Central District social worker honored at Citi Field

Cheryl Gitlitz, a licensed social worker and the district-wide transition coordinator for the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District, recently received the Exceptional Parent Magazine’s Maxwell J. Schleifer Distinguished Service Award during Disability Awareness Night at Citi Field in Flushing.

After nearly 15 years of working with children and teenagers with special needs at the Henry Viscardi School, Gitlitz joined the Bellmore-Merrick district to design and build its transition program, which assists high school graduates with special learning needs to prepare for success once they graduate.

Under Gitlitz’s guidance, Bellmore-Merrick’s transition program has become a model for schools throughout the state. Gitlitz works with students and their families to ensure that the young people lead successful and independent adult lives, regardless of their special learning needs. Gitlitz has started innovative and award-winning programs that have led the Bellmore-Merrick Central High School District to receive acclaim and awards from Nassau County and New York state.

Disability Awareness Night was established as a national outreach program to raise the public’s awareness about the special-needs community by calling attention to the dedication, perseverance and extraordinary accomplishments of people with special needs and those who care for and support them. Since 2002, hundreds of DAN events have been held across the country at various sporting venues, and more than 75,000 tickets to these venues have been donated to special-needs organizations. Honorees are selected through a nationwide nomination process.