1. To Whom It May Concern:
I had the pleasure of working with Monica Rodriguez as her direct supervisor and coach for
two years as she served as PAVE Academy Charter School’s music teacher for children in
kindergarten through 6
th
grade. Monica made an impact on our school’s culture, on our
curriculum, and on our parent involvement almost immediately after arriving and it only grew
over the time that she served at PAVE. Monica’s ability as both an educator and as a musician
are truly remarkable and working with her during from 2012 through 2014 was an enriching
experience.
Monica’s Impact on Our Community: Monica made a lasting and important impact on the
PAVE community on many levels. At the school level, she founded a music program that
integrated various subjects with music, exposed children to a variety of genres, taught children
to plan various instruments, brought joy and singing to the hallways of the school, and allowed
our children another way to express themselves. At the community level, Monica found a way
to hold multiple concerts a year where as many as 500 family and community members
celebrated the music of PAVE students. At the classroom level, Monica brought music and joy
to classrooms, who did not have that dimension previously, by partnering with teachers to
bring music into the classroom. Perhaps, most importantly, Monica set her sights on
empowering individual students who were not used to experiencing much success in
academics. Monica has worked with our most shy and most spirited children and empowered
them through music and performance. She took one of our most shy 4
th
graders under her
wing and gave her musical outlets that over time built her confidence and had her performing in
front of hundreds of people. Numerous students who are labeled “overactive” in their
academic classrooms were “adopted” by Monica and gained confidence because she made them
successful in school. She even went as far as bringing her personal drum kit to school to
provide one of these students with an outlet for his energy and showed him how to channel his
energy into something productive. In short, Monica enriched and improved our community in
countless was from the individual child, to all the classes she taught music to, and to the school
and surrounding community. It is nothing short of amazing.
Monica’s Leadership: In addition to what Monica has done to improve PAVE and Red Hook
as a whole, she is particularly skilled in times of challenge. Monica is persistent and goal-
oriented around challenges that are posed in her work as a music teacher but also to the rest of
the school. In 2012 PAVE decided to implement a tutoring program for struggling students to
be supported in small groups and that required the “out-of-classroom” teachers like music,
gym, and art to take on extra periods of instruction. All of them did it with grace and with a
focus on team. In 2013, as the school grew the ability to continue to hold those groups and
maintain a sustainable schedule for the team depleted. It looked as though the program would
not be feasible at the same scale anymore and that something would have to give. Monica
measure the importance of both the tutoring and the sustainable schedules for teachers and she
came up with a solution that allowed the school to keep schedules realistic and to keep the
tutoring program. She presented the solution in a humble way but it was far from a humble
solution…it allowed us to meet the needs of both the students who struggle and of the staff that
was already working so hard. Another example of this selfless determination and perseverance
is during the time of hurricane Sandy. When the hurricane hit Red Hook, where PAVE is
located, Monica had been planning our fall concert. It was to be the first concert of its time and
the auditorium was a great place to hold the concert. Even after the hurricane hit, PAVE’s
administration still wanted to hold the concert to keep community morale up. However, after
having to move the location of the school several times it began to pose serious logistical
challenges. Throughout this Monica was asked to make tentative plans for holding the concert
in several different locations. She was asked to restructure the concert and rehearse for a
concert that did not yet have a location. Throughout this she smiled, kept her expectations or
our students up, and finally planned and rehearsed for a concert in a location that she had only

2. spent about a half an hour in before the night of the concert. It was a wild success, solely due
to her unflappable determination and leadership.
Monica is nothing short of a treasure and all of that goes without mentioning a word about her
voice and musical talent, which deserves an essay to itself. Any school or organization would
be lucky to have her as a member of their team.
Sincerely,
Jeremy Abarno
Former Principal of PAVE Academy Charter School