Collaborate, Educate, Innovate, Celebrate
Meet the 2022 Rhode Island
District Teachers of the Year
Lisa Garcia
2022 Rhode Island State Teacher of the Year
Lisa is a mentor and math teacher at North Kingstown High School. She fosters confidence and courage in her math students while empowering them by maintaining a rigorous curriculum. She has a tenacious excitement for teaching and learning. She strives to keep things fresh and current for her students and their bright futures.
Robert Petrucci
2022 East Greenwich Teacher of the Year
I am a social studies teacher at East Greenwich High School. I have been with EG for my entire 23 year career. My strengths as a teacher are providing a balanced, safe and energetic environment for students to grow and learn. It is a space that students feel appreciated and comfortable. I believe expanding the walls of the classroom to provide outside experiences beyond the traditional setting is important. Lastly, seeing students outside of class as a coach and advisor helps to connect students with the school and community and further connect you with the students, which makes the classroom experience even more valuable.
Michaela McCaughey
2022 Trinity Academy for Performing Arts Teacher of the Year
Michaela is a high school Spanish Heritage teacher and Dual Enrollment Coordinator at Trinity Academy for the Performing Arts, in Providence. Her students are creative artists who push and inspire her. Within her educational philosophy she focuses on social justice issues, culturally responsive pedagogy, arts-integration, and (bi)literacy.
Michelle Portilla
2022 Metropolitan Regional Career and Technical Center Teacher of the Year
Michelle Portilla joined Big Picture Learning in 2009. Her roles at BPL include working as an advisor at The Met High School in Rhode Island, piloting a program called College for America, working on the digital team to develop courses for Learning Big Picture and helping other schools implement Big Picture best practices as a school design coach. She received her B.A. from Wheaton College with a concentration in History. She went on to earn her M.A.T. from Brown University in Secondary Education with a focus on history. Michelle is dedicated to working towards educational equity, thinking about ways to intentionally celebrate identity and intersectionality in educational settings, and learning about the practices of innovative and progressive school models. Michelle is originally from New York City, but has love for Little Rhody as well. She spends her free time playing with her dog, listening to music and cooking.
Jeanine Mankoff
2022 Chariho Teacher of the Year
Jeanine is an early childhood special educator who proudly teaches at Hope Valley Elementary school for the Chariho School District. Her integrated preschool classroom is a nurturing environment where students of all abilities thrive. Jeanine partners with families to support growth both inside and outside of the classroom. She contributes to her learning community by sharing current research and practices with colleagues. Teaching is her calling and she is so thankful to spend her days doing what she loves.
Chuck Branchaud
2022 Coventry Teacher of the Year
Mr. Branchaud teacher Statistics AP and H at Coventry High School, as well as serving as a Math Interventionist. He also serves the department of amazing teachers as the curriculum coordinator. Chuck has coached soccer in the past and is involved in many school initiatives, including PBGR, performance based assessments, school culture, and MTSS. He enjoys mountain biking and hiking and spends A LOT of time with his lovely, supportive wife.My student centered classroom seems chaotic, but the goal is to engage learners in exciting activities that push them to extend their capabilities, in an independent manner. Today's students need stimulus that challenges them in a safe, supportive, comfortable environment, with a teacher that truly cares about and knows them.
Lauren Angel
2022 Kingston Hill Academy Teacher of the Year
Lauren is a Kindergarten teacher at Kingston Hill Academy in Saunderstown. She strives to create a classroom community that is based on love and kindness by consistently modeling appropriate relationship building and empathy skills. Lauren believes that explicitly teaching Social Emotional skills and strategies sets her students up for success. Lauren also has her Master's degree in Reading and uses her skills and knowledge to foster a love for reading in her students. One of the most rewarding parts of her job is watching her Kindergarteners grow into confident readers over the course of the year. She is extremely passionate about teaching and is always open to learning and trying new strategies that will make her classroom an amazing place to grow and learn!
Christina DiPalma
2022 Beacon Charter School Teacher of the Year
Christina is a mentor and a special education teacher at Founders Academy in Woonsocket. She believes that all students can learn and provides a safe learning environment for her students to learn. She strives to make a difference in her students' lives and wants them to be successful in anything they pursue. She is always learning and finding new ways to stay up to date with exciting things to bring into her classroom. Christina is organized and is always striving to be a better teacher.
Brianna Dodd
2022 Blackstone Valley Prep Teacher of the Year
Brianna Dodd is a 7th grade ELA teacher at Blackstone Valley Prep Junior High School in Central Falls, RI. She is passionate about her TESOL certification and being an advocate for Multilingual Learners, and also serves as PBIS & Circles Chair at her school to help improve school culture. Brianna is passionate about providing great instruction for Culturally and Linguistically Diverse students, and working with middle schoolers specifically.
Katie Kenahan
2022 East Providence Teacher of the Year
Katie is a Math Department Coordinator and Grade 8 math teacher at Riverside Middle School in East Providence. She believes that true learning starts with students being comfortable in the classroom and willing to take risks to broaden their confidence in Mathematics. She loves to keep her classroom engaging, differentiated, innovative, rigorous and student centered. Outside of the classroom, Katie loves getting students involved in community outreach projects, as well as coaching softball and basketball.
Eric Georgio
2022 Cumberland Teacher of the Year
Eric is a mathematics and computer science teacher at Cumberland High School. In addition to setting high academic expectations and fostering student growth, he also strives to establish a positive rapport and personal connection with every individual student. He brings a consistently upbeat and enthusiastic attitude to the classroom setting. He encourages students to try their best and never give up as they work towards achieving future success.
Michael Deslauriers
2022 Smithfield Teacher of the Year
Michael is a math and computer science teacher at Smithfield High School. He is a strong advocate of computer science for ALL students. He has been the Code.org facilitator for Computer Science Principles since 2018 and has trained over 90 teachers across the state. This year he is piloting the new Code.org Computer Science A curriculum with his students and will be facilitating it next summer.
Lisa Leaheey
2022 North Providence Teacher of the Year
Lisa has taught English at North Providence High School for the entirety of her 22-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.
Brittany Richer Ahnrud
2022 Jamestown Teacher of the Year
Brittany is a 6th grade English Language Arts teacher at the Lawn School in Jamestown. She creates a variety of reading and writing experiences for her students to not only improve their academic literacy skills but to deepen their understanding of the world and who they want to be in it. She encourages students to find and nurture their passions, hone their voices, and make the world a better place.
Mary-Ann Rinaldi
2022 International Charter School Teacher of the Year
Mary-Ann is a Kindergarten teacher and BeGLAD (Guided Language Acquisition Design) trainer at the International Charter School in Pawtucket. She is passionate about making content comprehensible for all of her (language) learners. She works tirelessly to create a responsive, collaborative, and caring classroom environment for her students.
Keri Bettencourt
2022 Pawtucket Teacher of the Year
Keri teaches 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students with severe intellectual disabilities at Jenks Junior High School in Pawtucket. She strives to have a welcoming classroom where students feel safe, loved, and encouraged every day. She also thinks it's extremely important to be reflective and continuously work on ways to educate her students, as well as to seek input from parents and colleagues.
Mia Thompson
2022 North Kingstown Teacher of the Year
Mia is a art and design educator. She develops multi-cultural, integrative art projects that directly align with both art and classroom curriculums. Lessons designed create higher-level thinking, and problem-solving skills. Believes every child is an artist.
Paul Ruhle
2022 Lincoln Teacher of the Year
Paul is a math teacher at Lincoln High School. He pushes, but supports, all of his students in trying to reach their greatest potential. His goal is for students to understand why they are doing certain mathematical steps, as opposed to just rote learning procedure. He strives to improve his practice through consistent reflective practices and feedback.
Christine Lawrence
2022 Portsmouth State Teacher of the Year
I am a special education teacher at Portsmouth High School. This year I am beginning my 24th year at PHS where I am co-teaching US History and Algebra 1. I also spend part of my day in our Life Skills program working on Transition and Job Skills. I am also the Transition Coordinator and Job Developer for the district. I enjoy working with our community business to provide our students with the opportunity to participate in job exploration and expand their work skills. Even through Covid, we have had students out in the community five days a week with their job coaches.
.png)
Mary Elizabeth Miller
2022 Little Compton Teacher of the Year
Mary Elizabeth is a school counselor-social worker at Wilbur-McMahon School in Little Compton. She works with students in grades kindergarten through 8, supporting their social-emotional needs from their transition into school as our youngest learners through their final year at Wilbur-McMahon as 8th graders preparing for high school. She supports students and their families individually, providing counseling and support services as well as in the classroom setting with our school wide social emotional curriculum. She strives to help each student become their best self as learners, classmates and Wilbur-McMahon community members.
.png)
Christine Costa
2022 Tiverton Teacher of the Year
Christine is a social studies teacher and coordinator at Tiverton Middle School. She shares her passion for the past through the use of primary sources, debates, Patriot Night, National History Day projects, and field trips to historical sites. Christine promotes a love of learning American history and teaches her students to evaluate evidence using historical thinking skills. She also takes civics education from the classroom to the courtroom as the advisor to the TMS and THS Mock Trial Teams. She educates her students about the legal system and prepares them to be skilled public speakers and critical thinkers.
Rebecca Mason
2022 Westerly Teacher of the Year
Rebecca is a grade one teacher at Springbrook Elementary School in Westerly, RI. She encourages a love of learning and believes every child can succeed. She knows that building strong relationships in her classroom lead to a sense of community and positive growth mindset.
Art Searle
2022 Exeter-West Greenwich Teacher of the Year
Art primarily teaches computer science and video production courses at the high school, but also serves as a district-wide technology integration specialist. The later offers the good fortune to work with all age groups.
Leigh Butterworth
2022 William Davies Career & Technical School Teacher of the Year
Leigh Anne Butterworth is a Physical Education and Health teacher who works with students, staff, and parents to educate the next generation of youth to be successful, healthy individuals with the tools for lifelong wellness. After spending thirteen years working at Davies, she has taken on the role of Department Coordinator and is moving her department into the future of Physical Education and Health. Leigh knows what truly drives students to interact with each other and enjoys physical activity and wellness concepts.
Jason LaDuke
2022 Burrillville Teacher of the Year
2nd grade educator with 15 years of experience, all at Steere Farm Elementary School in Burrillville. I am an energetic teacher who aspires to create a fun, inclusive, and accountable learning community. I understand the power of positive relationships and therefore I work hard to develop them within my classroom and school-wide communities by creating opportunities for purposeful interactions throughout the entire school day.
Jacqueline Ibarra
2022 Southside Academy Charter School Teacher of the Year
I teach at Southside Elementary Charter School which is a small charter school located in Providence serving 145 students. I work with students who are multilingual learners. In the classroom, I am someone who is energetic and is passionate about strength-based learning. When I build on students strengths, I can make students feel confident and enable them to have a growth mindset. My goal is to establish a good rapport with all of my students and their families.
Stephanie Mikkelsen
2022 Scituate Teacher of the Year
Stephanie Mikkelsen is a fourth grade teacher at Hope Elementary School. She believes that education is a team effort between parents and educators. Throughout the school day, she gives her students opportunities to reflect on their academic and social emotional learning so they develop the tools they need to advocate for themselves and others.
Jessica Bonneau
2022 Warwick Teacher of the Year
I am a Kindergarten teacher at Holliman Elementary School in Warwick. I help all students to help better the community by planning service projects monthly as the Feinstein coordinator. I also foster fun and ply by planning our school's annual field day! I love to teach my students first and foremost that they have the potential to achieve anything they strive for! I foster confidence by helping children create a positive growth mindset, then show them how to use it as the curriculum becomes more rigorous throughout the school year! I like my students to feel like family and I love to see them grow in confidence, independence and knowledge! I strive to be the teacher that helped them see in themselves the potential they were born with!
Cynthia Sime
2022 Central Falls Teacher of the Year
Cynthia is a Dual Language kindergarten Spanish Teacher
Derek Sabatini
2022 Foster-Glocester Teacher of the Year
Derek Sabatini is the Choral Director and Music Director at Ponaganset High School in the Foster-Glocester Regional School District. Mr. Sabatini believes that everyone is able to sing and/or play an instrument, it is all about opportunity. His goal is to give any student that walks into his classroom that opportunity.
Karen Drolet
2022 Central Falls Teacher of the Year
Karen is an ESL kindergarten teacher at Raices Dual Language Academy in the Central Falls Public School District. She works with her partner teacher teaching students the foundational skills needed to read, write, and speak English and Spanish. She works hard to form relationships with her students and families because together they work as a team educating each child. Her priority is to foster a love for learning by making her classroom engaging so students are equipped for a successful academic career,
Desiree Halaka
2022 Acheivement First Teacher of the Year
​My teaching career started in Baltimore ten years ago and has taken me to New York and now Rhode Island. My focus has been teaching 4th grade writing but this year, I have shifted into the reading and math interventionist role. My goal is to provide an equitable approach to academics. This all stems from creating a classroom where students feel safe and seen. I love teaching because every moment in the classroom is one of acquisition and discover. As a teacher, I pride myself on building my students belief in their own power and brilliance. Through micro-moments and interactions, I showcase the importance of compassion to one another. As the owner and writer of my school’s 4th grade ELA curriculum, I ensure that my students are diving into topics that matter in their world, and in the world around them. We delve into issues like environmental justice, and through characters, with diverse and unique experiences, discuss resilience through challenge and loss.
Julie Turcotte
2022 South Kingstown Teacher of the Year
Julie is a Grade 4 teacher at Peace Dale Elementary School in South Kingstown. She is a caring and dedicated professional who strives to meet the needs of all learners by focusing on each student's unique strengths and learning styles. Julie is committed to creating a classroom atmosphere that encourages and motivates all of her students to feel successful.
Jamie Austin
2022 North Smithfield Teacher of the Year
Jamie works in North Smithfield as a self contained severe profound teacher. In her classroom she has 6 students that she works with everyday. The six students all fall on the autistism spectrum. The students in her class are included daily in an inclusive kindergarten class. In this class, they sing, laugh, encourage each other, overcome obstacles but most of all, strive to be our best each and every day.
Alicia Coyle
2022 West Bay Collaborative Teacher of the Year
I work for West Bay Collaborative in the Alternate Learning Program for the primary school. I currently am the special educator for students that are in grade 3 and grade 4. In my classroom, students are supported both academically and emotionally. The student population I work with have emotional challenges and they require extra support revolving around trauma and mental illness. I strive to show my students that they are loved, cared for and safe in my classroom.
Screen reader support enabled.
Brendan Haggerty
2022 The Greene School Teacher of the Year
I am a chemistry teacher at The Greene School in West Greenwich. I strive to lead with questions and engage students in the world that surrounds them. I believe that public education is the heart of a functioning democracy, and by foster independent and critical thinks, I am proud to be a part of that mission. As a teacher and leader at TGS, he has been involved in the creation of the science-focused curriculum at TGS, which employs the critical environmental topics of the 21st century including energy, food, waste, and sustainable development. In 2013 Mr. Haggerty lead a team of students through the process of apply for the department of education Green Ribbon award, which the school was awarded in 2014. That same year Mr. Haggerty was awarded the 2014 Formal Environmental Educator of the Year by the New England Environmental Education Association. Since 2015 Mr. Haggerty has been working with the Rhode Island Environmental Education Association to help develop an environmental literacy plan for the state
%20(1)_TIF.jpeg)
Ellen Estrella
2022 Bristol Warren Teacher of the Year
Ellen's nursing career has now spanned almost 45 years. Through the years and her varied nursing specialties she has witnessed a lot of change as the healthcare system has grown, medicine has improved and treatments are vast and successful. In her journey she has worked in Labor & Delivery, Adult Cardiac Intensive Care and Neonatal Intensive Care. The past 24 years she has been a School Nurse for the Bristol Warren School District, the last 20 years at Mt. Hope High School. Her experience in both Critical Care units colored her choice to move onto School Nursing. As a School Nurse Teacher, she is in the position to teach students about healthy choices and outcomes that are positive for their good health. Her job is rewarding and she learns from teenagers just about everyday, even when they do not realize that they too are imparting a lesson. She teaches, counsels, supports and cares for 9-12 graders from Bristol and Warren. It is an adventure she is happy she undertook. She is proud to represent Bristol Warren, especially our dedicated School Nurse Teachers.
Becky Iannuccilli
2022 Foster Teacher of the Year
I am a Special Education Teacher/Behavior Specialist at Captain Isaac Paine Elementary School in Foster. For the past two years, I have also served as Head Teacher in my principal's absence. I am a fierce advocate for my students, while always supportively pushing them to achieve their best academically and socially. At some points during the day, I can be found on the playground in a spirited game of basketball, and others, working with a group of kindergarteners on reading skills. I work closely with classroom teachers to develop and support students academic and behavioral needs within the classroom. My students know that I am firm, fun and consistent.