Jacob Ogles
Teachers overthrew sitting leadership for the Florida Education Association this weekend, electing new president Fedrick C. Ingram and a slate of new officers.
Ingram previously served as vice president under Joanne McCall, but in May made clear he would run against the sitting president. At the organization’s annual Delegate Assembly in Orlando, the 1,000 assembled voting members elevated him to power.
“Be assured that we go forward today as a united union dedicated to the students we serve and committed to be the strongest of advocates for the remarkable education professionals we represent,” Ingram said after his election.
“We will stand up every day for our students, our communities and for our members, who devote their lives to the success of public education.”
The organization also elected Ingram’s running mates, Andrew Spar as vice president and Carole Gauronskas as secretary-treasurer.
The moment was also history-making, as Ingram became the first African-American president of the FEA ever. He’d previously been elected as the first black president of the United Teachers of Dade.
Spar serves as president of the Volusia Educators Association and as secretary of the Florida AFL-CIO, Florida’s largest union.
Gauronskas, who succeeds McCall’s secretary-treasurer Luke Flynt, is president of the St. Johns Educational Support Professional Association.
When Ingram first announced he would run for president, long-standing doubts about whether the FEA had successfully challenged moves by the Florida Legislature to underfund and undermine public education.
“There comes a moment in one’s life when matters become so serious and challenges so steep that hard decisions must be made,” he wrote in a Facebook post in May. “The circumstances at FEA are just that serious.”
In his acceptance speech on Saturday, Ingram took a combative posture toward the Florida Legislature.
“To Florida elected officials, get ready,” he said. “We shall be mobilized, day in and day out, in Tallahassee and all across Florida. Our present funding for public schools and higher education is insufficient—and funneling millions of dollars to charter schools with no accountability is unacceptable.
“The pay scale for Florida teachers, education staff professionals, adjunct professors and the others who serve our students is among the lowest in the nation, so it’s no wonder it’s difficult to attract quality education professionals. The stakes for our students are too high to stick with the status quo.”
He also gestured thanks to McCall, and he stressed an “ironclad” commitment to working with all members.
“FEA is a united union, fighting for real change in Florida,” he said.
