The teacher who challenged the state of Mississippi in a landmark court case to win equal pay for black teachers has been honored by the National Conference of Black Mayors. The group gave a President’s Award last month to Gladys Noel Bates, the former public school teacher and social activist.
In 1948, Ms. Bates, now 80, filed her lawsuit. It led to the state legislature’s passage four years later of the Teacher Pay Equalization Act, which mandated that black teachers in the state were entitled to the same pay as white teachers. She later moved to Denver and served as a teacher and assistant principal for the school district there for nearly 40 years. She co- wrote an African-American curriculum for the 72,000-student school system that is still being used today.
Based in Atlanta, the National Conference of Black Mayors serves more than 500 mayors nationwide.
Kathleen Leos, a school board member in the 163,000-student Dallas district, has accepted a position with the U.S. Department of Education. She will become the assistant to the director of English-language acquisition on June 3. Ms. Leos is the founder and president of Basic English Inc., a nonprofit organization based in Dallas that helps non-English-speaking adults learn English.
Janet S. Hansen has been named a distinguished senior fellow with the Education Commission of the States. During her six-month term with the ECS, Ms. Hansen, 55, will continue to serve as the vice president and director of education studies for the Committee for Economic Development, an independent organization based in New York City that acts as a resource on economic and social policy for business and education leaders.
The ECS, located in Denver, works with state policymakers to identify and implement educational policies designed to improve student learning.
—Marianne D. Hurst
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