Maureen Costello, retired director of Teaching Tolerance, has been a teacher and educational leader for over 40 years. Before joining the Southern Poverty Law Center, Costello worked for Scholastic, Inc. and directed the Newsweek Education Program. She began her career as a history and economics teacher at Notre Dame Academy High School in Staten Island. Throughout her career, Costello has been committed to fostering the ideals of democracy and citizenship in young people. She is a graduate of the New School University and the New York University Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. In retirement, she continues to write and speak on education issues.
Maureen
Costello
Sign in to save these resources.
Login or create an account to save resources to your bookmark collection.
Articles by Maureen
What’s in a Name?
Teaching Tolerance director Maureen Costello addresses concerns over the meaning of "tolerance."
20 Years of Change
Teaching Tolerance director Maureen Costello looks back on our 20th birthday.
Bringing 9/11 Into the Classroom—10 Years Later
My son was a 16-year-old high school junior on 9/11/2001. He could see the twin towers burning a few miles across the harbor from his school in Staten Island, N.Y. Across the country, other students watched the images on television, either as they were happening or later, as they looped endlessly on cable news.
Alabama’s Immigration Law: The New Jim Crow
Alabama’s new law—with provisions against hiring, harboring or transporting undocumented immigrants—is bad enough for adults. But it is potentially disastrous for kids.
End the Silence on LGBT Bullying
New evidence of the bullying crisis in our schools appears daily in news reports and blogs. For some students, verbal harassment, cyber-ostracism and physical abuse are as routine as turning in homework. That’s particularly true for students who are—or simply perceived to be—gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender (LGBT).