<<Districtwide>>
Luisa Batista-Gallo
<Foreign Language, Middle and High Schools>
Ms. Batista-Gallo joins from the Huntington Union Free School District, where she has taught middle and high school Spanish for two years. Prior to that, she taught Spanish for three years at KIPP NYC College Prep Charter School in the Bronx and for two years at Valley Stream Central High School on Long Island.
She has a BA in Spanish Language and Literature from SUNY Stony Brook and an MA in Spanish Language and Literature from Hofstra University. She received a FLES (Foreign Language in the Elementary Schools) Certification from Dowling College’s Institute for Certification of Instruction in Foreign Languages.
Sinead Birdy
<English as a New Language (ENL)>
Ms. Birdy comes to Rye from Public School 119X in the Bronx, where she has worked for the past three years as an integrated co-teacher in second and third grade English as a New Language and as a third grade classroom teacher.
She has a BA and an MS in Education, both from Fordham University, advanced certificates in Gifted and Talented from Hunter College and in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) from Mercy College.
Dr. Eric Byrne
<Superintendent of Schools>
Dr. Byrne took the helm on July 1. For the past six years, he served as Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction in the Chappaqua Central School District. Previously, he served as Principal of the Roaring Brook School in Chappaqua, of the Pound Ridge Elementary School in the Bedford Central School District, and of PS 183 on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. He began his career as a high school science teacher at Grover Cleveland High School in Queens, and later became an elementary school teacher at PS 183. For more than eleven years he has served as an Adjunct Professor at Fordham University’s Graduate School of Education.
Dr. Byrne has a BA in Natural Science from Fordham University, and an MS in Teaching and an EdD in Educational Leadership, Administration and Policy, both from Fordham University’s Graduate School of Education.
Eric DiVito
<Music, Osborn and Milton Schools>
Mr. DiVito comes to Rye from PS397, Spruce Street School, in Lower Manhattan, where he taught elementary music for four years. Previously, he taught music for seven years at C.A.S.T.L.E. Middle School on the Lower East Side. He is a private guitar instructor, composer, freelance guitarist, and leader of an eponymous modern Jazz group, the Eric DiVito group, which performs in jazz clubs in Manhattan. He has produced two records with the record label Pioneer Jazz Collective (PJC Records).
He received a BM from the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam and an MA from the Aaron Copeland School of Music at CUNY Queens College.
Dr. Erin Hyle
<School Psychologist>
Dr. Erin Hyle comes to the District from Pleasantville High School, where she completed her doctoral internship. Previously, she worked for five years as a full time school psychologist at the Gordon C. Swift Middle School in Watertown, Conn.
She has a BS in Human Development from Binghamton University; an MS in Education with a major in Preschool Psychology and a Professional Diploma in School Psychology from Fordham University; and a PhD in School Psychology, also from Fordham University.
Fatima Oliveira
<FLES (Foreign Language in the Elementary Schools), Osborn and Midland Schools>
Fatima Oliveira returns to the District from Ward Elementary School in New Rochelle, where she has taught FLES for the past two years, and New Rochelle High School, where she has taught Spanish 2. Ms. Oliveira taught FLES to grades 2 and 3 at Midland School in 2014-15. Previously, she was a special education Spanish teacher for grades 8-12 at Putnam/Northern Westchester BOCES for five years.
She has a BA in Psychology and a minor in Spanish from SUNY Binghamton and an MA in Teaching Spanish K-12 from Manhattanville College.
Scott Peck
<Technology, Rye Middle and High Schools>
Mr. Peck comes to Rye from Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk High School near Albany, where he taught middle and high school technology and Project Lead the Way courses the past nine years. He has a BS in Technology Education from SUNY Oswego and an MA in Science Education from Western Governors University.
Wendy Robins
<English as a New Language (ENL)>
Ms. Robins returns to Rye from Port Chester Middle School where she worked as an English Language Arts and English as a New Language teacher for the past two years. She previously worked in the District for nine years as a Teaching Assistant in the Special Education Department and as an Elementary Reading and Writing Summer School Program teacher.
She has a BA from Queens College and a Masters of Professional Studies TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) from Manhattanville College.
<<Rye High School>>
Ashley Blanch
<Mathematics>
Ms. Blanch comes to Rye from Somers Middle School, where she worked as a Teaching Assistant, and Somers High School, where she was a Student Teacher. Previously, she worked as a Teacher Aide at Ziccolella Middle School in Hastings-on-Hudson.
Ms. Blanch has a BA in Economics from the University of Colorado and an MS in Middle and High School Mathematics Education from CUNY Lehman College.
Sally Mitchell
<Science>
Ms. Mitchell comes to Rye from Pine Grove Middle School in Syracuse, where she worked as a mathematics teacher for the past year. Prior to that, she taught science for 18 years at two Syracuse-area high schools. She is a New York State STEM Master Teacher and is certified to teach Physics, Chemistry, Biology, General Science, and Mathematics.
She has a BS in Chemistry and Biology from Syracuse University and an MS in Science Education from the Syracuse University School of Education. In 2016 she was named an Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science.
Cristina O’Connor
<Guidance Counselor>
Ms. O’Connor comes from EF International Academy in Thornwood, where she worked as a school counselor for the past three years. Prior to that, she was a School Counselor Leave Replacement at Clarkstown High School North in New City, N.Y.
She has a BS in Visual Arts Education from SUNY New Paltz and an MA in Counseling and Guidance from New York University.
Jeffrey Shannon
<Mathematics>
Jeffrey Shannon comes to Rye from the David A. Broody Intermediate School 228 for Magnet Studies in Brooklyn, where he has taught seventh and eighth grade mathematics. Previously he taught eighth grade mathematics and Algebra at Holley Middle and High School, in upstate New York, for two years.
Mr. Shannon has a BA in Mathematics with a concentration in Adolescent Education and an MS in Adolescent Education, both from SUNY Geneseo.
<<Milton School>>
Erin McArdle
<Second Grade>
Ms. McArdle comes to Milton from Hastings-On-Hudson, where she has been a leave replacement teacher for the past five years. She has also worked in both the Harrison and Greenwich public school districts as a leave replacement teacher. For eight years, she served as the director of Winged Foot Golf Club’s summer camp. She has a BA from Fairfield University and a MA in Teaching from Manhattanville College.
<<Osborn School>>
Samantha Cullen
<Speech Pathologist>
Ms. Cullen joins Osborn from the New York City Department of Education, where she worked as a speech language pathologist and pathologist-evaluator. Previously, she worked as an itinerant speech language pathologist for the Los Angeles Unified School District.
She has a BA in Linguistics from SUNY Albany and an MS in Speech Language Pathology from Mercy College.
Claudine Minella
<First Grade>
Ms. Minella was previously a kindergarten, second, and third grade substitute teacher at Osborn School, and a Kindergarten leave replacement teacher at Ridgeway School in White Plains. She also worked as an Academic Intervention Services reading and math teacher at Purchase School in Harrison. She began her career as a second grade teacher in the White Plains Public Schools, before becoming that district’s Literacy Developer.
She has a BS in Elementary Education from Pace University, and an MS with a specialty in Reading from St. John’s University.
Jon Tuttle
