LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- The JCPS board chair has received one of Louisville’s most prestigious awards.
Diane Porter was honored as the 2019 recipient of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Award Sunday evening.
"I'm honored, I mean I was surprised, obviously very surprised,” Porter said.
Porter has dedicated 39 years to JCPS as a teacher, administrator, and now as a school board member. She made history in 2012 when she became the first African-American woman to serve as JCPS board chair.
"Whether it's a fight for education in the classroom or it's a fight for justice and equality, that's what it's all about,” Mayor Greg Fischer said. “You have to have it in your bones, and Diane Porter has it in her bones."
Porter says she's most proud of JCPS' new Racial Equity Policy. It aims to reduce achievement gaps between white and minority students and create a more diverse staff within the district.
"We now have something in the books that is a policy that the district is committing to following,” she said.
She says 2019 will be an important year as the district works to complete the corrective action plan given by the state department of education.
"We have done a lot of hard work but we know that we have more to do,” she said.
While that work is done, Porter says she won't lose sight of the students.
"My goal is to raise high expectations and to put everything into place so that the students will be successful," she said.
The award was presented during the annual “Keepers of the Dream” event celebrating arts and culture in the community. It featured area poets, singers, dancers, and musicians.
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