The Rye City School District announced 22 new administrators, teachers, and staff members ahead of the 2025-2026 school year. Of the 22 additions, there are four new district wide administrators and the two new staff members that will be working across the district.
Districtwide
Administrators
Busching joined the RCSD in the new role of RCSD Director of Counseling and Student Wellness in July 2025. As Director of School Counseling and Student Wellness, he is responsible for overseeing the District’s 12 school counselors: six at RHS, three at RMS, and one at each of the elementary schools. He also leads the District’s social-emotional education efforts.
Busching previously was a House Principal for six years at New Rochelle High School. Prior to working in New Rochelle, he was Assistant Dean and then Dean of Students and School Culture at the Antonia Pantoja Preparatory Academy in Bronx, N.Y. Before becoming an administrator, he taught English, grades 7-12, and was a team leader for five years.
Busching has a B.A. in English from Stony Brook University and an M.A. in Liberal Studies from Queens College.
DiGiovanni served as RMS’s Principal from 2020-2025 and previously as Assistant Principal from 2014-2020. He was appointed the RCSD Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources and Leadership in July 2025.
Prior to coming to Rye, DiGiovanni was Assistant Principal and Humanities Coordinator at Hendrick Hudson High School in Montrose, N.Y. Before working at Hendrick Hudson, he taught 7th, 8th, and 9th grade social studies for 10 years at Fieldstone Middle School in the North Rockland Central School District. He began his career as a high school social studies teacher in the Warwick Valley Central School District.
DiGiovanni has a B.S. in Sociology from SUNY Oswego, an M.S. in Instructional Technology from the New York Institute of Technology, and a Certificate of Advanced Study in Educational Administration from SUNY New Paltz.
The District’s previous Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment, Dr. Tricia Murray, is now Superintendent of Schools. Lauren Santabarbara was named the District’s new Assistant
Superintendent for Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment in June 2025. She will assume her position on September 3, 2025.
Santabarbara comes to Rye from the Carmel Central School District, where she served as the Assistant Superintendent of Instruction from 2022-2025. In Carmel, she oversaw K-12 instruction for nearly 3,700 students and professional learning for over 700 faculty and staff. Before becoming Assistant Superintendent, she spent two years as Principal of Carmel High School and seven years prior as Assistant Principal. She began her career as a high school English teacher at Essex Street Academy on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and then at Pearl River High School.
Santabarbara has a B.A. in English Literature from the University of Scranton and an M.A. in Secondary English Instruction from NYU.
In July 2025, Dr. Erin Vredenburgh was named the Rye City School District’s Assistant Superintendent for Pupil Personnel Services. Dr. Vredenburgh had been the District’s Director of Pupil Personnel Services and Special Education since 2019. In that role, she led the department in providing support for students and families. Her new title reflects her responsibility and level of oversight across the District and acknowledges her performance, leadership capacity, and subject-matter expertise in the area of pupil personnel services and special education.
Before coming to Rye, Vredenburgh spent seven years as the Director of Special Education for the Dobbs Ferry School District. Previously, she served as Special Education
Coordinator in the Hyde Park Central School District and as a secondary Special Education Math Teacher. Vredenburgh has a B.A. in Mathematics and an M.A. in Secondary Special Education, both from Mount Saint Mary’s College. Her Doctor of Education degree (Ed.D.) is from St. John’s University.
Staff
Godino comes to Rye to teach English as a New Language (ENL) at Milton and Osborn Schools from the Hendrick Hudson School District where she was a special education teaching assistant. Previously, she spent three years as a 3rd-grade leave replacement teacher and permanent substitute teacher in the Lakeland Central School District. Ms. Godino has a B.S. in Elementary and Early Childhood Education from Pennsylvania State University and an M.S. in Childhood Education from Mercy College.
Wagner comes to oversee the High School/Middle School Media Center from the Patchogue Medford High School in Suffolk County on Long Island, where she worked as a leave replacement/substitute library aide. Previously, she worked as a Children’s Department librarian trainee at the Patchogue-Medford Public Library. She began her career in education as a special education classroom aide at the New Interdisciplinary School in Yaphank, N.Y. She has a B.A. in History from SUNY Oswego and a Master’s in School Librarianship from SUNY Buffalo.
