GV teacher dies in rollover accident

A Green Valley science teacher was killed Friday night in northwest Tucson after losing control of her SUV and rolling several times. Continental School teacher Catherine A. Sivilli, 52, was not wearing her seat belt, Pima County Sheriff’s spokesperson Dawn Hanke said, when the incident occurred at 8:52 p.m. The single-vehicle accident was at Camino De Oeste and Crestview Circle, north of Speedway Boulevard on the west side of Interstate 10.

Sivilli was westbound on Camino De Oeste when she left the roadway, apparently overcorrecting and causing the vehicle to roll, Hanke said.

Sivilli and her husband, Richard, a Tucson contractor, had just finished having dinner with Continental sixth-grade teacher Audrey Ives, who lives only a few miles from the couple on the northwest side, and they were on their way home. Richard Sivilli was driving behind his wife and was first to arrive on the scene, Hanke said.

“We’ve been best friends for 25 years,” Ives said Saturday. “This is so hard for me to believe.”

Ives described Sivilli as “a woman of incredible integrity.”

“She loved teaching and working with kids,” she said. “Her dedication to education was incredible.”

Sivilli, who taught sixth-, seventh- and eight-grade science, was in her second year of teaching at Continental. Before teaching at Continental, she was the head of admissions at Edge Charter School in Tucson, where she was employed for 10 years. Before that, she was the science teacher at Green Fields Country Day School, a private school in Tucson.

Active in many extra-curricular activities at Continental, Sivilli was the school’s Science Fair coordinator for the Southern Arizona Regional Science and Engineering Fair. Three Continental students took awards home last spring, including a first-place honor.

She also served as one of the Civics Program sponsors at the school and helped organize the eighth-grade class trip to Washington, D.C. last year.

“Cate will be missed be everyone in the Continental community,” Bonnie Klahr, Continental School Board member, said Saturday. “She made science fun and exciting for her students. She had enthusiasm for teaching that was infectious to those around her. She was a great science teacher.”

Klahr said the parents and guardians of the children in Sivilli’s classes have been contacted by telephone about the accident.

Superintendent Gaye Leo has arranged for a critical incident stress management team to be at the school at 7:30 Monday morning, to work with the students and staff concerning Sivilli’s death.

rford@gvnews.com | 547-9740

jbennett@gvnews.com | 547-9770