Florida Senate - 2011                            (NP)    SR 1076
       
       
       
       By Senator Hill
       
       
       
       
       1-01676-11                                            20111076__
    1                          Senate Resolution                        
    2         A resolution recognizing the lifetime achievement of
    3         educator Alvin George White, Ed.D., and celebrating
    4         his ongoing contribution to public education in this
    5         state.
    6  
    7         WHEREAS, Alvin George White was born in Jacksonville, the
    8  oldest of four children born to George and Victoria White, and
    9         WHEREAS, Alvin George White attended St. Pius V Catholic
   10  School where, at 4 years of age, he was placed in the first
   11  grade, and
   12         WHEREAS, Alvin George White enrolled in the local public
   13  school system, graduating from Stanton High School, and went on
   14  to receive a Bachelor of Science degree from Florida A&M
   15  University, a Master of Arts degree from Columbia University,
   16  and a Doctor of Education degree from NOVA Southeastern
   17  University, and
   18         WHEREAS, Alvin George White began his teaching career in
   19  Okeechobee but, after his first year in the classroom, was
   20  drafted into the United States Navy, where he served as a
   21  Personnelman Second Class, and played basketball and baseball
   22  for the United States Naval Sixth Fleet, and
   23         WHEREAS, after being honorably discharged from the Navy in
   24  1959, Alvin George White returned to the classroom, teaching
   25  sixth grade at Oakland Elementary School and coaching at Matthew
   26  W. Gilbert Junior-Senior High School in Duval County, and later,
   27  serving as head football coach and athletic director at two area
   28  high schools, and
   29         WHEREAS, during the turbulent early years of desegregation
   30  of the public schools in Duval County, Alvin George White became
   31  the first black vice principal of the predominately white Robert
   32  E. Lee High School and the first black principal of the
   33  predominately white Jean Ribault Senior High School, and
   34         WHEREAS, Alvin George White went on to become one of the
   35  first black area assistant superintendents and in 1997, retired
   36  from the Duval County Public Schools as Chief Operating Officer,
   37  responsible for 12,000 employees and more than 126,000 students,
   38  and
   39         WHEREAS, Alvin George White’s retirement was short-lived,
   40  as he was appointed director of the College of Education at
   41  Jacksonville University, where he helped prepare future school
   42  principals and administrators, and
   43         WHEREAS, in 2001, Alvin George White was named coordinator
   44  of Nova Southeastern University’s graduate programs in
   45  Jacksonville and served as a consultant to the Duval County
   46  Public Schools, working with the Southern Association of
   47  Colleges and Schools to provide professional consultant services
   48  as the district pursued accreditation status, and
   49         WHEREAS, in 2008, Alvin George White once again left
   50  retirement, returning to the Duval County Public School System
   51  as chief of staff and partnerships, and
   52         WHEREAS, Alvin George White is active in community service,
   53  serving in a leadership capacity on NAACP committees and on the
   54  board of the James Weldon Johnson Branch YMCA, and is the
   55  recipient of more than 100 honors and awards, and
   56         WHEREAS, Alvin George White was instrumental in the
   57  founding of the youth choir at St. Gabriel’s Episcopal Church,
   58  has served as senior warden for St. Phillip’s and St. Gabriel’s
   59  Episcopal churches, and is a licensed lay reader and chalice
   60  bearer for the Episcopal Diocese of Florida, and
   61         WHEREAS, Alvin George White is a published author, recently
   62  completing his first book, Education is Not a Four-Letter Word,
   63  and
   64         WHEREAS, Alvin George White is married to the former Brenda
   65  Lundy and is the father of two children, Marcel and Altoria,
   66  NOW, THEREFORE,
   67  
   68  Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:
   69  
   70         That Alvin George White, Ed.D., is recognized for his
   71  lifetime achievements as an educator and for his ongoing
   72  contributions to public education in this state.
   73         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this resolution, with
   74  the Seal of the Senate affixed, be presented to Alvin George
   75  White, Ed.D., as a tangible token of the sentiments of the
   76  Florida Senate.