Standing in the Back Row from left to right:  Lara Stangel, Scott Levy, Lori Kanner, Melissa Jacobs (Board Vice President), Petrie Verma. Seated in the front row from left to right:  Jason Berland (Board President) and Mia DiPietro.

Jason Berland, President
Jason Berland is serving the third year of his second term on the Byram Hills Board of Education, and is currently the President of the Board. Jason has twice held the position of Vice President. Jason sits on the Audit Committee, Town Liaison Committee, Athletic Advisory Council, Emergency Safety Team, and is serving as a representative of the NYSSBA Legislative Advocacy Committee. Jason previously served for six years as a Board Member of the Byram Hills Education Foundation, where he spent his final four years as Chairman.

Jason is the General Counsel at 1/0 Capital, a venture capital firm in Manhattan that invests in growth-stage companies. Before transitioning in-house, Jason spent over a decade in private practice where he focused primarily on government and regulatory actions, internal investigations, white-collar criminal defense, international asset recovery and general commercial litigation. In the public sector, Jason served for eight years as an Assistant District Attorney in the New York County District Attorney’s Office.

Jason also sits on the Board of Tzahal Shalom of Northern Westchester and spent many years on the Management Team of the Armonk United Soccer Club. He is a graduate of Union College and the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. Jason has lived in North Castle since 2012, and he and his wife have two children currently attending the Byram Hills schools, and one who graduated from Byram Hills High School in 2022.


Melissa Jacobs, Vice President
Melissa Jacobs is the Vice President of the Board of Education and is currently serving the third year of her first term as Trustee. She serves on the Finance Committee and is also a liaison between the Board of Education and the town of North Castle for the 2024-25 school year. In addition, this year, she will once again serve as a liaison between the Board and the Byram Hills Education Foundation (BHEF).

Melissa served on the Guidance Advisory Committee for the 2022-23 school year, and on the Policy Committee for the 2023-24 school year. She was also a member of the Literacy Committee to help examine in-depth the District’s literacy program and to evaluate ways to better help all students succeed in this area.

Melissa previously served for six years on the Board of the Byram Hills Education Foundation as a member of the Executive Board, Secretary, a member of the Grant Review Committee, and as co-chair for the Auction Fundraising Committee. She successfully planned and implemented an annual auction raising up to $70,000 each year to help fund grants in all four schools.

Melissa has also been active in the Byram Hills Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA) in various roles. She co-chaired the Teacher Appreciation Luncheon at Wampus and co-chaired the PTSA’s Cultural and Curricular Education Committee at Wampus. In addition, Melissa served as co-chair of the Cultural and Curricular Education Committee at HCC Middle School from 2012 to 2022, facilitating presentations and speakers at the school to enhance and enrich the curriculum for all students. Melissa also served on the Challenge Success Steering Committee at HCC and contributed to the District’s Site-Based Team as a parent member for several years.

Melissa is an experienced early childhood educator, who was previously tenured as a second grade teacher in Pleasantville, and is also certified in Teaching Students with Special Needs. She currently works one-on-one with preschool students with special needs who need support in the classroom. Melissa has also worked as a substitute teacher in local elementary and middle schools, including Byram Hills and a local preschool.

Melissa has a BA from Tufts University in English and Child Study, and an MA from NYU in Early Childhood Education. She is New York State certified in both Elementary Education and Teaching Students with Special Needs.

Melissa has lived in North Castle since 2003, and she and her husband Ari have three boys. Her sons, Alex and Ethan, graduated from Byram Hills in 2017 and 2019, and her son Owen is currently a senior at Byram Hills High School.

Mia DiPietro
Mia DiPietro is serving her third term on the Byram Hills Board of Education. Mia has previously served as this Board’s President and Vice President. She currently sits on the Audit, Health and Wellness Committee, and Athletic Advisory Council, and is one of the liaisons to the PTSA and the BHPA. Mia also serves as one of the WPSBA Legislative Advocacy Committee Representatives.

Prior to joining the Board of Education, Mia served on the BHPA Board for five years, acting as liaison to the Board of Education. In addition, she managed the BHPA Facebook page and served on the Working Moms Committee. Mia works full-time as a Senior HRIS Specialist-Learning at Marsh McLennan, where she has worked since 1998. She is active in the Byram Hills PTSA, on the Working Parents Committee and C.H.I.L.D, and served as class parent for many years. She was also actively involved as a volunteer with the Varley Players theater program for many years. Mia received a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Elementary Education from Clark University. She went on to study System Analysis and Design at Columbia University. Mia and her husband, Ron, have lived in Armonk, where Ron grew up, since 2007. They have three children attending the Byram Hills schools: Rebecca, a 2024 Byram Hills graduate who now attends Bucknell University; Adam, a 10th grader; and Sam, a 6th grader.


Lori Kanner
Lori is currently serving her second year of her third elected term as a Trustee of the Byram Hills Board of Education. As a Board of Education Trustee for over 7 years, she continues to serve on the Policy Committee, the Guidance Advisory Committee, the Audit Committee, and also as the NYSSBA Delegate at their Annual Business meeting. During her tenure as a BOE trustee, Lori has served as the Board’s Representative to the Westchester Putnam School Boards Association’s Legislative Advocacy Committee, was a member of the Health and Athletic Advisory Committee, the Town Liaison Committee, the Finance Committee, and was the Board’s representative to the Byram Hills Education Foundation. She has served twice as Vice President of the Board of Education, once during her first term and again during her second term. Lori feels it is an honor to serve her community.

Lori was formerly a Board member of the Byram Hills Education Foundation for six years, serving as President during her last year. There are term limits for the Byram Hills Education Foundation, and she served her entire six-year term (2 three-year terms—each time necessitating being nominated) and continues to support this wonderful organization by volunteering and attending their events to support the Byram Hills School District and keep the school cutting edge with new and innovative grants.

Prior to moving to Armonk, Lori was an Assistant District Attorney for the Kings County District Attorney’s office. She also worked in private practice defending both insurance companies and medical professionals. She currently works at Pace’s Elisabeth Haub School of Law as the Director of Community Relations and Special Programs for the Dean of Haub Law.

She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Emory University and a Law Degree from St. John’s University School of Law.

Lori and her husband Michael have three children. Their oldest two children graduated from Byram Hills High School and her eldest graduated Columbia University (Engineering) and middle child attends Cornell University (Information Science). Her youngest attends school in the Byram Hills School District and is an avid runner.


Scott Levy
Scott Levy is serving his fourth term on the Byram Hills Board of Education. Currently, he sits on the Audit Committee, Finance Advisory Committee, and is a liaison to the BHEF, the PTSA, the Pre-School Association and the Westchester Putnam School Boards Association. Scott served as the President of the Westchester Putnam School Boards Association and remains an ex-officio member of the board. He also served on the Lower Hudson Education Coalition steering committee and in June 2020 was appointed to the NYS Regional Task Force for Reopening Schools. Scott is currently a member of the NYS School Boards Association Investment Advisory Committee.

Scott is a Partner at Lynrock Lake LP and a board member of a digital healthcare company. Prior to that, he spent over 20 years working in financial services as an investment banker and investor.

Currently, Scott is a Visiting Fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Education researching the topic of school board governance. In 2014-15, he was a Senior Research Fellow at the Kennedy School of Government focused on New York State public education policy. Scott was formerly a Board Member of the Byram Hills Education Foundation, serving two years as Chairman. He also serves as the Chairman of the Board of Blythedale Children's Hospital in Valhalla and is a former member of the Harvard University Alumni Association Board of Directors. He graduated with a degree in economics from Harvard College.

Scott has a daughter who is a Byram Hills graduate and two sons who currently attend the Byram Hills School District.


Lara Stangel
Lara Stangel is proudly serving her fourth term on the Byram Hills Board of Education. Ms. Stangel had previously served as this Board’s Vice President and President. She currently sits on the Audit Committee, Guidance Advisory Committee and the Policy Committee.  Lara is also serving as the Legislative Advocate to the New York State School Boards Association (NYSSBA).
 
Prior to joining the Board of Education, Ms. Stangel had served on the Byram Hills Preschool Association House Tour Committee. She also served on the PTSA as the Vice President of Education from 2010 to 2013, the PTSA President from 2013 to 2015 and the PTSA Liaison to the Byram Hills Education Foundation (BHEF).  She was a trustee of the BHEF from 2011 to 2013, and again from 2015 to 2016, where she served on the Grant, Insta-Grant and Gala Committees.
 
As PTSA President, she established its Advocacy Committee, the purpose of which is to inform and help mobilize the community about educational reform and to instruct how to navigate changes that directly impact the Byram Hills School District.
 
Her professional career is as a psychiatric social worker, having worked in the field of mental health and education for 28+ years. She received a Bachelor of Arts from Brooklyn College in 1992 and a Masters Degree in Social Work from Columbia University in 1994. She also received an advanced degree in clinical social work from New York University in 1999. Ms. Stangel currently works for Westchester County as its Director of Employee Assistance Programs.
 
Ms. Stangel has been living in Armonk for 17 years with her husband, Justin, and their two daughters, Emily who attends Northeastern University, and Ashley who is in eleventh grade.


Petrie Verma
Petrie is serving his second term and his fourth year on the Byram Hills Board of Education. This year he will be a member of the Finance Committee (third time), Policy Committee (third time), and Guidance Advisory Committee.  He has also been a member of the Athletic Advisory Committee, BHEF liaison, and will continue with Challenge Success at the high school.  He spent eight years as a member of the PTSA executive board. There, he was Recording Secretary, Assistant Treasurer, VP for Coman Hill and Wampus, and President of the board.  During his time with the PTSA he worked closely with administrators and teachers to provide children an optimal learning environment with various school supplies and cultural enrichment programming. Throughout the years, he has been active in the buildings as a class parent and part of many committees such as book fair, beautification, sustainability, spirit wear sales, and staff appreciation luncheons.  He helped pilot the annual Coman Cares week in 2016 and assisted in the planning of the awnings at the Wampus entrances.  He has been a volunteer parent coach for Armonk Soccer Club and Armonk Baseball League throughout his son’s years.  Petrie was also a member of the Covid stakeholder group, district safety response team, and spent many years on the District site based teams.

Petrie is married and went to Manhattanville College for pre-med, but took a turn towards energy commodities trading. He grew up in Somers and has been living in this community since 1990. He has one son who is in 11th grade.


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