Alexandria, VA – October 15, 2009 – The National School Boards Association’s Council of Urban Boards of Education (CUBE) has announced that John Harding Lucas, Sr. has been selected as the recipient of the 2009 Benjamin Elijah Mays Lifetime Achievement Award.
Dr. John Harding Lucas, a former school board member in Durham, N. C. received the award at the CUBE 42nd Annual Conference on October 10, in Austin, Texas. Lucas served as an education leader in his local community and nationally for more than fifty years as a teacher, guidance counselor, principal, and school board member. He also served as president of the North Carolina Education Association, member of the board of directors for the National Education Association, and president of Shaw University; and he has been recognized by the North Carolina School Boards Association as a champion of excellence, equity, and access.
“NSBA is honored to present this award to Dr. Lucas” Katrina Kelley, director of CUBE, said. “An associate and friend of Dr. Benjamin Mays, Dr. Lucas’ life’s work has been in service to children – working to ensure an education system that guarantees all students the very best learning opportunities. We recognize John Lucas as someone who has made a great impact on the lives of many children, and as a role model for excellence in scholarship and civic responsibility.”
The Mays Lifetime Achievement Award is given to an individual who has demonstrated a long-standing commitment to representing the educational needs of urban schoolchildren through his or her service as a local school board member. Benjamin Elijah Mays, whom the award honors, was a teacher, minister, author, and civil rights activist who served as president of Morehouse College and the Atlanta school board from 1970 to 1981.
For more information about CUBE’s Benjamin Elijah Mays Lifetime Achievement Award, please visit www.nsba.org/cube.
The Council of Urban Boards of Education (CUBE) was established in 1967 by the National School Boards Association as a national membership organization governed solely by urban school board members and dedicated to the needs and interests of urban school boards. CUBE member districts total more than 100 urban school districts in 35 states and the Virgin Islands. Our member districts educate nearly 8 million students, in over 12,000 schools, with a collective budget of approximately 99 billion dollars. CUBE helps urban school boards find solutions to challenges at the local level and seeks to improve their policy making effectiveness.
Founded in 1940, the National School Boards Association (www.nsba.org) is a not-for-profit federation of state associations of school boards representing 95,000 local school board members throughout the United States. Its mission is to foster excellence and equity in public elementary and secondary education through local school board leadership. NSBA represents the school board perspective in working with federal government agencies and national organizations that impact education, and provides vital information and services to state associations of school boards throughout the nation.