As Director of Guidance for the Rye Neck School District, Ann Wallace has met the academic, social, and emotional needs of thousands of students during her tenure. After running the middle and high school guidance program for 12 years, she is retiring this month.
By Janice Llanes Fabry
As Director of Guidance for the Rye Neck School District, Ann Wallace has met the academic, social, and emotional needs of thousands of students during her tenure. After running the middle and high school guidance program for 12 years, she is retiring this month.
“I’ll miss the kids. They’ve always been the fun part of the job, but I know I’m leaving everyone in good hands,” she said. “We have the most hard-working, dedicated counselors, who constantly evaluate, tweak, and adjust our programs to meet the needs of the students.”
An educator all her life, Wallace started out as an elementary school teacher in Maryland. Upon moving to Rye 30 years ago, she ran Tot Drop at Rye Presbyterian for four years. At the same time, she earned her Master’s degree in counseling in education, and then went on to earn additional educational administrative degrees. Wallace worked as Director of Guidance at Rye High School for two years before settling in at Rye Neck, where she expanded the department with two full-time counselors in the middle school and three in the high school.
“What we cultivated is a collaboration and team work that fosters the fact that kids feel free to go to any one of our counselors, who have built relationships with the kids outside of their offices through extracurricular clubs or sports. They all work beautifully together,” explained Wallace.
In addition to one-on-one counseling, the department offers a myriad of services for grades 6 through 12 that include character education classes, transitional programs, career workshops, and parent meetings. Their “Managing Your Future” classes for 11th graders encompass college research, self-exploration, community service, as well as interviewing and resume writing instruction. In addition, the students have the opportunity to act as college admissions counselors and review applications to a fictitious college, an exercise that opens their eyes to the other side of the daunting college process.
For Wallace, the most rewarding aspect of her job has been helping the kids who have faced the greatest struggles. Nevertheless, she remarked, “Even the kids who seemingly have had an easier road getting through high school are still going through adolescence. It’s about putting all kids on the right path.”
High School Principal Barbara Ferraro said, “It has been an honor to work with Ann. She is an educator of the highest caliber, who leads by example, always giving generously of her time to assist students and colleagues alike.”
Wallace is touched by all the kind words and gifts she’s received these past weeks. Aware of her plans to spend more time at a summerhouse in Cape Cod, one Rye Neck family presented her with a beach chair and towel, sunglasses, a summer read, and a sand pail filled with a home-baked dessert and complete with shovel.
“If my colleagues have any questions, they know they’ll find me at the Cape. I hope they call me at least once,” she said.
