Byram Hills Central School District

Ira Schulman, President
      Ira Schulman is serving his ninth year on the Board of Education and his third term as President. He has spent several years on the Board’s committees on facilities and Town Liaison. Ira is a partner in a New York City/White Plains law firm which specializes in all aspects of construction law. He is also special construction counsel to Westchester County and a long time construction industry arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association. Ira's practice primarily involves the negotiation of construction contracts and the disposition of complex construction disputes through litigation or alternative dispute resolution procedures. Ira is a frequent lecturer on construction law for various bar associations and continuing legal education providers.
      In the mid 1990’s, Ira served three years as Commissioner of the Armonk region of the American Youth Soccer Organization and served for many years on its board of directors. He is a past chairperson of the Coman Hill site based council and Byram Hills School Board Non-Partisan Nominating Committee. He has also served several terms as an officer and trustee of Temple Shaaray Tefila. In addition, Ira served six years on the board of governors of The Windmill Club including two years as its president.
      Ira is a graduate of Lehigh University and Georgetown University Law School. He and his wife, Betty, a physical therapist, have lived in the District for 20 years. Their son, Eric, graduated from Byram Hills in 2004. Their daughter, Emily, is a student in the school district.

Gail Reese, Vice President
Gail Reese has been a member of the Board of Education since November of 2002. Before joining the board, Gail was a member of many PTSA committees, the high school site-based council, the curriculum committee, Bobcat Boosters, Byram Hills Education Foundation, and several hiring committees. She was president of the Pre-school Association and the Byram Hills PTSA. She also served as a parent representative on the Committee for Special Education. Gail remains an active volunteer in our school district and our community.
Gail graduated from Miami University with a BA in consumer education. She worked for IBM in marketing and personnel; ending her 10 year career teaching at their management education facility. She has also worked as a teacher aide in a local nursery school and as a substitute teacher in Byram Hills. Currently Gail is an assistant teacher at the Windward School. Gail and her husband, John, moved to Armonk in 1982 to raise their family in the Byram Hills School District. They have four children, Katie and Michael, college graduates working in New York, David, a sophomore at Denison University, and Kristina, an eighth grader at H.C. Crittenden Middle School.

Wendy Gardner
     Wendy Gardner is currently serving in her third term on the Board of Education. She has been a volunteer in Byram Hills Schools since 1993 when her older daughter began kindergarten at Wampus. As a school board member, Wendy has served twice as both President and Vice President, and her most recent committee work has included athletics and policy. Prior to becoming a school board member, she was active in a variety of roles within the PTSA and classroom. She also volunteers in fund-raising for Amherst College and as a tutor at Children's Village in Dobbs Ferry.
    Wendy's professional background is in finance. She was formerly employed by PepsiCo as Manager of Financial Planning and as a financial analyst for IBM. Wendy has an MBA in finance from Stanford University and a BA in economics and English from Amherst College.
    Wendy and her husband, Tom, have lived in Bedford since 1992. Their older daughter, Allie, graduated from Byram Hills High School in 2006, and their younger daughter, Kristy, is currently a student in the district.

John Grimes
     John J. Grimes began his initial term on the School Board on July 1, 2001. As a Board member, John serves as a member of the Byram Hills Education Foundation, the Athletic Director's Advisory Council and is the liaison to the committee to erect a new sign on Tripp Lane. Prior to his election to the Board of Education, John was involved with many activities in the school district. At Wampus, he participated in classroom reading programs; at Crittenden, he conducted a writing workshop for students; and at BHHS, he was a guest lecturer in a law class and participated in an in-house workshop for the teaching staff.
     John is a partner in the general practice firm of Grimes & Zimet, with offices located in Chappaqua and New York City. John specializes in litigation, executive compensation and matrimonial and family-related matters. A graduate of Harvard Law School, John has a BS and MPA degree from John Jay College of Criminal Justice. His undergraduate majors were in math, physics and criminal justice.
     John, a resident of the Byram Hills community for over twenty years, has a son at Byram Hills High School and a step-son who is a professional basketball player in Germany. His wife, Linda, is a legal assistant and office manager at his Chappaqua office.

Richard Kaplin
     Rick Kaplin began his sixth term on the school board in July 2007, having first been elected in 1990. Rick is co-chair of the Board's Budget Committee, and is a member of the Executive Board and Secretary/Treasurer of the Westchester-Putnam School Boards Association.
     Rick is a founding member and current Secretary of the Byram Hills Education Foundation, he served for five years on the Byram Hills Scholarship Fund, chaired the 1995 Facilities Advisory Committee, and chaired the PTSA's budget committee for two years.
     Rick is a graduate of Temple University, with a MBA from Bernard M. Baruch College, and is a director in the Market Surveillance Division of NYSE Regulation -- a subsidiary of NYSE Euronext. He and his wife, Janet, have lived in Armonk since 1984. Their two children, Justin and Lisa, graduated from Byram Hills in 2002 and 2003.

Eve Rice
    Eve Rice has been a member of the Board of Education since July 2000 and has served as President, Vice President, and on various committees including the District Wide Safety Team, Health Advisory Committee, Communications Committee, liaison to the Town of North Castle, liaison to the Byram Hills Education Foundation, and most recently on the Curriculum and Character Education Committee, the Policy Committee, as liaison to the Preschool Association and PTSA, and liaison to the District construction team.   Before joining the Board, Eve served on the PTSA Executive Committee, as VP for Education, and as a class mother and a frequent volunteer in the schools. She is currently a member of the Yale University Council,
the Yale Alumni Schools Committee, the Executive Committee of the Yale Campaign, the Board of Directors of the Yale Westchester Association, and the Board of Directors of the Hastings Center, a bioethics research institute.
    Eve is a lifelong North Castle resident, educated K-12 in District schools, and a graduate of Byram Hills High School. After earning a degree in History from Yale, she spent twelve years as an author and illustrator of books for children before earning an M.D. from Mt. Sinai and completing a residency in Psychiatry at Cornell. She is currently a Clinical Assistant professor of Psychiatry at Cornell, as well as a freelance writer.
    Eve is married to Timothy Mattison and they have three children. Their daughters, Julia and Elizabeth, are currently students at the high school and their son, Nate, is a 2006 graduate of Byram Hills High School.

Brett Summers
Brett Summers was elected to the Board of Education in 2005. Prior to joining the Board, Brett served on various Board advisory committees for facilities and communication, and currently serves on the Board's Policy, Budget, Audit and Communications Committees. He is a past member and Chairperson of the Byram Hills Non Partisan Committee for Board of Education Candidates, and currently serves as the Regional Commissioner of Armonk's AYSO youth soccer program. Brett was active in Armonk's Cub Scout pack as Assistant Cub Master and Den Leader, and currently assists Middlebury College as an alumni interviewer and college fair representative.
Following Middlebury College, Northwestern Law School, and national law firm practice, Brett was a senior bank regulatory and enforcement attorney at a Federal banking agency. Brett moved to Armonk with his wife, Jane, to raise their family in the Byram Hills School District. They have a daughter at Coman Hill and a son who attends Wampus.