STANDING Brooklyn’s Biggest Booster
STRAIGHT A: (From left) Schneps Media president and publisher Victoria Schneps-Yunis awards Tabari Zaid
Bomani, principal and founder of the Nelson Mandela School for Social Justice, with the Outstanding School
Award alongside Mia Webber, executive editor of New York Family, at the magazine’s annual Blackboard
Awards. Photo by Trey Pentecost
Principals are top of the class
BOROUGH WIDE
Three cheers to the two local
principals honored by
Schneps Media’s New York
Family magazine at the publication’s
COURIER L 34 IFE, FEB. 1–7, 2019 M B G
annual awards ceremony
on Jan. 14, where the
Kings County educators were
recognized for dedicating
their lives to the enrichment
of local youngsters.
Schneps Media president
and publisher Victoria Schneps
Yunis handed Tabari
Zaid Bomani, principal and
founder of the Nelson Mandela
School for Social Justice
in Bedford-Stuyvesant, a
Blackboard Award plaque
in the Outstanding School
category for his Fulton Street
high school, which he said
succeeds on the strength of
its inclusivity.
“Our core philosophy is
organized around the conviction
that our school community
is open to all students,
regardless of their
educational or personal history,”
said Bomani at the
ceremony held at the New
York Institute of Technology
in Manhattan.
And Karen Ditolla,
principal at Mark Twain
IS 239 for the Gifted and
Talented in Coney Island,
nabbed the plaque for Outstanding
Principal, saying
her students inspire her
each and every day to strive
for perfection.
“There is a magic at
Twain that continues to inspire
both young and mature,”
said Ditolla. “Simply
put, I would not want to be
anywhere else. I am humbled
to be part of such a community.”
The Blackboard Awards,
which kicked off in 2002,
honors both exceptional
schools and educators across
the fi ve boroughs.
Bomani spoke about his school. Photo by Trey Pentecost
(Above) Karen Ditolla, left, principal of Mark Twain IS 239, and Schneps-Yunis shared the podium. (Right) Ditolla, center, received her award for Outstanding Principal from Schneps-
Yunis and Webber. Photos by Trey Pentecost