17 Earn Tenure at Rye Schools

(PHOTO: Rye schools boss Eric Bryne (top, center) reads out the tenure appointments on the June 2, 2020 board of education meeting.)

Seventeen Rye teacher have earned tenure. The tenure awards were read out by schools boss Eric Byrne at the June 2nd board of education meeting.

TENURE AWARDS SPEECH – Tuesday, June 2

“Earning tenure is an achievement that reflects years of education, practice and the thoughtful and intensive application of knowledge and skill. This year, 15 colleagues are receiving their tenure appointments, and I know the entire District will join me in congratulating them on this recognition of their effort.

Christa Agostino

Christa Agostino is a Special Education resource room teacher at Milton School and provides AIS services in reading and math for grades 1-5. For the past two years, she participated in the co-teaching model and recently served as a member of the Elementary Math Committee and served on the Special Education Task Force in 2018. She came to the District in 2016. Prior to coming to Rye, She was a Special Education teacher in Public School 94- King’s College School in Bronx, NY. Christa has BS in Behavioral Science and an MS in Education and Special Education, both from Mercy College.

Debra Aronson

Debra Aronson teaches American Sign Language at Rye Middle School and serves as advisor to the RMS ASL Club.  She joined the District in 2017 as an ASL teacher assigned to both the Middle and High School after serving as a substitute ASL teacher in 2016. Prior to coming to Rye, she taught ASL at Mercy College and to high school students at Solomon Schecter in White Plains. In 2004, she founded C.A.S.L.E. Incorporated, a program to teach ASL to hearing children ages 2-18. She has a BS in Business Administration from the University of Hartford, and a Masters in Teaching American Sign Language as a Foreign Language from the University of Northern Colorado.

Sinead Birdy

Sinead Birdy Joined the DIstrict in 2017 as a District-wide English as a New Language teacher and served on the Elementary Literacy Committee for the 2019-20 school year.  She came to Rye from NYC Public School 119X where she worked as an integrated Co-teacher for 2nd and 3rd Grade ENL and as a 3rd-grade classroom teacher. She has a BA in Communications and Psychology and an MS from the Early Childhood and Childhood Education program, both courtesy my alma mater,  Fordham University.

Cody Blume

Cody Blume joined the District in 2016 as a Social Studies teacher at Rye Middle School.  Prior to coming to Rye, he taught Social Studies at Mamaroneck High School. He coaches the JV Varsity boys squash team at the High School and is a member of the Middle School Challenge Success team. He has a BA in History and Secondary Education, and an MA in World History, both from St. John’s University. He also has an MS in Guidance and Counseling from the College of New Rochelle.

Margaret Brown

Margaret Brown joined the District in 2015 as a 1st-grade leave replacement teacher at Osborn School in 2015, joining the faculty full time in 2016. This past year, she served on the Elementary Literacy Committee. Prior to working in the RCSD, she taught in the Byram Hills School District and was a private tutor. She began her career teaching in the Chicago Public Schools. She has A BS in Psychology from Fordham University and an ME in Curriculum, Instruction and Educational Psychology from Loyola University Chicago.

Gabrielle (Gaby) Del Vecchio

Gaby Del Vecchio joined the RCSD as a 3rd-grade leave replacement teacher at Osborn School in 2016 and joined the faculty full time in 2017. She recently served on the Elementary Math Committee and coordinates the MakerSpace Club. Prior to coming to Rye, she was a 4th grade ICT special education teacher at PS68 in Bronx, NY, and an Associate Teacher at the Stanwich School in Greenwich. She has a BA in Art History and an MPS in Childhood and Special Education, both from Manhattanville College.

Peter (Pete) DeVasto

Pete DeVasto came to Rye High School in 2017 as an ELA teacher. Prior to coming to Rye, he taught at Mamaroneck High School and Harrison High School as a leave replacement teacher. Before embarking on his teaching career, he worked in accounting and realty. He has a BA in Humanities and Philosophy from the University of New Hampshire and an M.Ed. in Secondary Teaching One, English, from Boston College’s Lynch School of Education.

Eric DiVito

Eric DiVito came to Osborn School in 2017 as a full-time music teacher. Prior to coming to Rye, Eric was an elementary music teacher at PS397 the Spruce Street School and a Middle School Music Teacher at M.S. 345 CASTLE, both in Manhattan. Eric has a Bachelor of Music in classical guitar performance and music education, K-12, from the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam and an MA in Jazz Performance from the Aaron Copland School of Music at CUNY Queens College. He is a Freelance guitarist and leads the Eric DiVito modern Jazz group.

Daniel Freeman

Daniel Freeman joined the District in 2015, teaching social studies and special education at Rye High School. He became a full-time social studies teacher in 2018. He coaches one of the two Middle School modified girls basketball teams. Prior to coming to Rye, he was a social studies teacher at Albertus Magnus High School in Bardonia, NY.  and at Our Lady of Grace Catholic School in Fairview, NJ. He has a BA in History and Secondary Education from the Catholic University of America and a MS in Special Education from The City College of New York.

Sally Mitchell

Sally Mitchell came to the RCSD in 2017 as a Chemistry and Physics teacher at Rye High School. She is advisor to the Chemistry Club, co-advisor to the Science Olympiad and volunteers as an assistant to the girls volleyball program. Prior to coming to Rye, she taught mathematics at Pine Grove Middle School in East Syracuse, was a 2016 Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow at the Department of Energy in Washington D.C., and taught science at the East Syracuse Minoa Central High School. Sally has a BS in Chemistry and Biology and a MS in Science Education, both from Syracuse University. She is a New York State STEM Master Teacher.

Fatima Olivera

Fatima Olivera is a FLES teacher at Midland School.  Fatima joined the RCSD full time in 2017 and first worked at Osborn School. Prior to coming to the RCSD, she taught FLES at the Ward Elementary School in New Rochelle and Spanish 2 at New Rochelle High School. She taught FLES at Midland School and Spanish 1 & 2 at the Rye School of Leadership during the 2014-15 school year. For 5 years prior to that, she was a  Special Education Spanish teacher grades 8-12 at PNW BOCES. Fatima has a BA from SUNY Binghamton and an MA in Teaching Spanish K-12 from Manhattanville College.

Scott Peck

Scott Peck came to Rye Middle School as a Technology Teacher in 2017. He implemented the new engineering curriculum with Project Lead the Way,  teaching both robotics and engineering. He coaches the Rye Middle School modified wrestling team and is the advisor for the RMS robotics club. Prior to coming to Rye, he was a high school and middle school technology teacher in the Ravena Coeymans Selkirk Central Schools. Scott has a BS in technology education from SUNY Oswego and an MA in Geoscience Education from Western Governors University.

Taryn Phelan

Taryn Phelan came to Rye High School as a Social Studies teacher in 2016. She is an advisor to the High School student council. Before coming to Rye, she was a leave replacement teacher at Hastings High School and a Permanent substitute at Dobbs Ferry High School. She has a BS in Adolescence Education and Social Studies from SUNY Oswego, and an MS in Literacy Education, Birth to 12th grade, from Mercy College.

Dr. Natalie Spina

Natalie Spina joined the District as a school psychologist at Rye Middle School in 2016. Prior to coming to Rye, she was a school psychologist at Ardsley High School and at the Hallen School in New Rochelle.  She has a BA in Psychology and an MA in School Psychology, both from Iona College, and a doctorate in School Psychology from Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Jonathan Tuttle

Jonathan Tuttle came to the Rye City School District as a Physical Education teacher at Osborn School in 2017 after serving as a physical education leave replacement teacher at Midland and Osborn Schools. He is also the Assistant to the Modified Track program at RMS, assistant to the boys soccer program at the High School, and Coach to one of the girls Modified basketball teams.  Prior to coming to Rye, he taught Physical Education at the Newburgh Preparatory Charter School and in the Arlington Central School District.  Jonathan has a BS in Education from SUNY Cortland and a Masters in Health Education from West Virginia University.”