The following is a press release from Public School Forum of North Carolina
Former North Carolina Governor James G. Martin and former Public School Forum leaders John Dornan and Jo Ann Norris were named today as the recipients of the 2016 Public School Forum of North Carolina Jay Robinson Education Leadership Award. The Jay Robinson Education Leadership Award was established by the Public School Forum in 2000 to recognize leaders who have demonstrated innovative, creative, effective leadership for public education in North Carolina.
Governor Martin, along with Dornan and Norris, will be honored at a gala event on Thursday, May 19, 2016 at the Raleigh Convention Center. In addition to honoring this year’s recipients, the Forum will be celebrating its 30th Anniversary as part of the evening festivities.
“Governor Jim Martin is part of a long and proud North Carolina tradition of bipartisan support of public education,” said Forum Chairman Dr. Michael D. Priddy. “As a former professor, Governor Martin understood the critical role of teachers and made support for public schools a central part of his economic agenda.”
James G. “Jim” Martin is North Carolina’s only two-term Republican governor, serving as the state’s chief executive from 1985 to 1993. Before his election to that job in 1984, Martin served 12 years in Congress and six years on the Mecklenburg County Commission. He began his professional career as a professor of chemistry at Davidson College.
As county commissioner, Jim Martin led the Mecklenburg Board in 1967 to reverse past practice and budget for schools first, not last. As governor, Jim Martin pushed for increased spending on public schools and improved teacher salaries. He was also an early advocate of a career ladder for teachers. Governor Martin instituted new total immersion training in foreign languages for teachers and expanded foreign languages into the K-5 public school curriculum. He also launched a new day care initiative, an anti-dropout program targeting additional resources to disadvantaged preschoolers and a campaign against illiteracy.
John Dornan and Jo Ann Norris led the Public School Forum of North Carolina from its inception, serving together as Executive Director and Associate Executive Director for nearly 25 years.
“There are very few people in North Carolina who have played as critical a role in shaping and driving a positive public education agenda for our state as John Dornan and Jo Ann Norris,” said Priddy. “Under their leadership, the Public School Forum brought together educators, legislators and business leaders to tackle the state’s most pressing education issues, whether it was our teacher pipeline or funding inequities in our public schools. Their positive contributions to education in North Carolina will be felt for decades.”
Dornan began his career as an English teacher in Pennsylvania and held various leadership positions with teacher associations in Pennsylvania, California, Washington, DC, Illinois and New York before arriving in North Carolina. He was the founding Executive Director of the Public School Forum, a position he held for 25 years until his retirement in 2011. Jo Ann Norris began her professional career as a first grade teacher in Wake County where she taught for more than 20 years. She was honored in 1979 as the North Carolina Teacher of the Year. Prior to joining the Forum in 1986, she was lobbyist for the North Carolina Association of Educators. Norris succeeded Dornan as Executive Director, a position she held from 2011 until her retirement in 2014.
Under the leadership of John Dornan and Jo Ann Norris, the Public School Forum of North Carolina became the state’s most trusted and respected source for education research, policy analysis, best practices and high-quality, innovative programs. The Forum developed and led the NC Teaching Fellows Program which produced more than 8,000 teachers that served in all 100 of North Carolina counties. The Forum also played a key role in spotlighting funding inequities across the state’s public school systems that led to the Low Wealth Schools Supplemental Fund and later underpinned much of the landmark Leandro case that is still being litigated today.
Information about tickets and sponsorships for this year’s event and previous award recipients can be found here: http://www.ncforum.org/programs/jay-robinson-leadership-award/. Event tickets can be purchased here: http://forumjayrobinsonaward2016.eventbrite.com
If you are interested in discussing a sponsorship, contact Alyson Stoffer at astoffer@ncforum.org or call 919-781-6833 x121.
About the Jay Robinson Education Leadership Award
The award is named in honor of the late Dr. Jay Robinson, one of our state’s most distinguished education leaders. His career spanned 50 years, beginning as a math teacher and basketball and football coach in Cabarrus County, becoming a school principal and later superintendent of schools in first Cabarrus and then Charlotte-Mecklenburg school systems. He served as vice president for public affairs and special projects for the University of North Carolina system and chaired the State Board of Education. He was also the first president of the Public School Forum and served as an Emeritus Member of the Board until his death in April 2000.
About the Public School Forum of North Carolina
Since 1986, the Public School Forum of North Carolina has been an indispensable and nonpartisan champion of better schools and the most trusted source in the state for research and analysis on vital education issues. We bring together leaders from business, education and government to study education issues, develop ideas, seek consensus, and ultimately inform and shape education policy. We do that through research, policy work, innovative programs, advocacy, and continuing education for educators and policymakers. Follow us on Twitter @theNCForum and visit our website at http://www.ncforum.org/
