MEET THE TEACHERS - Trumbull County Board of Developmental Disabilities

AllPreschoolGym/SwimTherapists

Preschool
Cheryl Vanatsky (Weathersfield-Seaborn)

Adapted Physical Education Teacher
Carol Kirsch

Speech/Language Pathologist - Contract
Melissa Cherne

Occupational Therapist - Contract
Margaretha Logue

Speech/Language Pathologist - Contract
Renee Seltzer

Speech/Language Pathologist
Erica Snelson

Preschool

Michael Archambeau

Michael is originally from Northern Michigan. He moved to Ohio in 2007 when he was in the Air Force. He spent four years in Dayton, Ohio then moved to Springfield, Ohio to attend Wittenberg University. He graduated in 2015 and received a dual licensure in Elementary Education as well as Special Education. He has a bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education and Intervention Specialist Education. Michael has been at Fairhaven since 2020. He has three children: Nora, Ava and Dean. Michael is a huge Detroit Lions fan and yes, he also likes Michigan. He has three cats, a gecko, two guinea pigs and a lizard.

Email:michaelarchambeau@tcbdd.org

Preschool

Kathy Fleming

Kathy has a Bachelor of Science in Education and a Masters of Education in Early Childhood Education. She has taught at Fairhaven School since 1982. She enjoys her job and loves working with preschoolers. She serves on several committees and is in charge of the Books are Fun and Book Fair events.

Email:KathyFleming@tcbdd.org

Preschool

Holly Heikkinen

Holly graduated from the Mount Union College in 2002 with a bachelor’s in Early Childhood Education. She started her teaching career in a kindergarten classroom and then moved to Florida, where she was a preschool special needs teacher for two years. In 2009, she and her family moved home to Ohio. She continued her passion for teaching special needs children and started working at Fairhaven in 2010 as an Early Intervention Specialist, which lasted five years. When a position was available, she became a Preschool Intervention Specialist. As a teacher, she continues to take additional coursework in special needs education to further her knowledge. She is married and has three children. Her entire family enjoys spending time outside and being active in sports.

Mail:HollyHeikkinen@tcbdd.org

Preschool

Sissy (Florence) Keeling

Sissy’s first bachelors degree is in Health and Physical Education from Slippery Rock University. Since these jobs are hard to come by, she went back to Youngstown State University because she found that she loves working with young children. Sissy did her student teaching at a variety of places, but the one she loved the most was here at Fairhaven School. She had no intentions of working with children with special needs, but completely fell in love with them. She had a great experience with retired Fairhaven teacher Sally Biviano and was shown how rewarding it can be working with very young children. She says it was wonderful to see children become so compassionate and caring with each other. Sissy started at Fairhaven as an Early Intervention Specialist (birth to age 3) in 1999. She says it was a difficult decision to move into the preschool from Early Intervention, but she adjusted and learned every day from the children she works with. Sissy finished her second bachelors degree in Early Childhood at Kendall College and completed her masters in special education, along with her Early Childhood Intervention Specialist license, at the University of Toledo. Her philosophy with working with young children is “Children learn best through hands on experiences.”

Email:FlorenceSwegman@tcbdd.org

Preschool

Shannon Lesnak

Shannon has a Bachelor of Science degree in Early Childhood Education from Kent State University. She also attended the Kent State University graduate program and earned a Reading Endorsement and Early Intervention Specialist Certificate. She has a masters degree in Early Childhood Special Education. Shannon has previous experience as a first grade teacher and a kindergarten/first grade reading intervention teacher and joined the Fairhaven team in 2016. She believes in the importance of building a caring classroom community and providing hands-on learning experiences that integrate literacy, math, and science.

Email:ShannonLesnak@tcbdd.org

Preschool

Erin Morris

Erin has a Bachelor of Science in Early Childhood Intervention Preschool-Grade 3 mild/moderate/intense and an Intervention Specialist License K-12 moderate/intense, both from the University of Akron. Erin taught one year in a primary MD self-contained classroom (K-5) prior to coming to Fairhaven in 2013. She is on the Special Olympics committee and the Instructional Cabinet committee. She enjoys running, reading, being outside, and being with family. She is fond of the Bill Gates quote, “The first five years have so much to do with how the next 80 turn out.”

Email:ErinMorris@tcbdd.org

Preschool

Lisa Moser

Lisa has been working with preschool aged children in both private daycare and public schools since 1984. She has a BS in Christian Education from Cincinnati Christian University and went to Youngstown State University to complete coursework for her teaching license. She worked for the Mahoning County Educational Service Center for 19 years before joining the Fairhaven family in 2016. She enjoys reading and hanging out with her grandchildren, friends, and family in her spare time. She is an avid Ohio State fan. O-H!

Email:LisaMoser@tcbdd.org

Preschool

Danielle Mrofchak

Miss Danielle has been a member of the Fairhaven Preschool Family since 2017. Prior to Fairhaven, Miss Danielle worked as a Kindergarten teacher and also an Early Intervention Specialist. Miss Danielle received her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Akron in Early Childhood Intervention Specialist and Intervention Specialist Mild to Moderate. She continued on to Youngstown State to complete her Master’s in Advanced Early Childhood Studies. Miss Danielle resides in Poland with her husband, two daughters, Allie and Emma, along with their dog Bailey. Miss Danielle truly believes preschool is the foundation building blocks to education. It is our job to teach the little ones how to LOVE learning.

Email:DanielleMrofchak@tcbdd.org

PreSchool

Molly Spisak

Molly has a BA in Elementary Education (K-8), Education of the Handicapped (K-12) and Early Childhood Intervention Specialist (Pk-3) from Walsh University. In addition to completing courses through the Autism Certification Center, she has completed the TEACCH (Treatment and Education of Autistic and Communication related handicapped Children). Molly has been at Fairhaven since 2015 and has many years of teaching experience across all grade levels, preschool through age 22.

Email:MollySpisak@tcbdd.org

Preschool

Cheryl Vanatsky (Weathersfield-Seaborn)

Bio to come.

Email:CherylVanatsky@tcbdd.org

Adapted Physical Education Teacher

Carol Kirsch

Carol earned her Masters degree in Adapted Physical Education from Slippery Rock University. Carol obtained her Step Up To Quality certification for advanced preschool instruction in 2017. Carol has been a Special Olympics coach and volunteer for 30 years. She has been at Fairhaven since 2003 and is currently our Fairhaven Golf coach and enjoys volunteering with the Bulldog basketball, bowling, track and swim teams.

Email:CarolKirsch@tcbdd.org

Swim Instructor

Angela Verostko

Angela has a BA in Special Education (K-12) from Cleveland State University. She has been teaching at Fairhaven since 2013. She is the Lead-Teacher for the Summer Enrichment Program (a summer camp for special needs students). She is also the Special Olympics Swim coach for TCBDD.

Email:AngelaVerostko@tcbdd.org

Occupational Therapist

Kathryn Bayuk

Kathryn graduated from Clarion University with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and received her Masters in Occupational Therapy from Chatham University. She has been practicing as an Occupational Therapist for over 20 years and has been providing therapy services to Fairhaven School students since 2011. Kathryn enjoys volunteering for the Go Baby Go program and Therapy missions organizations. She also enjoys spending time with her family hiking, kayaking, reading, and traveling.

Email:KathrynBayuk@tcbdd.org

Speech/Language Pathologist - Contract

Melissa Cherne

Melissa is a dual certified Speech Language Pathologist and Audiologist. She graduated from the University of Akron with a master’s degree in Speech Language Pathology and an additional master’s degree in Audiology. Melissa earned her doctorate in Audiology from Salus University. Dr. Cherne has worked as an Educational Audiologist for Detroit Public and Youngstown City Schools before joining the Fairhaven team as a Speech Language Pathologist in 2016, through an agency contract with Diamond Therapy . Melissa and her husband are the proud parents of three children and enjoys spending her free time attending their many sporting events.

Email:MelissaCherne@tcbdd.org

Occupational Therapist

Jennifer Haines

Jennifer graduated from Kent State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and received her Master of Occupational Therapy degree from Cleveland State University. She has been practicing as an occupational therapist for over 15 years. Her career at Fairhaven School started as a contract therapist in 2013, and she was brought on as a permanent member of the therapy staff in 2016. Thoughtful and creative problem solving is one reason Jennifer chose a career in occupational therapy. She truly enjoys her role in developing impactful solutions for children to gain independence and to discover their own unique role in this world. Jennifer grew up in California, and even though her family is still there, she has considered herself a Buckeye for 25 years. When she isn’t back home visiting family, she loves finding last-minute local adventures, traveling, going to concerts, day-hiking and gardening. Most of all, she enjoys spending time with her fiancé, five children, two grandchildren and giant golden retriever, George.

email::JenniferHaines@tcbdd.org

Occupational Therapist - Contract

Margaretha Logue

Margaretha (Marieta for short) graduated from the University of Stellenbosch Medical School with a B.Sc in Occupational Therapy. She as been at Fairhaven School since 2016, through an agency contract with Diamond Therapy, and previously worked at UPMC Jameson Outpatient Rehab for 18 years where she worked with children of all ages. She enjoys spending time with her husband and two daughters hiking, biking, and listening to classical music.

Email:MargarethaLogue@tcbdd.org

Physical Therapist

Loni McNany

Loni attended Lake Erie College for her undergraduate degree in Biology and Youngstown State University for her Doctorate in Physical Therapy. Loni started as a Physical Therapist at Fairhaven School in 2016. Prior to working at Fairhaven full-time Loni worked at Easter Seals and Mercy Health as an outpatient Physical Therapist. Loni enjoys spending time with her husband and her three children (who all attended Fairhaven Preschool) and traveling.

Email:LoniMcNany@tcbdd.org

Speech/Language Pathologist - Contract

Renee Seltzer

Renee received a BA in Communication Sciences and Disorders from Geneva College and a Master’s of Science in Speech/Language Pathology from Duquesne University. She has been at Fairhaven School, through an agency contract with Aaris Therapy Group, since 2019 and is grateful to be a bulldog! Outside of school Renee enjoys walking her dog, Oliver, reading a good book, and spending time with friends and family.

Email:ReneeSeltzer@tcbdd.org

Speech/Language Pathologist

Erica Snelson

Erica obtained both her Bachelor’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology/Audiology and a Master’s degree in Speech-Language Pathology from Kent State University in 1995. She has been a Speech-Language Pathologist for many years working with children in pediatrics in a variety of settings: Early Intervention, outpatient speech and hearing centers, University level graduate student supervision, and school-based therapeutic services. She began he career at Fairhaven School working in Early Intervention (birth to 3) in 2009 and presently works with both Pre-School and School-Age students. She has a passion for knowledge, daily researching, and seeking out new strategies and best-practice interventions to help all of our students reach their communication potential. Outside of school, Erica enjoys spending time with her husband and two son, volunteering at church, watching football and playing golf.

Email:EricaSnelson@tcbdd.org

Speech/Language Pathologist

Connie Sulc

Connie graduated from The Ohio State University with her Bachelor’s Degree in Speech and Hearing Science, and from Kent State University with her Master’s degree in Speech Language Pathology. Connie has been at Fairhaven School since 2014 and previously worked at Easter Seals of Mahoning and Trumbull Counties where she provided outpatient speech and language services to children of all ages, as well as some adults. She enjoys spending time with her husband, three children, and her dog Bentley.

Email:ConnieSulc@tcbdd.org

Physical Therapist

Barb Thomas

Barb attended YSU for both her undergraduate in sociology and her graduate degree in Physical Therapy. Barb started as a contract Physical Therapist at Fairhaven School in 2004 and became an official Fairhaven School employee in 2016. Prior to working at Fairhaven fulltime, Barb worked at Children’s Rehabilitation Center as an outpatient therapist and did evaluations for home-schooled children. Outside of work she enjoys spending time with family and friends including her husband, Tovy, and two children Aven and Kiki.

Email:BarbThomas@tcbdd.org