ITHACA, N.Y. -- Pursuing a quality education is more than a personal responsibility; it is an individual right. On June 7, educators from around central New York will be meeting at Ithaca High School to explore this concept during the second Community Forum on Education and Society. The featured speaker will be Robert Moses, a renowned educator and civil rights activist. His talk is free and open to the public.

The title and focus of this year's forum, sponsored by Cornell University in partnership with the Ithaca City School District, Tompkins-Seneca-Tioga BOCES, Ithaca College, The Village at Ithaca and the Ithaca Public Education Initiative, is "Equity and Excellence: Quality Education as a Civil Right." Moses was a leader of the 1960s civil rights movement in Mississippi and is founder of The Algebra Project, a national mathematics literacy program that focuses on low-income students and students of color. Founded by Moses in the 1980s, The Algebra Project trains teachers, develops curricula and provides professional development support to school systems that are trying to improve the quality of their mathematics education. 

More than 80 teachers from the Ithaca area and throughout central New York will be attending two workshops during the day. The forum's public session will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Ithaca High School cafeteria on Lake Street. This later session will feature an ice cream social at 4 p.m. Then, at 4:30 p.m., Moses will speak and open a dialog with community members, teachers and educators. No advance registration is required for the later session.