Atlanta to host Daisy Bates Summit

Atlanta will welcome parents, students, teachers, legislators, policymakers and NAACP officials to the fifth Daisy Bates Education Summit at the Atlanta Hilton and Towers-Downtown May 16-19.

Named for NAACP stalwart and civil rights warrior Daisy Bates, the summit has been held since 1992 to evaluate the progress of America's school districts in providing equal access and quality education to students of all colors. Bates, who died in 1999, advised the nine African American children who integrated Central High School in Little Rock, Ark., in 1957.

"Bates' commitment to equality inherent in her championing of desegregation is the foundation of the summit," says John H. Jackson, NAACP national director of education. "The goal is to eliminate disparities and close the achievement gap" that often separates Black, Latino, Asian and white students.

Summit participants will congregate around a theme of "advocacy, achievement and accountability" to "evaluate the progress, or lack thereof, toward equity in education" as well as devise plans for achieving that goal of quality and opportunity, Jackson says.

Normally held biennially, the summit is being held only one year after its 2001 gathering to allow the next one to complement the Education Department's plans for a celebration in 2004 of the 50th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education decision.

The summit will also address the Call for Action issued by the NAACP Education Department to state governors and education secretaries in November. The Call defined areas of persisting racial disparities and challenged states to submit five-year plans to reduce gaps in student suspensions, testing and special education placement to the NAACP by May 10.

- Frankie J. Petrosino

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