[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 1] [Extensions of Remarks] [Pages 292-293] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]HONORING JADE MOORE; THERE WAS NO BETTER FRIEND OF TEACHERS ______ HON. C.W. BILL YOUNG of florida in the house of representatives Wednesday, January 7, 2009 Mr. YOUNG of Florida. Madam Speaker, Pinellas County, Florida lost one of the pillars of our community and our teachers lost their greatest advocate December 16th with the passing of Jade Moore. Jade served for 34 years as Executive Director of the Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association. In that role, he was the champion for teachers, but he was also the champion for the students they taught. Jade Moore was a tough but fair negotiator, one who earned the trust and respect of all those with whom he came in touch. He grew up in Pinellas County and was a product of Pinellas County schools, having graduated from Clearwater High School. His advice was eagerly sought not just by this Congressman but by Governors, legislators, school board members and community leaders. And it was just not advice on educational issues. In fact, Jade was just completing a difficult term as the Governor's appointee to the Florida Taxation and Budget Review Commission. More than 700 people turned out this past Saturday to memorialize Jade Moore and pay tribute to his life as a husband, a father, an educator, a community leader, a Sunday school teacher, and a friend to many. Following my remarks, I will include an article ``Boisterous and Fitting Farewell'' by Thomas Tobin and Donna Winchester of The St. Petersburg Times on January 4, 2009 which talks about the very moving and uplifting memorial service. Also, I will include a December 20, 2008 column by Jon East of The St. Petersburg Times which describes Jade as a tough but friendly advocate. As Mr. East says in concluding his column, Jade Moore ``honestly believed in saving one soul, one child, at a time.'' Madam Speaker, at a time when our Nation looks to its elected leaders to come together and put politics aside to do the people's business, Jade Moore should be an enduring example of how we can serve our constituencies and express our views with respect rather than conflict. We have lost a great leader in Jade Moore, but we must not lose those lessons from a lifetime of leadership he leaves behind. [[Page 293]] [From the St. Petersburg Times, Jan. 3, 2009] Boisterous and Fitting Farewell (By Thomas C. Tobin and Donna Winchester) Clearwater.--He loved roses and Broadway musicals. He stunk at golf, though he had a whale of a time playing it. He was an optimist, active in his church, strong in his views. He was a reader and a smiler, a pundit, a partier, a people lover. And when it came to teachers, Jade Thomas Moore--the executive director of the Pinellas teachers union for 34 years--was no pushover. ``He fought hard for them and he loved them,'' Tim Moore said at a memorial service for his brother Saturday. ``If you want to remember Jade, remember that love for teachers.'' Pinellas County's education and political communities turned out in force to remember Mr. Moore, who died Dec. 18 at age 61 after suffering his second stroke in a year. More than 700 people jammed Trinity Presbyterian Church in Clearwater for an hourlong service that recalled his success as a family man, his long career as an educator and the outgoing personality that endeared him to allies and adversaries alike. The congregation included state and county officials, legislators, judges, lawyers and school system employees of every stripe--from support workers and teachers to top administrators and school board members. In keeping with Mr. Moore's love of food and celebration, hundreds of mourners reconvened at union headquarters in Largo for an evening of eating, drinking, tears, laughter and toasts. Guests arrived to a massive potluck spread, a full bar and a chance to talk about Mr. Moore for up to three minutes. A DJ played Broadway hits, popular songs from the 1950s and '60s and Mr. Moore's favorite, Blue Moon by the Marcels. ``The noise is what Jade would want to have happened,'' his wife, Sue Moore, told the crowd. ``He would want us talking to each other and drinking a whole lot.'' She offered a toast: ``To the best man I've known and the best man I will ever know.'' Said U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Tampa: ``He believed in the power of education. He believed in the power of teachers. He believed we could take this state forward.'' Kim Black, president of the Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association, said Mr. Moore served with her and 12 other presidents during his tenure. ``Jade has adapted to every one of us,'' she said. ``He has been the constant. When we were weak, he was strong.'' She said his favorite part of the job was visiting schools. Black and Mr. Moore had been to 40 so far this year and planned many more visits in the upcoming semester. ``He was about bringing joy to the workplace,'' Black said. ``He was about bringing joy to everybody he knew.'' County Commissioner Susan Latvala recalled her time on the Pinellas School Board from 1992 to 2000. ``I don't know if I would have survived those eight years without Jade,'' she told the crowd. ``He would call me to say, 'Susan, why don't you come over to the office and we'll have a drink.' It was never a 15-minute conversation.'' Upstairs at union headquarters Saturday, Mr. Moore's office remained as he left it on Dec. 15, his last day of work. An avid reader who would polish off a dozen books during vacations to North Carolina, he had three books on his desk. The titles: I Haven't Understood Anything since 1962, Educational Conflict in the Sunshine State and The Language of God. Mr. Moore was known in Pinellas and across the state for his knowledge of Florida's budget and politics. He took tough stances, including pushing for a teacher raise this year even as the district plunged into a deep economic hole. But he maintained a collaborative style and an optimistic outlook. ``All of us knew that Jade meant what he said, that ... his views were in support of the many, not of the few, and that he would always, no matter what, stand by his beliefs,'' said the Rev. Victoria ByRoade, a local Presbyterian pastor who eulogized him Saturday. ``Jade Moore was a man we could trust.'' [From the St. Petersburg Times, Dec. 20, 2008] A Tough, Friendly Advocate (By Jon East) What made Jade Moore such an institution in Pinellas public education was also what made him such an invaluable source to those of us who watched from the sidelines. Moore, who died Thursday after suffering a stroke, knew his stuff. He believed in what he was doing, and he would never let education ideology cloud his plain assessment of right and wrong. And, yes, Moore would speak his mind, usually with blunt, sometimes pro- fane and often comic effect. Moore ran a union with 8,000 teachers and could throw a punch with the best of them. He retaliated to legislative cutbacks in 1991 by stuffing what was then called the Florida. Suncoast Dome with 15,000 educators and supporters holding signs imploring, ``Don't $hortchange our Kids.'' He skewered a Pinellas School Board that in 1998 voted to seek an end to the federal court order on desegregation, and then fought a choice plan for student assignment that he viewed as a retreat. But Moore became a force in education policy for three decades in part because conflict was not really in his genes and was never his first impulse. School boards and superintendents from other locales would marvel at the relationship between the Pinellas Classroom Teachers Association and the school administration. Most contracts through the years were signed after friendly collaboration, not threats and mediation. Moore came to respect most of the superintendents with whom he worked, though he remained partial to Scott Rose for his inspirational style through the 1980s. Moore managed to develop such strong bonds with school officials that former superintendent Clayton Wilcox made the unfortunate mistake upon his arrival in 2004 of seeing Moore as part of a good ol' boy network that needed to be rooted out. Moore remained as Wilcox left. The Moore persona was a tapestry of color and contradiction. He would cuss enough to make the timid blush. But he also was a Sunday school teacher who really did live by the Golden Rule. Nothing got him angrier than to see teachers be made scapegoats for political causes or to be publicly humiliated for private and personal transgressions. But he would avoid like the plague defending any teacher who he believed didn't belong in the classroom. He was an unabashed liberal Democrat, but he befriended so many Republicans that he even managed an appointment from Gov. Charlie Crist to a constitutional taxation review panel. He could describe, in detail, the district cost differential multiplier in the Florida Education Finance Program but much preferred to settle budgetary policy over a bottle of bourbon. Back in the early 1990s, when tensions were high with then- superintendent Howard Hinesley, Moore was persuaded by a former PCTA president to lobby School Board members for the four votes necessary to remove Hinesley. He failed, and to the day he passed away he seemed to regret what he had done. Guerrilla politics were never Moore's style, and the failed attempt nearly severed his relationship with Hinesley. ``I'll never go there again,'' he would say. ``I won't do it.'' The lesson was never lost, and Moore even found himself taking friendly fire as a result. A splinter group calling itself TUFF-Teach emerged in 2001, condemning what it saw as too much coziness between PCTA and school administrators and state lawmakers. But Moore was unyielding and argued that cooperation, not confrontation, is more productive in the long run. In his characteristic style, he said: ``You don't score points by taking a dump on these guys.'' What I always saw in Moore was an unfailingly sentimental view of public education. He would speak wistfully of his own days at Clearwater High School and the way such schools can be a gathering place for children from different walks of life. Nothing got him more emotional than to talk about a teacher who had made a difference in a child's life. That was the Sunday school teacher in Jade. He honestly believed in saving one soul, one child, at a time. ____________________