Collaborate, Educate, Innovate, Celebrate
Meet the 2023 Rhode Island
District Teachers of the Year
Lisa Leaheey
2023 Rhode Island State Teacher of the Year
Lisa has taught English at North Providence High School for the entirety of her 23-year career. A lifelong voracious reader and movie buff, she spends every day sharing her passion for stories with her students, connecting their experiences with those found in print and on film. Lisa hails from a family of teachers, and has known since she was a child that she belonged in the classroom. Her utmost focus is encouraging her students to open their minds to new perceptions of the world and to share their opinions with others, developing lasting connections through narrative.
Julie Abbruzzi
2023 Barrington Teacher of the Year
Julie has been teaching math in the Barrington district since 1996, first at the middle school, then at the high school level. She loves learning new things, and being a student helps her learn how to be a better teacher. Julie's father was a great teacher and football coach. He taught her about strength of character and how to enjoy life, and she tries to bring that strength and joy into her classroom. She likes to have fun in class, play math games, and make her classroom a fun place to learn.
David Aubin
2023 North Kingstown Teacher of the Year
David has been with the World Language Department in North Kingstown for over twenty years. He has enjoyed teaching middle school students and learning alongside them as they develop appreciation for languages and cultures. It is his goal that each student be seen, heard, supported, and appreciated each day. He is deeply committed to inclusion, representation, and student voice in education and strives to develop compassionate, curious, and tolerant global citizens.
Sherrie-Lynne Belanger
2023 Pawtucket Teacher of the Year
Sherrie-Lynne has been teaching Mathematics for 21 years and Computer Science for about 5 years. 20 of the 21 years have been at Charles E. Shea High School in Pawtucket. In her first year, she taught at Samuel Slater Middle School in Pawtucket. Sherrie-Lynne has a passion for sharing my love for math and computer science with my students every day, hoping to inspire them to find that same love for both subjects. She has always wanted to be a teacher, but found her joy in high school education. She spends her days encouraging and challenging her students to push beyond the expectations of others and show the world just how talented they are.
Danielle Bruneau
2023 Chariho Teacher of the Year
Danielle is a special education teacher working in the Clinical Day Program of the Chariho Alternative Learning Academy. She is passionate about meeting students where they are at and asking them to go 'just one step more' outside of their comfort zone. She has focused her career around learning the best practices of project based learning and authentic standards based assessments. This approach to personalized learning has allowed her students to engage in education and explore their own areas of interest. She is thrilled to stretch her development with new partner classrooms and teachers across Rhode Island!
Alicia Charpentier
2023 North Providence Teacher of the Year
Alicia has been a member of the science department at North Providence High School for the entirety of her seventeen year career. If you were to walk into her classroom, you'd be in for an inquiry-based, hands-on learning experience, as she believes that the best way to learn science concepts is by doing the things! Her teaching thrives on forming positive, meaningful relationships with her own students as well as other students and colleagues within the community at NPHS. This strong foundation allows for her classroom to be a fun, inviting place of learning and acceptance.
Katharine Cioe
2023 Foster-Glocester Teacher of the Year
Katharine (Katie) Cioe has taught at Ponaganset High School for the past 4 years. Her 15-year teaching career includes diverse experience as a middle school teacher in a small midwest K-12 school, teaching in a night school program for disadvantaged teens in rural New Hampshire, and teaching middle school and high school in several Rhode Island districts. Her teaching has focused on uplifting student voice, creating an inclusive classroom and helping students find themselves and others through literature. Katie has collaborated with administrators, peers, and students to obtain grants, most recently the XQ Grant, to fund innovative, student centered instruction. Her recent efforts have been to expand equity in education by facilitating district wide professional development as well as leading staff and student Equity Teams.
Christina Cipolla
2023 William M. Davies, Jr. Career & Technical High School Teacher of the Year
Christina Cipolla has dedicated her professional life to education and used her talents to promote diversity, inclusion, and literacy. In 1997, after working in several other teaching positions, Christina obtained a Special Education role at WM Davies Career and Technical High School. In 2001, she earned an M.Ed. in Reading from RIC. She then became a Reading Specialist at Davies. After fifteen years in this role, she returned to a Special Educator role. During her career, she was a scorer for the RI Writing Assessment and attended NECAP and PARCC conferences where she served on Item Review and Bias and Sensitivity Committees. In 2016, Christina was appointed to the RI State Literacy Board and as the Davies PBIS school-wide/tier 1 coordinator. In 2021, Christina earned a Master’s degree in TESOL from RIC and is now certified as a MLL teacher K-12. Christina is currently a member of the RI Latino Book Award Committee. Christina’s philosophy of education is that all children can and will learn when provided with nurturing learning environments. She cares and displays the utmost consideration for others, especially children. Christina’s ultimate goal to continue to work diligently to help all students at Davies thrive and develop.
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Aimee Couto
2023 East Providence Teacher of the Year
Aimee has taught in the East Providence School District for 12 years. During that time, she has taught both 1st and 4th grade. She thrives on developing the foundational skills required for students to learn and become lifelong readers. She continues to enhance her own abilities and knowledge in this area through professional development. Aimee believes her students have the greatest opportunity for success when they are learning within the context of a relationship or community of trust, care, and respect. When they have a safe place to learn, it's a safe place to take risks and to share one's own work and ideas.
Judith D'Angelo
2023 Kingston Hill Academy Teacher of the Year
Nurse Judy happily joined the staff of Kingston Hill Academy in the summer of 2005 as the school nurse. She is originally from Western New York and currently resides in North Kingstown. After graduating from Niagara University with a Bachelors of Science degree in Nursing, she worked as a staff nurse at Children’s Hospital of Buffalo in the Intensive Care Nursery. Since then, she has enjoyed being a school nurse for students of all ages. Nurse Judy earned her Master's of Education/Health degree from Rhode Island College in June 2011 and is currently a Rhode Island Certified School Nurse Teacher. Fully believing that healthy children learn better, Nurse Judy focuses on the whole child and on ensuring that all students are ready to learn.
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Jessica DeRemer
2023 Smithfield Teacher of the Year
Jessica is currently teaching Art at Gallagher Middle School in Smithfield where she has taught for 25 years. Jessica has a passion for her subject and strives to have each of her students love art as much as she does. Her lessons provide students with knowledge about artists and art history. She encourages students to experiment with many materials, techniques, and processes while encouraging students to create art work that is meaningful to them. Jessica believes that art education enhances the lives of her students.
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Renee DiCenso
2023 Woonsocket Teacher of the Year
Renee has been a certified school nurse teacher in Woonsocket for 23 years. She has worked in many schools in the district and has organized flu clinics and health and wellness fairs, and she has created many partnerships with community resources. Her nurse clinic is a safe place for students to come to talk, to learn about asthma or diabetes, and to get connected with the resources they need. She is an advocate for students, family, and staff.
Dana Doucette
2023 East Greenwich Teacher of the Year
Mrs. Doucette has been an educator in East Greenwich since 2011, teaching at Meadowbrook, Hannaford, and Frenchtown schools. Her journey in Rhode Island began after 5 years of teaching in New Jersey School systems. She earned her Master’s Degree in Education from Quinnipiac University in 2006, Special Education and Gifted and Talented certification from Georgian Court University in 2008, and is currently completing her Doctorate in Educational Leadership through Johnson & Wales University. Mrs. Doucette is passionate about teaching, learning, and providing all students with the best conditions to promote success. She strives to make learning fun and engaging and shows school spirit by dressing in costume for theme days or sporting school apparel. She is also an active member of the community and loves attending PTG events. Mrs. Doucette values collaborating with her colleagues. In 2022, while teaching full-time, she earned an administrative certification through the CLEE Principal Residency Network. She plans to continue her teacher leader role as co-chair of Frenchtown’s School Improvement Team as well as an active member of the MTSS Committee. When she is not in the classroom you will find Mrs. Doucette on a sports field cheering on her two sons, Alexander and Connor. Mrs. Doucette is honored and humbled to receive this year’s Teacher of the Year Award. She would like to thank her colleagues, students, and the E.G. community for joining her in her commitment to making the East Greenwich School System the best in Rhode Island!
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Rebecca Duff
2023 South Kingstown Teacher of the Year
Rebecca has been teaching for 22 years in South Kingstown; most of those years were in first grade while 6 of them have been teaching Kindergarten. Being a part of a child's educational journey and development is a privilege that Rebecca is honored to have. Building relationships with each child and helping them learn about themselves as learners and humans in our classroom and larger community are focuses in her classroom.
Meredith Goddard
2023 Exeter-West Greenwich Teacher of the Year
Meredith is a second grade teacher. She has taught fourth, first, kindergarten, third, and second grade. She has been teaching for seven years. Meredith's classroom is a play-based, independently driven, choice centric learning environment with a solid balance of structure, routine, and student led learning. Meredith's love of teaching came directly from her mother (a teacher), and from her brother. If you stepped into her second grade classroom you'd see her students fully motivated in their own directed learning plan. Meredith believes that true educating is allowing students to show what they know through different mediums. Meredith has a master's degree in elementary education from the University of Rhode Island.
Amanda Gotay
2023 Blackstone Valley Prep Teacher of the Year
Amanda grew up in the South Bronx and was the first in her family to attend college and graduate with a Bachelor's degree. Amanda has always had a passion for teaching and working with children since she could remember. She recalls playing "teacher" with her siblings and getting her first job as a teen leader at a summer camp at the age of 14. She has been in the education field for the last 12 years. She has held a variety of positions including lead teacher and manager at childcare centers throughout RI and MA. In 2019, Amanda became a kindergarten teacher in Blackstone Valley Prep Mayoral Academy; where she's now a first grade teacher. Amanda's hope and dream is to inspire her scholars to be the best version of themselves inside and outside the classroom. She wishes for her scholars to have a love for learning despite any challenges they may face during their educational journey.
Catherine Hawthorne Kocak
2023 Warwick Teacher of the Year
Cathy has had the opportunity to work in many different settings in her 24-year career as an educator. She has worked in both public and private schools at the elementary and middle school levels. Her career began in Indianapolis, then continued in Albany, NY. In 2007, she began working in Warwick with middle school students as a science teacher. Cathy focuses on providing an engaging, supportive, and challenging learning environment that asks students not to memorize facts but to ask questions, conduct investigations, analyze the data, share their thinking, and support their conclusions with evidence. Having recently earned a PhD from URI, she is currently the science content lead at Winman Middle School. Cathy is a lifelong learner who strives to support other learners on the journey.
Christeen Hum
2023 Trinity Academy for the Performing Arts
Teacher of the Year
Christeen has been a teacher for 8 years. She currently teaches 7th grade English at Trinity Academy for the Performing Arts and loves her job. She believes that middle school is the time that students blossom into the people they will be for most of their adolescence and makes it her goal to spread compassion, social justice, and "geekiness" to all of her students to help them become life longer learners and advocates of the future. Her chosen family and co-workers are her support system and they create an environment of love and understanding that she hopes to replicate with her students.
Carla Jewell
2023 Newport Teacher of the Year
Carla taught special education in Newport Public Schools for 17 years before transitioning into third grade this school year. She graduated as the valedictorian of her class from Salve Regina University in 2004 and recently completed her master's degree from Southern New Hampshire University, earning the Distinguished Scholar award for the highest GPA in her program. Carla is dedicated to building connections between all students at school. She leads the Best Buddies program at Pell, the only elementary Best Buddies program on Aquidneck Island. She is committed to empowering all students to learn and succeed.
Karyn Kauffman
2023 Jamestown Teacher of the Year
Karyn has taught band, chorus, keyboard, composition, jazz band, and general music classes for students in grades 5-8 at Lawn Avenue School in Jamestown for 24 years. Her greatest passion and influence in life has always been music. She grew up with it; her father was a music teacher and she began piano lessons with him at the age of three. Karyn believes that anyone can and, just as importantly, should learn to sing or play an instrument. As with any subject area, learning music takes tremendous effort and a growth mindset. That mindset should not be limited to just the willingness to learn music, but the belief that music is worth learning and makes you a better learner in general. As a teacher, her obligation to students is to share how wonderful music can be and to demand excellence while keeping it fun and making connections. Her goal has always been to build a program where music is an integral component of the school curriculum and where every student is inspired by their musical experience.
Sarah Kristiansen
2023 The Greene School Teacher of the Year
Sarah came to teaching as a second career, and has been teaching English to high school students at The Greene School since 2018. Passionate about language, communication and the power of rhetoric, Sarah strives to help students find their voice, and then use it to uplift, inspire, and create change. Students in her classroom learn to examine society through the lenses of position, power, and perspective, engaging often in dialog that deals directly with equity and bias, where students (and teacher) learn to listen actively to the stories that make up our lives and as a result, Mrs. K's classroom is full of the best kind of noise. It is Sarah's goal to create a classroom community where students learn to channel their curiosity into inquiry and deep, authentic learning.
Lauren Leonti
2023 Burrillville Teacher of the Year
After 15 years as a high school / middle school Teacher in Burrillville, Lauren made the jump to Burrillville Middle School guidance counselor in September 2021. Whether teaching social studies or counseling students, it has always been Lauren's practice to find various ways to connect with students. Clear communication, advocacy, and support has helped students to achieve their potential in Lauren's classroom and guidance office!
Jennifer Marvel
2023 Cumberland Teacher of the Year
Jen has taught in Cumberland for the entirety of her career at the very same school where she completed her student teaching. She began teaching special education at Ashton School in September of 2006. Jen is currently a math interventionist. She most enjoys making connections with her elementary-aged students and supporting their growth and learning of mathematics. Besides teaching she enjoys reading, hiking, going to the beach and snuggling with her cat, Autumn. Jennifer received her Bachelor of Arts Degree from Providence College in 2006. She currently lives in Cranston.
Matthew McGuire
2023 Tiverton Teacher of the Year
Matt has been a physical education / health teacher in the Tiverton School Department for almost 30 years. He has also been a baseball coach for that same time span. His primary focus is connecting with all of his students by providing a fun and enjoyable experience for everyone involved. He strives for the connection of learning into the real world.
Angelina Newbury
2023 Rhode Island Nurses Institute Middle College
Charter High School Teacher of the Year
Angelina is originally from Providence, Rhode Island. She considers herself to be blessed with the opportunity to grow up in a diverse community much like her school. In 2018, she was presented with the opportunity to join the Rhode Island Nurses Institute Middle College Charter High School (RINI) community, and she accepted this new role open-heartedly. While she has only been at RINI for 4 years, she has over 20 years of experience in education. During her childhood years, there was one particular person who motivated her to try hard in school and establish higher learning goals. That memory has fueled her desire to be that same type of motivator in her school community. If she can be the voice of inspiration for at least one student, she has done her job.
Lindsay Paiva
2023 Providence Teacher of the Year
Lindsay is an antiracist and abolitionist educator and community organizer in Providence, RI. She currently teaches third grade multilingual learners and has been an MLL teacher in public schools for the past seven years. Lindsay is a fierce advocate for all learners, and she works alongside families to create the best possible classroom and school-wide conditions for her students to flourish. She believes that classrooms are little pieces of the wider world and are spaces where we practice how to be in community with each other while learning alongside one other. Lindsay works to create a classroom that is collaborative, equitable, and inquisitive, encouraging students to learn, grow, make mistakes, and keep going. In the classroom, she is a warm demander, holding high standards for each child, while modeling deep love and support for everyone who is part of our classroom and school community. As much as possible, Lindsay tries to ground the work in real life applications and action-oriented projects to help students understand the "why" behind their assignments.
Susan Parillo
2023 Johnston Teacher of the Year
Susan has been a Health & PE teacher at the elementary level for over 20 years. Her gymnasium is a classroom where meaningful learning through movement exploration takes place. She has developed programs in her school and district to enrich the school climate for both students and faculty and takes pride in her school community relations. Her message that she reinforces with her students daily is that one person can make a difference - Let it be YOU - be YOU and be KIND.
Kimberlie Peecher
2023 Bristol-Warren Teacher of the Year
Kimberlie is a Kindergarten teacher at Rockwell School in Bristol RI. For the last 16 years, prior to this year, she was at Hugh Cole School in Warren. Kimberlie has been teaching since September 1989. She spent the first 4 years in first grade and the rest of her career has been in Kindergarten. Her favorite part of Kindergarten is when a child gets those "aha moments". There are so many of them in Kindergarten. Reading and writing are Kimberlie's favorite parts of the day; she loves children's literature and she loves sharing it with her students. You'll often hear her say, "This is one of my favorite books," and the children will often say back, "You say that all the time."
Deba Pietsch
2023 Rhode Island School for the Deaf Teacher of the Year
Deba is in her 6th year teaching secondary English at Rhode Island School for the Deaf. As an avid reader, book collector, and free writer, she enjoys sharing why reading and writing are so crucial to Deaf students and that learning those skills can be fun, even though they face daily challenges learning reading and writing.
Kevin Reilly, Sr.
2023 Portsmouth Teacher of the Year
Kevin Reilly Sr. has been a Tech Ed Teacher at Portsmouth High School since the fall of 2001. After spending many years in the Graphic Arts industry, Kevin accepted a job in Portsmouth as a Graphic Arts Teacher and has been there ever since. Teaching many disciplines such as video production, web page design, architectural drawing, CAD, and video broadcast journalism along with 2 levels of graphics, Kevin's passion is in enabling kids to create with applied learning skills. Mr. Reilly is also very active in the Portsmouth School community, being involved in high school sports and other extracurricular activities. "Getting to know kids in all they do truly helps me to understand kids as a whole."
Frances Saenz
2023 International Charter School Teacher of the Year
Frances is part of the Instructional Support Team and she focuses on modeling, coaching, and mentoring to support individual teacher needs. She also conducts reading interventions in the Spanish side of her school.
Sam Saltz
2023 Providence Preparatory Charter School
Teacher of the Year
Before moving to Rhode Island, Sam taught in his hometown of New York City, where he was named a New York Times Foundation Teacher Who Makes a Difference. Currently, he can be found teaching at Providence Preparatory Charter School (PVD Prep), where his work is focused on English language development and multilingual learners. Working and living in Providence’s West End neighborhood, Sam finds a great deal of meaning in rooting his work as an educator within the context of the community where he resides. He loves to see students recognizing the potentially life-changing power of their writing. In addition to his work in the classroom, Sam has worked for the Providence Public School District and the State of Rhode Island Departments of Education and Human Services. Prior to teaching, Sam was the director of marketing for a successful start-up, a field organizer for a successful presidential campaign, and an Emmy-nominated comedy writer. He still thinks he’s pretty funny.
Sue Scanlon
2023 Foster Teacher of the Year
Sue is the library / media specialist at Captain Isaac Paine Elementary in Foster, RI. With a Master's in Library Information Studies from URI, she has brought her love for learning, creating, sharing, and growing into the school library community. Sue enjoys bringing all different kinds of technology literacies, like coding, digital sharing of information, research, and digital citizenship into a library education setting. Teaching has always been a passion of hers, but the change in careers from private software instructor to elementary library / media specialist later in life has made the teaching experience all that much sweeter. She believes nothing is better than seeing the engagement and excitement on students’ faces when they discover something new in their learning. Sue hopes to instill a love of reading, learning, and creating with each student she has the privilege of teaching and strives each day to continue learning right beside her students!
Nicola (Nikki) Scheib
2023 Coventry Teacher of the Year
Nikki has been teaching middle school math in Coventry for the entirety of her 20 years in education. This year, she gets to coach her fellow math teachers using a highly-rated curriculum that promotes equity for all learners. Nikki has always wanted to be a teacher since she can remember, and she loves the variety from teaching students at that middle school age. She is passionate about equity and utilizing what students have in their “math tool box” to teach grade-level concepts to all. Everyone is a mathematician! Through Nikki’s involvement with the Open Up Resources curriculum, she was asked and delivered a keynote speech for HIVE 2021.
Zachary Sirowich
2023 The Compass School Teacher of the Year
Zack teaches Science and Agricultural Education at The Compass School to 7th and 8th grade students. His passion for the environment is a major part of his instructional pedagogy, and he tries to incorporate hands-on outdoor experiences whenever possible. His background in agriculture and environmental education continues to help grow the agricultural education and environmental education program at The Compass School for grades K-8.
Cynthia Soares
2023 Lincoln Teacher of the Year
Cynthia began her teaching career in the Lincoln school district 20 years ago and has never left. She has taught first and second grade, been a reading specialist, and has now finally found her favorite niche as an ELA grade 5 classroom teacher at Saylesville Elementary School. Through her love of reading, Cynthia has focused on helping students taste as many books and explore as many different pathways to learning as possible. She is a true learner at heart, investigating new versions, new perspectives, and always asking questions. What keeps teaching exciting is each new year full of students waiting for their next adventure in the classroom. Cynthia hopes to continue to foster a love of reading and writing in her students for years to come.
Maggie Stormont
2023 Scituate Teacher of the Year
Humor and joy are the most important classroom elements for Maggie, who is in year 26 of teaching English at Scituate High School. Maggie loves to bring art, music, games, and a general sense of "why not try this?" to her students. Outside of school, Maggie is a proud mom of two teen boys, wife to a very funny and talented guy she knew but didn't speak to in high school (life is weird!), the chairperson of Foster Old Home Days, an adequate but not great jewelry maker, seamstress, and baker.
Suzanne Tessitore
2023 Beacon Charter School for the Arts Teacher of the Year
Suzanne began her teaching career five years ago after taking some time off from the private sector to raise her two sons. Suzanne's first teaching position was as a long term substitute at JMW and has been teaching Algebra I and Algebra II at Beacon Charter in Woonsocket ever since. Her favorite part of teaching is forging connections with her students while helping them develop problem solving skills they can use outside the classroom.
Diane Tourangeau
2023 West Warwick Teacher of the Year
Diane has been an early childhood educator for her entire career. This is her 34th year teaching kindergarten in West Warwick. She is a National Reading Trainer for the AFT and is dedicated not only to helping children learn to read but also to instilling in them the love for reading so they become lifelong readers.