The Man of Innovation
“The Changing Educational Landscape of Arizona”
My Mother, to renew her Teacher Credential, discontinued my home schooling and piano lessons when I was seven years of age. Having previously earned her teaching credentials at Arizona State Teachers College (Tempe) early on, the “Marriage bar” - whereby females teaching in Arizona had to be unmarried to work - was no longer tenable. After the “bar” was abolished in 1946, married females had the opportunity to become gainfully employed as full-time teaching professionals.
My Mother applied and was hired as a teacher, a part of the Litchfield School District, in what was then a “Camp” for workers in the cotton fields of Maricopa County, Arizona. The school was a one room building with a “potbellied” wood stove for heat that accommodated grades one through eight. School lunch was delivered daily by the district.
Later, with the entry of machines to harvest cotton, and a new law “Brown vs. Board of Education” being enforced, the one room school was disbanded. My Mother explained that Superintendent A.L.Tidwell of Litchfield School District sent her to Superintendent Coor to teach in Avondale, AZ where she remained until her retirement.
“Improved Retirement Benefits”
During that time while teaching under Superintendent Lattie F. Coor in Avondale Elementary School, retirement funds for married women were a mere “pittance”. So, after a vote in his District, Superintendent Coor joined a new retirement fund that benefitted his teachers, including my Mother; making a major improvement in retirement funding for all.
“The Penny Fundraiser”
It was in October when I accompanied my mother to the school’s “Penny Fundraiser”. She watched families, dressed in Halloween costumes, present tickets at a penny a piece to participate in the festive activities. At the end of night, a King and Queen was announced based upon the most funds collected. During this joyful time, my Mother, the Ticket taker at the large Slide in the school playground, told me a young boy repeatedly handed her his tickets to slide. This boy was in fact the Superintendent’s son, Lattie Coor, who years later became the President of Arizona State University, retiring as Emeritus President, and who has recently passed away.
It was Superintendent Coor's keen foresight that impressed me the most - the ultimate goal of the fundraiser being to present each Elementary school student in the district with a Christmas stocking filled with fruit, nuts and candies to be taken home. I learned about this as I waited for my mother to complete her final task by tallying the raised funds at the end of the evening’s festivities.
“Born, Raised, and Educated in Arizona Schools”
Being born, raised and educated in Arizona schools, I look back at the events created by such an innovative person - Superintendent Lattie F. Coor, Sr. A man who opened opportunities for married female teachers to return to the workforce, championed improvements in retirement funding, and supported both his community as well as his district by providing each student with something special to take home for Christmas during my Mother’s teaching tenure.
Main Image: Marinette Arizona Cotton Stockpile, Arizona Republican, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons