AUSTIN – Ed Burns, who drew on more than 20 years of experience as a Baltimore police detective and as an inner-city public school teacher to co-create and write the acclaimed HBO series “The Wire,” will deliver the keynote speech at the 2010 ACLU of Texas Annual Meeting and Conference, Saturday, July 31, in Austin.

“We are delighted to welcome Ed Burns to Texas,” said ACLU of Texas Executive Director Terri Burke. “As we continue our work to improve our state’s public schools, the insight and perspective of someone like Ed are invaluable.”

Burns is set to headline Youth Rights in Texas: Sensible School Discipline, the topic of this year’s Annual Meeting and Conference. He will share insights and experiences he is now using in his efforts to create positive educational environments.

Youth rights are part of the ACLU of Texas’ campaign to make schools safe learning environments and let teachers concentrate on teaching, not policing. The conference will examine the reasons behind high drop-out rates and illiteracy in Texas public schools.  Other issues include over-policing, excessive use of suspensions and expulsions, and zero tolerance policies which have removed children from schools and placed them on a fast track toward incarceration.

After winning critical acclaim and an Edgar Award for his work on “The Wire,” Burns went on to work on HBO’s “Generation Kill.” His writing credits include “The Corner,” a book – and later a TV mini-series – that chronicled the drug trade in an inner-city Baltimore neighborhood.

For more information and to register for the ACLU of Texas Annual Meeting and Conference, please visit http://aclutx.org/annualmeeting

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