Keys Fillauer, former chairman and long-time member of the Oak Ridge Board of Education, as well as a retired civics teacher at two Oak Ridge schools, has received the 2025 Making Democracy Work Award from the League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge.
It was presented during the league’s annual meeting on May 27 at 201 Café in Jackson Square.
Keys Fillauer, left, receives the Making Our Democracy Work Award from the League of Women Voters of Oak Ridge’s Robin Graham.
Fillauer is the second recipient of the award. Last year it was presented for the first time to Donna Smith, news editor of The Oak Ridger.
On the plaque presented to Fillauer by LWVOR’s Robin Graham is this citation: “For his decades of creatively instilling the true meaning of citizen responsibility to students in Oak Ridge and personally demonstrating that through his service and leadership on the Oak Ridge Board of Education.”
Before presenting the award, Graham said, “In 2001, Keys ran for the Oak Ridge School Board on which he served until 2024, many years as its chair. He was involved with the Tennessee School Boards Association and served as its director in 2022.
“He continues his commitment to democracy with his engagement with the new Institute for American Civics at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. And he hopes to write a book on the civics curriculum he developed.”
Three thoughts from Fillauer
In accepting the award, Fillauer said, “I want to leave you with three thoughts. First, there needs to be better civics education in kindergarten through twelfth grade. Second, we do not want to eliminate the parts of history that people consider bad.
“And third, there’s one line that we all should remember and all should live by: ‘Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free.’ If we ever forget that, then our democracy is in real trouble.”
Fillauer announced that he will teach a citizenship course for the Oak Ridge Institute for Continued Learning during which he will explain why the right foot of the Statue of Liberty was originally chained and shackled and why the chains and shackles were removed and put into storage.
Then he revealed that freeing the foot “means freedom, hope, and democracy. It’s time that we take that right step forward.”
During the annual meeting, Joye Montgomery was elected president of LWVOR, succeeding Carolyn Dipboye, who served in the position for four years.
This article originally appeared on Oakridger: Fillauer wins Oak Ridge League award for Making Democracy Work