CULTIVATING CLIMATES OF BELONGING FOR LGBTQ+

Last year”™s Kennedy awardee, Julie Kotler-Snider, left, with this year”™s awardee Hope B. Weinberg.

Manhattanville College in Purchase, New York presented its annual Ethel Kennedy Award for Human Rights Leadership to doctoral recipient Hope B. Weinberg for her work on cultivating climates of belonging for LGBTQ+ children and adults in school communities.

Weinberg, who graduated from Manhattanville with a doctorate in educational leadership in May, is the assistant principal at the Concord Road Elementary School in the Ardsley Union Free School District. Her work on LGBTQ+ inclusion includes a presentation to regional education leaders about cultivating climates of belonging and moderating learning chats and podcast appearances.

“Susan Iverson, Ed.D., director of the doctoral program in Educational Leadership at Manhattanville, said, “Her (Weinberg”™s) work with LGBTQ+ families in school environments is paving the way for advocacy and positive social change that will benefit all students and enhance educational equity. Hope”™s accomplishments are a tribute to Ethel Kennedy”™s commitment to equity and social justice.”

The Ethel Kennedy Award for Human Rights Leadership honors Manhattanville alumna Ethel Kennedy by recognizing students who have a shared passion for promoting human rights, particularly within the field of education.

“In the doctoral program, my chair, Dr. Susan Iversen, asks this about your work: ”˜Who would you like to have sit at your dinner table to talk about your research?”™ I want to tell Ethel Kennedy about it because I want her to really know why I chose to do what I do, what I believe in and how I hope to carry on her legacy of being a social activist,” said Weinberg.  “My son is 4 and I think about what his experience will be like walking through a public-school space having two moms.”

Weinberg, of White Plains, earned her bachelor”™s degree in elementary education from Monmouth University, and her master”™s degree in literacy from The College of New Rochelle. A native of West Nyack, she began her education career as a fifth- and sixth-grade teacher. 

 Last year”™s Kennedy awardee Kotler-Snider of Briarcliff Manor, received the award for her research and advocacy of inclusive practices in special education. She has extensively researched teacher diversity, specifically Black teacher retention in public schools. Kotler-Snider has worked as a special education administrator and school leader for 18 years and a special educator for 24 years.

The Ethel Kennedy award at Manhattanville was established in 2020, through the generosity of Joanne Marien, Ed.D., a professor in the doctoral program who works with RFK Human Rights and has played a long-standing role in promoting human rights education in K-12 schools.