MLK Awards Committee To Recognize Board Of Education Member

The largest Anne Arundel County celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday is set for this Thursday, and Severna Park’s Board of Education representative will be one of 12 local activists recognized in his honor.

Dana Schallheim is receiving the Alan Legum Civil Rights Award. The Martin Luther King Jr. Committee members chose Schallheim because she supported the passage of Drake Smith’s Board of Education resolution stating that Black lives matter in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, helped reform policies around bullying and bias, championed new Anne Arundel County Public Schools policy protecting LGTBQ+ students, and voted in favor of removing a racist’s name from a middle school.

Schallheim currently serves on the Board of Education’s policy and equity committees and is chair of the scholarship committee.

“Carl Snowden, on behalf of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Awards Dinner Committee, told me that I am being honored as a recipient of the Alan Hilliard Legum Civil Rights Award because of my work and advocacy on the Anne Arundel County Board of Education, which has ‘ensured that all students are treated with the respect and dignity that they deserve,’” Schallheim said. “Alan H. Legum was a distinguished civil rights attorney and cherished friend of the honorable Carl Snowden. He worked tirelessly on behalf of others throughout his lengthy career. I am quite humbled not only to accept this award named for a lifelong friend of someone I respect so much, but, like Alan Legum, my call to serve others does not hinge on accolades.

“We are at a pivotal moment,” she added. “Our freedoms are in jeopardy. For as long as the voters allow me, I will continue to fight so that all 85,000 students belong so that they can grow and succeed in Anne Arundel County Public Schools.”

This year’s other winners of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. awards are Midshipman First Class Max Josef Bueno, winner of the Drum Major Award; Joseph Butler, winner of the Wiley H. Bates Legacy Center Award; Delegate Bonnie Cullison, winner of the Courageous Leadership Award; Midshipman First Class Kaylah Gillums, winner of the Drum Major Award; Erica Griswold, winner of the Drum Major Award; the Harris Family Foundation Inc., winner of the Coretta Scott King Award; Roslyn Johnson, winner of the Dream Keepers Award; Jared Littmann, winner of the We Share the Dream Award; Governor Wes Moore, winner of the Morris H. Blum Humanitarian Award; James Spearman, winner of the Peacemaker Award; and Ralph Thomas, winner of the Drum Major Award.

The 36th annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Awards Program will be held Thursday at 6:00pm at the Live! Casino & Hotel Ballroom in Hanover, Maryland. Congressman Jonathan Jackson, the youngest son of the Rev. Jesse Jackson and godson to King, will be the keynote speaker.

Tickets are $100 per person and are available for purchase at www.mlkjrmd.org.