TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Suncoast Pasco News

Mittye P. Locke, RIP

ADVERTISEMENT

THE SUNCOAST NEWS

Published: February 28, 2009

If we had to hazard a guess, we would imagine 99 out of a 100 people who have driven by Mittye P. Locke Elementary School over the years assumed its namesake, like many of the other people for whom schools in Pasco County are named, had long ago passed away. Until Wednesday, however, that wasn't true. On that day Mrs. Locke, one of the pioneers of Pasco public education, died, a little less than two months before what would have been her 100th birthday.

"She was the old breed of teachers," her son, Pasco County Tax Collector Mike Olson, declared after Mrs. Locke's passing. We like something else Olson said of his late mother. When speaking of her students, they were always "children," not "kids." To most, that is now a quaint notion. With Mrs. Locke's passing, about the only voice still insisting that kid is a term best reserved for referring to an immature goat is the Associated Press Stylebook.

His mother, Olson said, was a strict disciplinarian who believed students were in school to learn. Unfortunately, those ideas often seem like relics of a distant past as well these days. The main focus of contemporary public education is money.

Finally, we would note that Mrs. Locke, who was honored late last year by the School Board, began her 51-year career in education barely a year after graduating from high school. We doubt she was any less of a teacher than today's educators, many of who hold master's degrees and even doctorates and are forever attending seminars and training sessions.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT