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Wives of men in Navy, Army may now teach

By THERESA BLACKWELL
Published December 10, 2006

DEC. 7, 1917

CLEARWATER - Any married woman whose husband is in the Army or Navy of the United States may now apply to teach in Pinellas County schools.

The county School Board modified the rule against married women being employed as teachers in the schools at its meeting in Clearwater yesterday to allow wives of soldiers or sailors to be employed. The action was taken on the motion of John C. Blocker, who said the board should encourage men to go into the service and should help the wives of soldiers as much as possible.

The county had previously adopted a rule barring women from teaching whose husbands were living. The theory was that it would not be fair to employ a woman who had a husband to support her, thereby taking a place away from a single woman who needed it for her own support. The few married women teaching in the schools when the rule was adopted were allowed to remain, but no new teachers who were married were to be hired.

A woman applied this week to Mr. Blocker for a place as a teacher in the local schools. She said she was married, and Mr. Blocker told her that this would bar her. She said, "But my husband is in the Army fighting against Germany, and I need the place to support myself while he is drawing $30 a month at the front."

"That is different," said Mr. Blocker. "We will take some action."

So when the board met yesterday, Mr. Blocker said there may be many women, competent teachers before their marriage, whose husbands are at the front and who naturally turn to teaching as a means of making a living during the war and offered a modifying resolution.

The faculty of the local school is now full, but next fall, if the war lasts, there may be many applicants who come under the rule made by the board. But the teaching prohibition for married women whose husbands are not in the Army or Navy continues.

DEC. 6, 1940

New McCrory store opens in Clearwater

CLEARWATER - The new $60,000 McCrory chain store, 509 to 513 Cleveland St., will observe its formal opening tomorrow morning at 9 o'clock. An informal opening will be held this afternoon and tonight, with the public invited to attend and with music by Herbert Brasfield's orchestra. O.M. Andrews is the manager of the new store.

80 people receive draft questionnaires

CLEARWATER - Draft board No. 3 for upper Pinellas this week increased to 80 the number of questionnaires mailed out to draft registrants. The board will send its first group of volunteers for military service to Camp Blanding and Fort Barrancas next week.

Mayor will flip switch to light holiday bulbs

CLEARWATER - The business district and Memorial Causeway will become a blaze of colored lights tomorrow night at 6 o'clock when Mayor E.B. Casler Jr. presses a switch controlling the electric current. A brief ceremony, with Frank Tack as master of ceremonies, will take place at Cleveland Street and Fort Harrison Avenue.

Strings of red and green lights cross Fort Harrison Avenue and Cleveland Street over an area of a dozen blocks, with a large silver star at that intersection.

Pinellas History is compiled by Times staff writer Theresa Blackwell. She can be reached at tblackwell@sptimes.com.

[Last modified December 9, 2006, 21:24:45]