The Horace Mann League will present several awards at its annual recognition and installation luncheon at 11:45 a.m. on Friday at the Marriott Riverwalk Hotel in San Antonio.

The recognitions at the event will be these.

Outstanding Friend of Public Education Award: Gary Orfield and Patricia Gándara. They are co-directors of UCLA’s Civil Rights Project and have been in the vanguard of academic inquiry into the inequities that plague American society. 

Outstanding Public Educator Award: Daniel A. Domenech. He is retiring as executive director of AASA, The School Superintendents Association, at the end of February. A former superintendent in several communities, he had led the national association since 2008. 

Outstanding Friend of the League Award: Kathleen Hurley. She is a former senior executive for numerous educational publishing and technology companies and served as fellow of the Advanced Leadership Initiative.

Ambassador Awards will be presented to Martin Brooks of New York, Brent Clark of Illinois, Jeanne Collins Dewasee of South Carolina, Gregg Fuerstenau of Illinois, Andi Fourlis of Arizona and James Harvey of Washington.

The organization’s members also will fete Jack McKay, who is retiring after 29 years as executive director of the Horace Mann League. He has been the league’s long-time advocate as he positioned the group to strengthen public education as the cornerstone of communities and our nation.

The public education advocacy organization, founded in 1922, holds its winter gathering during the AASA national conference.