Reading may be fundamental to growing a healthy mind, but if you believe in the mission of one local educator and Cherry Hill resident, it can also serve as a vehicle for healthy emotions.
Such is the job of Kim Leibovitz, who has worked at Hope Community Charter School for the last two years.
“I wear many hats. Part of my job is to do special education, but as the social worker, I primarily teach social and emotional learning,” explained Leibovitz, coordinator of special services at Hope.
“Part of what I do is teaching kids how to understand and regulate emotions, learning how to take a positive approach to improving our school climate and student engagement.”
Located in the heart of Camden, Hope’s mission is to provide a safe, caring, literacy-rich learning environment that guides and inspires students in building a solid academic foundation. Its vision is for these particular academic and emotional surroundings to stoke the fires of learning about the world.
“If you understand your emotions and mental health and coping at a younger age, you’re better at responding to others and their emotions,” Leibovitz explained.
How does that happen? By offering lessons about kindness, something basic that young children can grasp.
“Every school wants their kids to express kindness. But you can’t ask for kindness — you have to model it, you have to teach it,” Leibovitz noted. “It used to be taught in schools as young as kindergarten, but in recent times it’s been overlooked.”
Leibovitz partnered with fellow Cherry Hill resident Rebecca Benjamin; the 18-year-old’s new mobile book van; and “Rebecca’s Mission,” which provides the gift of reading to underserved populations across the Delaware Valley.
“When I learned about Rebecca’s Mission, I was looking to build a library for us,” Leibovitz recalled. “I had the dream of getting a book vending machine where our kids could earn a ‘kindness token’ or ‘work token’ for good deeds and then go get a book. I thought, who would be able to provide the books for a classroom or to be given as a gift?
“When I learned she (Benjamin) was a child herself doing a mission, it just filled me with joy. She’s the ultimate image of what I’m talking about when you give kindness to the world.”
Benjamin brought her mobile reading vehicle to Hope for a special morning school event Dec. 18. She first read to Hope’s kindergarten class, and later took small groups of first- through 5th-graders into the BookMobile and helped them find books consistent with their reading level and by subject.
“One of the beautiful things is that her gift lets them know that, as children, they can do something. And if they are dedicated and work hard, they can make a difference. It was a perfect blend of kindness, work and learning,” Leibovitz noted.
“As a social worker, I say when you take away mental health counseling in school, there’s going to be emotional gaps and without that kind of programming, kids won’t know how to deal with things.
“Later on, it becomes what we have now with a horrendous amount of school violence.”
Leibovitz said 6th District Assemblywoman Pamela Lampitt has taken a keen interest in the social and emotional component of learning in recent times.
Hope Community Charter recently became “kindness certified,” and is now one of two county entities — aside from Cherry Hill Public Schools — to hold that distinction. It is also one of roughly 150 districts nationwide to receive that certification.
“Our literacy scores are very strong. But when we have kindness, compassion, mental health counseling to provide a strong emotional foundation, that’s the recipe for success,” Leibovitz said.
To learn more about Hope Community Charter, visit: https://www.hopecommunitycharter.org/.
For more information about Benjamin’s undertaking, visit: https://www.rebeccasmission.org/
