Rye City Schools – Teachers of the Year – Guzzo & Warner

The Rye City School District Teacher of the Year is nominated annually by their fellow teachers, administrators, and current and former parents and students; and the teacher selected for the next school year is announced at Superintendent’s Conference Day at the end of June.

Once in a blue moon, the candidates are just too close to make a determination between, and two Teachers of the Year are selected (the last case being in 2014-2015 with Osborn’s Carrie Burke and Midland’s Sharon Straussberg). Such was the case this year, and the District’s two Teachers of the Year are Patrizia Guzzo from Osborn School and Kristen Warner from Rye High School. Meet the RCSD Teachers of the Year.

Congrats to the winners for this amazing recognition!:

Patrizia Guzzo

Patrizia Guzzo has been a Kindergarten teacher at Osborn School for the past ten years. In a letter recommending her for Parent of the Year, an Osborn parent wrote, “We often hear parents compare having a child in her class to winning the lottery.” Another parent said, “Teaching is not just a job for Mrs. Guzzo, it’s a calling; and we are so fortunate that she is answering that call in the Rye City School District.” Patrizia first came to Osborn in 2010 as a leave replacement Kindergarten teacher; and one year later, she joined the Osborn faculty full time. Prior to coming to Rye, she was a leave replacement teacher at the Pocantico Hills Central School District and the Union Free Schools of Tarrytown. She has a BS in Behavioral Science and an MS in Early Childhood Education, both from Mercy College.

Kristen Warner

Kristen Warner came to Rye High School in 1995 as a social studies teacher. She teaches AP U.S. Government and Politics and AP Psychology. Since 2015, she has served as the Faculty Advisor for the Be the Change Club, a club at the High School that seeks to make the school as inclusive as possible. For over 20 years she served as the Coordinator for the Writing Mentor Program, a program that pairs student with trained faculty writing mentors for personalized writing sessions. She is a two-time recipient of the Rye High School Distinguished Service Award. She has a BA in History from Yale College, and an Ed.M. in Teaching and Curriculum from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. In nominating her for the award, a former student said, “Mrs. Warner’s passion for the curriculum and her joy in being in the classroom amongst her students radiated through her teaching.” A colleague said of her, “We are all fortunate to work with this humble, modest, insightful superstar; she is the best of the best.”