Education association honors local businessman
April 18, 2001
KALAMAZOO -- A local businessman who has had a major impact on Kalamazoo public education will be honored at a Thursday (April 19) dinner meeting of the Western Michigan University chapter of Phi Delta Kappa.
The organization will present a certificate of appreciation to James Harrington for his many years of service to Kalamazoo Public Schools during a meeting in the historic Ladies' Library Association building at 333 South Park behind Kalamazoo Civic Theatre. The evening will begin with a social hour at 5:30 p.m. followed by dinner and a program set for 7 p.m.
Harrington is a trustee on the Kalamazoo Regional Educational Services Agency board of directors. For the past eight years, he has served as a trustee on the Kalamazoo Public Schools Board of Education. During that time, he served two years as president, one year as vice president and two years as treasurer.
Prior to joining the KPS board, he served on numerous district task forces and committees often as chairperson. Harrington also has served as co-chair of "Links," the Kalamazoo County school board's legislative initiative, and as an alternate trustee for the MASB Legal Defense Fund Board.
Thursday's event will feature guest speaker Dr. George Kersey Jr., executive director of Phi Delta Kappa International. A native of Nashville, Tenn., Kersey assumed the position of associate executive director for development and special projects with Phi Delta Kappa, the fraternity for professional educators, in 1992. He began his career in education in 1967 as a kindergarten and fifth-grade schoolteacher before becoming a school principal in 1971.
For more information, contact Alice Gordon, president of Phi Delta Kappa, at (616) 345-3277.
Media contact: Mark Schwerin, 616 387-8400, mark.schwerin@wmich.edu