Mrs.

White's desk and also the classroom itself. Isn’t it tru 

that it is the duty of the custodian to keep the room 

clean in terms of the desk and if there is old chalk on 

the floor? That's really custodial duties, is it not?

A Yes, sir, to a reasonable and certain extent, yes.

Q And even old candy wrappers on a desk, that, too, is a 

custodial duty, is that right?

A Yes, sir, to a certain extent it is.

Q Even glue and water coloring on a desk, that also is a 
custodial duty, is that right?

A Yes, sir, to an extent it is.

Q And certainly to the extent that if it had just been

placed there it would be the next morning before it woulc 

be cleaned up, is that right?

A I don’t understand your question.

Q I mean if water colors, glue and candy wrappers were plac<

on a desk it would be the following morning or that eveni;



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sometime before the custodial services could come in and

clean the room properly, is that right?

A Yes, sir.

Q Can you recall the time of day it was back in ’67 when 

you visited the classroom?I A I recall this as being in the morning.

Q Just for the purpose of the record, what time does school 

begin or did it begin back in November of '67, do you rec 
A What time did school begin in ’67?

Q Yes, sir, in the morning, the morning classes.

A Would you restate the question?

Q What time in the morning would classroom hours begin, orI what time would school classes resume?

A 8:30.IQ So then when you mentioned a class being in session at 

7:30 in the morning, how was that possible?

A Well, I didn’t say the class was in session at 7:30. I

said children were in the classroom at 7:30 and there was 

a modern dance group with the up-beat tempo going on at 

that particular time at approximately 7:30 in the mornintI with Mrs. White present at that time.

Q Did you go down into her classroom or did you listen to 
this on the intercom?

A I listened to this on the intercom. I had tried to go

down on several occasions and I was detected walking down



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the hall and it had stopped by the time I got there, so I 

turned on the intercom this time.

Q So did you actually see the children in the classroom at 

7:30 in the morning or did you hear them?

A I heard them over the intercom dancing and laughing.

Q But you don't really know who it was there, though, do yo.

A I don't believe I understand your question.

Q You didn't see anybody but you're saying now what you heat

A Yes, sir.
Q And tell me, is it the custom of the children to be preser 

in the classrooms at 7:30 in the morning?

A At Pineview they are present before 7:00.

Q Before 7:00?

A Yes, sir.

Q I see, but you actually saw no one in that classroom 
dancing, is that right?

A No, sir.

Q So can you tell the School Board where you got the impres­

sion that modern dancing was being held?

A Impression?

Q Yes, sir.

A It was reported to me from several sources that children
had been dancing in the room. It was reported that mornir

that the children were dancing and I turned on the intercc

and I heard their feet moving about and I heard the music.



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q so what you’re telling us at this point is what somebody 

told you, is that right, and not what you observed?

A Which is which, what are you asking me?

Q Well, did you observe anything at all out of the ordinary 

on this particular morning at 7:30, did you personally 

observe anything?

A No, sir.

Q Now, let's go down your list, if you will, Item No. 15, 

which is classroom enthusiasm.

A Yes, sir.

Q Once again tell us just how you made your evaluation.

What went through your mind as to enthusiasm of a child 

in the fifth grade?
A You’ll have to repeat your question.

Q Well, tell us the evaluation --  your evaluation was

based on indications of classroom enthusiasm?

A Yes, sir.

Q Of the child?

A Yes, sir.
Q What I want to know is how your base your a/aluation of 

enthusiasm of a child in the fifth grade.

A How do I base it?

Q Yes, sir.

A I think that you can base it on the experience factor;

you can observe children over a period of time and you c<



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see the reaction they have to the types of things that 

are going on in the classroom, and it's very obvious when 

you walk into a classroom whether or not children are ex­

cited or whether or not they are bored to death.

Q Now, did you talk to any of the children to see whether

or not they were enthusiastic, or did you just observe it

A I observed it.
Q But you didn’t ask any questions, is that correct?

A I did ask questions of the children.

Q Can you tell us how long a period of time - - how many
classrooms did you observe during the course of one day

while this was going on?

A On this particular day I believe I spent most of the day. 

Some of the other classes I spent the entire day, from 

the beginning of classes until the end of the school day 

with the children, including going to the lunchroom with 

them. I decided that I would take an entire week for a 

particular grade and there were three grade levels, or 

three classes on each grade level.

Q How long did you remain in Mrs. White’s classroom, if you 

can recall?

A About half of the school day.

Q Half of the school day?

A Yes, sir.
Q All right, tell me this: do you take into account the



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background of the child involved to make your determinate 

as to whether or not this child would be responsive to 

what we call an educational atmosphere?

A Do I take it into consideration to what?

Q In arriving at your judgment on the ability of a teacher

to even communicate with the student?

A Well, there's no question about it that the two are in­

separable .

Q All right, and were you aware of the student's general

background, not every individual student but the general 

background of the students in Mrs. White's classroom?

A I think I was as well as I was with any other class, in 

terms of the background.

Q That would have been only two months' worth of knowledge, 

though, because you had just gotten there?

A No, I started July 1st.

Q So that would be five months?

A Yes, sir.

Q And how many students would you say were in your school

at that time, approximately?
A About 482 children.

Q Can you recall how large a class Mrs. White had at that

point, just in general numbers, if you can recall?

A Yes, sir, it was less than twenty-five.

Q Less than twenty-five?



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A Yes, sir, and I'm certain less than thirty because classe* 

were very, very small.

Q Now, let’s go to several more. Item No. 14, I believe, 
which concerns a warm and friendly relationship with the

pupil.

A Yes, sir.
Q Did you talk with any of the students there to determine 

this kind of pupil-teacher relationship?

A Well, I had indicated on the evaluation form yes to that 

because I felt this was a very debatable sort of thing, 

as perhaps some of the others are, but I tried to equate 

it as a matter of judgment, as to what’s warm and what's 

friendly, in terms of the teacher.

Q Put you did talk to the students about that?

A About what, sir?
Q About the pupil-teacher relationship. Did you inquire,

you know, in general conversation with the pupils whether

or not - -
A You mean when I walked in there at that particular time?

Q During the half day that you were there.

A No, I’m not answering your question, I'm just trying to 

understand your question.

Q During the half-day that you were there, did you just

talk to the students to see whether or not there was, in 

their minds, a warm and friendly - - you were talking abo



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variables - - in relationship between the pupil and teach*

A The question was not asked of the students, no.

Q Now, just to clear up the library hours. You did say tha‘

Mrs. White visited the library on each and every occasion 

that she was scheduled to visit by the librarian, is that

right?
A I said when certain activities were scheduled, she had 

the chance to go. We did not usually schedule library 
periods, but when activities had been scheduled, she woul

go.

Q She would go at that time?

A Yes, plus some other occasions, too.

MR. -MARSHALL: Now, may I see County Exhibit No. 107

(Supplied.)
Q Mr. Tooks, this evaluation was made in the school year 

1967-'68, is that right?

A Yes, sir.
Q And, likewise, this first evaluation or the visitation 

check list that I have here was made in ’67, right?

A Yes, sir.
Q And Mrs. White did teach last year, for the purpose of 

the record, is that right?

A Yes, sir.
Q Now, did you go back to make observation of the teacher 

when you made this evaluation, Mr. Tooks?



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A Which one, that one there?

Q Yes, Exhibit 10.

A Yes, sir.

Q You did go back?

A Yes, sir.

Q Also, on the very back of this report there is a section 

for remarks, right?

A Yes, sir.
Q And I believe you said that Mrs. White was in the lower - 

that 85% of the people were in a higher range or a higher

category than Mrs. White on this, is that right?

A No, sir, I did not say that.

Q What did you say?

A I said she scored below average on 85% of the items

listed on the form.

Q I see, and despite the fact that she made such a low 

score, you made no remarks on this form at all?

A Well, I didn’t think it was necessary. It’s obvious, 
based on a casual observation of the categories on the

v form itself.

Q Tell me, did you confront Mrs. White with this prior to 

today? Did she know about this?

A Yes, sir, every teacher does.

Q She did?

A Yes, sir.



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Q When was she told about the rating that she got on this 

form?

A Each teacher was given this in a general meeting and I

went through this with any teacher who had any questions 

about it.

Q When was that?

A This was at the end of last school term, the '67-’68 scho 

term.

Q And she did teach the following school term?

A Yes, sir.
Q Now, let’s go to November 12, 1968. I believe there was 

a conference on that day between yourself and Mrs. Hollis 

and Mrs. Manning and Mrs. White, is that right?

A Yes, sir.
Q Can you tell us - - you say that Mrs. White went away,

that when she went away she was upset?

A No, sir, I said that she was hysterical.

Q Hysterical?

A Yes, sir.

Q Can you tell us whether or not anything was said on your 

part to cause her to react in this way? Was anything out 
of the ordinary or usual said to her?

A Well, possibly so. I’m sure she must have taken it out

of the ordinary in order for her to act out of the ordina 

It was not my intent because I specifically stated to her



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when I asked her to come back to the office, it was not

my intent to evoke those type of emotions.

Q Well, do you know what you said to her to evoke these 

emotions?

A No, sir, not to evoke those type of emotions, I don't 

know what I said to her, no.

Q Well, can you tell us in general what you said, as best
you can remember? You said there was a conference, right

A Yes, sir.

Q What did you say to her?

A I said to her that I had Mrs. Manning, the area co­

ordinator, and Mrs. Hollis, the grade level chairman, in 
to her

to talk/about some of the things that I felt I was dis­

satisfied with as to her effectiveness instructorily. We 

had two evaluation instruments that we had used at that 

time. We had this one, which she had seen, and we had 

this form which she had seen, and I asked for her, at the 

end of the first year, to consider resigning.
Q Do you have that letter or memorandum form when you asked 

her to consider resigning then?

A Then?

Q Yes.

A You asked me what I said to her at that time and I'm tell 

you what I said.
Q Well, now I’m asking you if you had that in writing? Was



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it in a memorandum?

A No, this was a conference that I was having with Mrs. Whi 

Mrs. Manning and Mrs. Hollis.

Q I realize that we are all human and can’t remember every 

single thing that is said but were there any harsh words 

on your part that would upset any person in particular?

A No, sir I don’t think so.

Q What happened after she left this conference in this 

hysterical mood?

A She walked into the lounge, the teachers' lounge, and I 
asked for her to come back to the office.

Q That’s what I want to get to. When she walked into the 

lounge, did you go into the lounge yourself?

A No, sir, I said I asked someone to bring her back to the 

office.

Q You mentioned noisy, did you actually see Mrs. White, or 

this could have been anybody in there in the lounge, 

couldn't it?

A I opened my office door and I looked out into the corrido: 

and it was Mrs. White screaming real loudly with her arms 

protruding out in that manner (demonstrating).

Q Could you look into the lounge from your office?

A She was on her way to the lounge.

Q But in the lounge yourself, you really couldn't see,

could you?



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A No, but I saw her going to the lounge crying.

Q But not in the lounge itself?

A No, going to the lounge.

Q Did you see - - I suppose it was your aide who went down 

to ask Mrs. White to come back. Did you see her actually 

go down and see her ask Mrs. White to come back?

A No, sir.

Q So you don't know whether Mrs. White refused to come back

because you don't know whether or not she was even told* 
to your own personal knowledge?

A I expect that she was.

Q Tell me, in your experience as a principal, do you some­

time confiscate from students or even from teachers any 

material that you may not think to be in the best interes 

of the school or the teacher or the student?

MR. McCLURE: Your Honor, I would like to object to

the word "confiscate".

MR. GUARISCO: Sustained. I will sustain the objec­

tion, but is this responsive to anything in direct? I 
don’t recall any testimony like this.

MR. McCLURE: I don't know what he's getting at.

Q Is it your practice to remove articles from either teacheh 

or students that you feel are npt in the best interests oJ 

the image of the school or the education of the child or

your general school atmosphere? Do you ever do that?



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Q Right, a knife or such.

A Would I remove it, would I take it off of him physically?

Q Right.

A I would ask him to hand it to me.

Q Right, you would ask him to hand it to you.

A Yes.

Q How about records that you felt were not in the best in­

terest, like an out-of-place record in the school atmosph' 

would you ask that that be given to you by the teacher or 

the student, or anybody?

A An out-of-place record?

Q Yes, a record.

A (No response.)
1R. GUaRISCO: By a record, do you mean a musical

record?
MR. MARSHALL: Yes, sir.

A Would I ask the teacher to give it to me?

Q Yes.

A Well, I haven't. I can't think of any circumstances wher 

I would.

Q Even if it were out of place or out of tune with school 

atmosphere, you would not ask that it be brought to your 

office?

A I have not done so.

A Are you talking about a student with a knife?



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records playing, the recordings that were playing in the

classroom?

MR. MARSHALL: Yes, sir, that's exactly right.
MR. GUARISCO: Do you understand the question now?

WITNESS: I understand it now. The question is did

I ask for this to be turned in to the office.

Q Yes, sir.

A No, sir, I didn't, because it was not school property and 

in this particular instance she indicated to me that she 

had used her personal money to buy it.

Q But other items, and I suppose I must be very broad when 

I say, would you consider this record to be not in keepin 

with general school practices and general sclool require­

ments; did you consider that?

A I thought this particular incident at that particular 

time was very unwholesome at 7:30 in the morning.

Q And despite your feelings along those lines you still die 

not simply ask her to bring the records into your office1*

A I thought possibly that I could communicate to her so tha 

she would understand that I did not think this was appro­

priate.

Q Have you heard any such recordings since that date?

A No.
Q So she did respond, didn't she?

MR. GUARISCO: Are you referring specifically to the



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A Yes.

Q Just like - -

A Well, I don't know whether she responded, really, I just 

said I didn't hear any.

Q Right, and sometime silence is a response. Just like the 
response she gave to your memorandun about the absentees.

You no longer had any other complaints since that time 

you sent the memorandum which is in evidence?

A No, sir, I didn’t say that.

Q What did you say?

A I said that these type memorandums are sent out when ther 

is a prolonged consistency of these type of things not 

happening. There has not been another instance where 

there has been an> inconsistency in her turning in her 

absentees. There could have been many occasions where 

there might have been one or two or three days, or even 

four days, that theyvere not there or that this had oc­

curred .
Q But my question is, once you sent out your memorandum - -

A I never had to send another memorandum out, no.

Q So that, too, was a response just like the records, is
that correct?

A Yes.
Q Now, how about when you compared Mrs. White, were you

pairing her against all the other teachers in the Pinevie



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Elementary School?

A When I compared her?

Q That's right, to make up your evaluation. Did you evalua 

her as against everybody else in the school or what was 

the general feeling as to what ought to be done in the 

school as regards to making this evaluation.

A I looked at Mrs. Y/hite on an individual basis, if this is 

your question.

Q Right, but did you compare her to make your evaluation, - 
vas she compared with the teachers at Pineview Elementary 

School or with teachers throughout the Leon County school 

system?

A Neither.

Q Neither?

A No, sir, because I did not compare her.

Q Well, what I'm after is, for example, when you make an

evaluation you just take any number, any random number 
here. You say shows independence but not over aggressive

and you rated her below average. That is below average 

to whom, nobody in the Leon County school system?

A The score that she received was a below average score bu1

the reason she got a below average score was not on a 
comparative basis. It was based on the fact that this i;

the degree to which I felt she had performed in that par­

ticular item.



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Q How would she have compared to other teachers in the Pine ■ 

view Elementary School?

h I never thought about comparing Mrs. White to any other 

teacher, or any other teacher with any other teacher.

Q Now, I just have several more questions. I must agree tha 

this is a bad report if it's an accurate report of Mrs. Wi 

Is it correct that this is an accurate report, we can 

generally say that?

A Yes.

Q What is it your practice to do when you have a teacher who 

shows up as bad on these evaluation reports as Mrs. White 

had? What do you do ordinarily?

A As I did in this particular case and as I have on any

number of other cases, had conferences with her and talked 

with her and offered her any help that I can. Also, in 

this particular instance I suggested that possibly if she 

could look into the benefits of the retirement system.

Q Now, then, it is your practice and habit that when you 

find a person scores this low on evaluation reports, to 

require her to be dismissed from the school system, is 

that right?
A No, sir.

Q Or ask that she would be dismissed - - excuse me, retire.

A She told me she was not ready to retire, when I asked her 
this and I told her fine, that I would give her one addit. u



7 b

year to improve in her efficiency as a teacher and that, 

at the end of another year, she had not improved that I 

would certainly be put in a position where I could not 

recommend her and, in the iterim, I tried to do all that 

I could to help her.

Then is it your opinion that she is not a fit person to 

teach in the Leon County school system?

Yes, sir, it is my opinion that children will suffer as a 

result of her being a teacher.

If that record is true, then, why did you then say in the 

record book, Minute Book Page 475-476, why did you say th&t 

she was also informed during the month of March that if 

she could secure placement in another school that you 

would gladly agree to the transfer.

Why did I say that?

Yes.

She again told me - - well, I think prior to that time sh

was called into the office and I made a call in her presehce 
to the State Retirement Office to send her a financial

analysis of her account and she indicated that, upon re­

ceiving this, she would bring it 5n and talk to me about 

it and I never heard anything from her with regard to thaft 

conference. So I called her in the office one day prilor

to teacher recommendation and I asked her had she been in 

receipt cf this information and she said no, she had not,



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but that she had given some more thought to it and she wa 

in no condition to retire. So I explained to her that I 

just could not, in any clear conscience, recommend her 

for another year at Pineview School.

Q Despite the fact that you thought that she was not a fit 

person to teach in the Leon County school system?

A Yes, sir.

Q And despite the fact that she received a very, very low

rating on the evaluation report?

A Yes, sir.

Q In spite of all that, you were still willing that if she 

would request transfer you would gladly agree to one?

A Yes, sir. If she could have found a place to work as a

teacher I would not have had any objection to that. My

responsibility is at Pineview.

Q But you wouldn’t mind a bad teacher to go into some 
other school.

A That’s why I did what I did in the final analysis.

MR. MARSHALL: I have no further questions.
MR. GUARISCO: Anything further, Mr. McClure?

MR. MeCLURE: Yes, sir, just a few.

REDIRECT EXAMINATION

BY MR. McCLURE:

Q When Mr. Marshall was asking you about did you go down 

and take the records or require Mrs. White to bring the



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records to your office, would it be a normal thing for a 

principal to go down and take things from a teacher?

A No, sir.
Q Why would you not take things away from a teacher where 

you might take things away from a student?

A I think a teacher, if she is a teacher, has a different

perspective that she is looked upon by people and certain 

by students and I don’t think they should be embarrassed.

Q And you feel that a teacher should have more responsibili' 

about her personal things than a student?

A Yes, sir, I do.
Q I would like to ask you if you made an evaluation report 

of the ’68-'69 school term.

A Yes, sir, I did.

Q Do you have that report with you?

A Yes, sir.
MR. MARSHALL: I object to this because it was

certainly not brought out on anything in my case. He ha< 

an opportunity in his case in chief to bring that out and 

I don’t know what he's talking about and this is a com­

plete surprise.
GUARISCO: All right, I will sustain that objec­

tion.
Q Now I believe you testified that you observed that there 

were no children’s work in the classroom, Mrs. White’s



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classroom, when you went to observe there?

A Yes, sir.

Q And I believe you testified, also, that your instructions 

were to have the children get involved in the classroom 

work?

A Yes, sir.

Q Is this a normal thing for children to get involved in 

classroom work around the holiday season?

A Yes, sir, very definitely, because we try to make it 

meaningful to children.

MR. MARSHALL: Excuse me, I am going to object to

this because I don’t recall going into anything about any 

child's work during a holiday season. This was certainly 

not brought out in my case and it is repetitious.

MR. McCLURE: Mr. Chairman, it's not repetitious but

it connects up with his observation of no children’s work 

being given at any time that he observed and I believe 

that this will pinpoint primary areas and primary times 

during the two years where the children's work should be 

exhibited.

MR. GUARISCO: I will overrule that objection.
MR. McCLURE: Would you repeat the question, please

Ma’am?
(question and answer read by the rep o r t e r.)

Q Did you observe any children’s classroom work up in the



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room, Mrs. White's room, during the holiday season?

A No, sir.

Q What did you observe, what type of work?

A I observed a tremendous amount of commercial work, store- 
bought material, where if the children had participated

in this they had only participated in possibly putting it 

on the board and not actually participating in the drawin 

and the writing and the talking about it and discussing 

it and the research about the various characters and 

various meanings for various holidays; Easter, for instan 

or Christmas or Thanksgiving.

Q What about the other holidays during the school year?

A These are really the major holidays, Easter and Christmas

and Thanksgiving. Then you have maybe the Memorial day, 

all national holidays which are recognized in one fashion 

or the other.

Q Then you didn't observe any children's work during the 
school year on the holidays?

A There were more occasions when I observed none than when 

I observed some.

Q Mr. Marshall has asked you about what you heard over the 

intercom system and the fact that you did not go down to 

Mrs. White's room when the records were playing.

A Yes, sir.

Q When you turned on the intercom system, did Mrs. White



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respond to you and did you recognize her voice?

A Yes, sir.

Q What other voices, if any, did you hear?

A I heard children’s voices laughing and I heard the shuffli

of feet and I said over the intercom, I called out to 

Mrs. White and said I was enjoying the music and she said,

"Oh, you are?" and I said, "Yes, I am," and she came down

to the office and she inquired further as to the extent ot 

my enjoyment.

Q All right, then Mrs. White was in the room at the time?

A

Q

A

Q

A

Yes, sir.
And you did hear children’s voices in there?

Yes, sir.
Now, one last question about Mr. Marshall’s cross examina 

tion on the teachers’ duties as compared to janitorial

duties that might have taken place at the school and may 

be required of other people other than teachers. What 

would you expect a teacher to do to maintain a clean 

classroom during the day?
Well, I would think that a class ought to be free from

distraction so children can at least carry on a simulatio'

of learning experience. This is increasingly difficult 
if the room is dirty and there is paper all over the floor

MR. GUARISCO: Mr. McClure, are you about through?

MR. McCLURE: That was my last question, Mr. Chariam



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MR. GUARISCO: All right, does any of the Board

Members have any questions they would like to ask? If so , 

go ahead, and I have two or three that I would like to 

ask to clarify something on the record. In going to the 

chart earlier, you indicated where the classroom was lo­

cated in the year 1967-’68 and you said that there were 

the children's restrooms and two classrooms between her 

classroom and your office, is that right?

WITNESS: Yes, sir.

BY MR. GUARISCO:

Q In the year 1968-'69, you had moved Mrs. White closer to 

your office so that there were only the restrooms between 

her and your office?

A Yes, sir.

Q What was the reason for the move?

A The difference of grades. She was teaching fifth grade 

and the next year she was teaching fourth.

Q That was my next question, she was teaching fifth grade 

in '67-'68?

A Yes, sir.

Q And was teaching the fourth grade in the '68-'69 year?

A Fourth, yes.

Q Now, on the day that you asked her to take the day off 
and you say that she exhibited an unusual behavior when

you asked her to take the day off, did she take the day of



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A Yes, sir.

Q Who replaced her and what happened to that class?

A We had a floating teacher at Pineview School and this

person was sent to the room on that date, a Mrs. Fannie 

Marshall, to take her place.
Q Now, in the school year 1968-'69 she worked after you had 

all these conferences with her. Was she, in your opinion 

given a second opportunity on a trial basis this particul 

year?

A The second year?

Q The 1968-'69 year, her opportunity to come back to work 
in that particular year - -

A Yes, sir.

Q - - was that on a trial basis?

A Yes, sir.

Q Did she understand that?

A I told her that.

MR. GUARISCO: Anybody else have any questions?

BY MR. BEhUDOIN:

Q Mr. Tooks, why are there children at Pineview School as 

early as 7:00 o’clock in the morning?

A I don’t know, we just have parents who work and they have 

to be at work at 8:00 o’clock and we try to have the 

building open by 7:00 and some of them are standing on 

the outside at 7:00 o'clock in the morning.



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Are provisions made for somebody to supervise these childx 

that early in the morning?

I'm usually there at 7:30,and the custodians, but I have 

not pulled myself to require my teachers to be there to

supervise that early.
MR. GUARISCO: Any other questions? (No response.)

All right, we will stand adjourned until Saturday morning 

at 8:00 o'clock. We're through with Mr. Tooks up to now? 

MR. McCLURE: Yes, I have no further questions.

MR. GUARISCO: All right, and you’re going to have

your witnesses here, Mr. Marshall?
MR. MARSHALL: Yes, sir, Mr. Chairman, if I may have

the authority to say to them that this is not an adversar 

proceeding ?
MR. GUARISCO: Yes, this is merely - - well, you

might say that it would be for Mrs. White, it would be 

doing her a favor, and the School Board won't look on 

this thing with any disfavor. She has an opportunity to

bring people in and make her case and she is entitled to 
bring anybody in or out of the school system and we cer­

tainly won't hold it against anybody.

MR. MARSHALL: Thank you very much.

(THEREUPON HEARING WAS ADJOURNED, TO RECONVENE AT 
THE APPOINTED HOUR.)



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F L O R I D A  ) 

COUNTY OF LEON )

I, CAROL C. CAUSSEAUX, C.S.R., Official Court Reporter 

for the Second Judicial Circuit of Florida, and Notary Public, 

State of Florida At Large, do hereby certify that I reported 

the foregoing hearing in shorthand and by Audograph record­

ing at the time and place and in the cause indicated in the 

caption; that the same has later been reduced to typewriting 

under my direct supervision and that the preceding pages 1 

through 83, inclusive, constitute a true and accurate trans­

cription of my notes and records of said proceeding had.

WITNESS my hand and official seal at Tallahassee, Leon

County, Florida, this 1969.

CAROL C. CAUSSEAUX

“ otary Public Stile of Florida at la r
•;./ Gwe&y.ion Expires Dec 3, W