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History class bedecks schools' vets
By LORRI HELFAND, Times Staff Writer CLEARWATER -- It seems like a major feat. Honor more than 1,000 veterans who work for Pinellas County Schools on Veterans Day. But that's just what Tom Murray's Vietnam War history class at Pinellas Technical Education Center set out to do. Using the district's mail system, Murray's class, which is part of the dropout prevention program at PTEC, sent each school a packet with a bunch of patriotic ribbons, safety pins and a list of campus veterans. The class also enclosed a note asking schools to fashion armbands for their veterans from the ribbons, to make special announcements over the PA system to let everyone know that the armbands represent the sacrifices veterans have made, and to thank everyone they see wearing one. Murray and his class also sent packets to the administration building and bus compound. "This is a great effort on the part of Tom and his students for going through this whole exercise of making contact with these veterans," said district spokesman Ron Stone. Murray's entire class was in charge of the ribbon cutting and mass mailing, which took more than two classes and 200 spools of ribbon to complete. A few of his students showed up before class at 7 a.m. Monday to honor veterans with a Danish, coffee and juice breakfast. Freddie Usher, 64, a culinary arts teacher at PTEC, said the campus usually recognizes veterans, but he appreciated Murray's class going the extra mile. "It's a great thing. Not too many people take their hats off to veterans," said the 22-year Air Force veteran. A half-hour later, Jana Petelle and Rachel Brewer grabbed a fistful of ribbons and went on a mission to make sure campus veterans who didn't make it to the breakfast were decorated with armbands. They stopped by the welding class and popped into the auto mechanics class during a lecture to honor veterans in each classroom. Together they stopped 56-year-old Hans Bechtel, the school resource officer and a Marine Corps veteran. Petelle, 17, wrapped the ribbon around Bechtel's left arm as Brewer, 16, clipped it into place. "Thank you for being a veteran," Petelle said. "Thank you for doing this, girls," he told them. Murray's class got the master list of district employees who are veterans from the district's human resources department. But they discovered that a few veterans had been overlooked. Employees usually list their military service when applying for district jobs. Teachers can get up to three years credit for service. So, someone who served for three years could start on a fourth-year district pay scale. Support personnel who are veterans get a hiring preference. "A few haven't identified a preference and that was disappointing," said Scott Aborn, information technology specialist for the district. Murray's class also honored adult students on campus who are veterans. In Murray's Vietnam War history class, his students are interviewing veterans in person and via e-mail and compiling those stories in a book. Murray, 56, who created the first and only Vietnam War history class in Pinellas last school year, was an Army aerial observer during the Vietnam War. He was shot down three times, but was never injured, so he has plenty of harrowing tales for his students. Over the summer, he was one of 87 teachers selected for a new Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund program called Teach Vietnam Teachers' Network. He participated in an all-expenses-paid conference in Washington, D.C., where he learned a variety of techniques for teaching Vietnam War history. Murray e-mailed all of those teachers with his Veterans Day idea. He said 20 to 30 school districts across the country decided to try it out. Ozona Elementary principal MaryAnn Sanchez was one of 30 Pinellas administrators to call Murray to thank him for the program, Murray said. During the morning announcements, she honored plant operator Walter McCutcheon, who served in the Navy during the Vietnam War. "It gave me a forum to be able to recognize a veteran in our school. It was easy to do," Sanchez said. -- Lorri Helfand can be reached at (727) 445-4155 or at lorri@sptimes.com. Times researcher Kitty Bennett contributed to this report.
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From the Times North Pinellas desks Letters |
