Zitney leaves lasting legacy at Charleroi
By TAYLOR BROWN
tbrown@yourmvi.com
Elaina Zitney has made a lasting impact on the Charleroi Area School District.
As the district’s special education director for the past eight years, Zitney has worked to make sure students have the resources they need.
While working as a program supervisor with Intermediate Unit 1, she was assigned to Charleroi, which didn’t have a designated special education program at the time.
As she made connections and built relationships in that position, she realized the impact she could have.
When CASD advertised for a special education director, she applied for the job and was hired in 2013.
“I loved that they wanted to do what was good and right and best for the kids,” she said.
After taking the job, she realized there was a lot of work to be done. In her time with the district, she has developed programs and taken advantage of resources to keep students who need extra support closer to home.
“When I started working here, except for learning support, all of our programs were operated by the IU1,” she said. “In my first three years we took those programs to bring them in house, to give our students what they need. That was really important to me, giving our students the education they needed and deserved, by our own teachers who also had a vested interest in what was best for them.”
In the past eight years, she has worked to make sure those needs are met, developing emotional and life skills support programs, autistic support classrooms and a full range of classes to target the special needs of students.
“We wanted to keep our kids here,” she said. “We wanted to create something that would cater to all of our students’ needs.”
Without a program in place, she received support from district administrators and staff to bring her vision to fruition.
“It was a challenge at first, for sure, but I had so much support from our superintendent our board, other staff members,” she said. “We all had the same vision.”
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