Carol Burris, executive director of the Network for Public Education, has been selected by the board of the Horace Mann League as its 2018 Outstanding Friend of Public Education.

The presentation will be made at the HML Annual Meeting in February in Nashville (AASA Convention).

The HML made an excellent choice. Carol has been a peerless leader in the fight against privatization and high-stakes testing and in the ongoing struggle to transform public education so that it meets the needs of every child.

In recent years, she has published frequently on Valerie Strauss’s Answer Sheet blog at the Washington Post.

She is former principal of South Side High School in Rockville Centre on Long Island in New York. She has received numerous awards. In 2010, she was named Educator of the Year by the School Administrators Association of New York State, and in 2013, she was named SAANYS New York State High School Principal of the Year. She received her doctorate from Teachers College, Columbia University.

I am proud to be her friend, colleague, and ally. I humbly name her to the honor roll of the blog for her energy, leadership, thoughtfulness, kindness, compassion, scholarship, respect for the teaching profession, love of children, and intellect.

She is an educator, and a great one.