'Product of NYC,' Byrne lands in Rye as superintendent

Rockland/Westchester Journal News

Several school districts in Westchester County welcomed new superintendents over the summer. Leading into the 2017-18 school year, The Journal News/lohud.com is sitting down with each of them to talk about their new role.

Eric Byrne comes to the Rye City School District from the Chappaqua Central School District, where he was assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction.

Before Chappaqua, he was a principal at Pound Ridge Elementary School in the Bedford Central School District. He started his new role in Rye on July 1 and will earn a $260,000 annual salary.

Eric Byrne, the new superintendent for the Rye School District.

Question: What was it about Rye that attracted you to this job?

Answer: Rye is an incredibly successful school system and it has been for a very long time with a community that believes in public education. But it’s also a community that’s looking to the 21st century and asking the questions: How do we improve the school system? What do we do well? How do we improve upon that, and best prepare our kids for the future? Everything I learned about the district felt like it was a really good match for my beliefs and my values as an educator.

Q: What have you been hearing from people as you’ve been meeting them?

A: I’ve been hearing that people are very proud of the programs here in Rye and where we’ve been as a school system, the offerings we provide for kids, the incredibly rigorous academic program. But there are people who are worried about things like student stress, pressure, and how do we maintain that level of academic success while thinking about how to best innovate and move into the 21st century.

Q: Where are you from and how did you get into education?

A: I grew up in New York City, born in Brooklyn, raised in Staten Island. I’m a product of the New York City public schools. I went to a very large comprehensive high school of about 4,000 students and being one of 4,000 students — as you can imagine — was quite impersonal. I had a couple of teachers, two teachers in particular, when I was in high school who inspired us to think about how we would go out in the world and make change and improve things. In becoming a teacher, I wanted to create the kind of learning and the kind of opportunities for kids where they felt important and they felt known and they felt a part of what was happening in the school.

Q: Is that why you’ve stayed in Westchester, because it’s a smaller school environment?

A: The first part of my career was in New York City as a teacher and administrator at a community school district, and it was an incredible place to grow and learn as a young teacher and young administrator. The professional development opportunities and the commitment to teaching and learning there was incredible, and I loved being there. But we made a decision, as a family, to raise our daughter up here and move from the confines of the city and blacktop to the country, which seemed like the country for a city boy. So, we moved up to Westchester when my daughter was 2 years old and we decided to make our life here. So, keeping that close and finding smaller districts and districts that are close by so that we can have that quality of life, that was important to us.