GREENSBURG

Carole Aiello, who has nearly 25 years of teaching and administrative experience, most of it in Catholic schools, is the new principal of St. Sebastian Catholic School, Belle Vernon.

Aiello, a Bethel Park resident, previously served as principal of St. John Bosco Academy in Pittsburgh and as an administrator and teacher at St. Katharine Drexel School in Bethel Park, where she earned a Golden Apple Award from the Diocese of Pittsburgh for excellence in teaching in 2010. She also served at John F. Kennedy Catholic Elementary School in Washington, Pa.

“Mrs. Aiello has extensive experience in Catholic elementary education,” said Dr. Maureen Marsteller, superintendent of the Office of Catholic Schools in the Diocese of Greensburg, who announced the hiring. “I am impressed by Mrs. Aiello’s sincere commitment to Catholic education and her enthusiastic dedication to the spiritual and academic development of today’s youth.”

Aiello attended Seton-LaSalle High School, Pittsburgh, and received a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Slippery Rock University. She has a master’s degree in education with a focus on special education from Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, and principal certification, K-12, from Point Park University, Pittsburgh.

Her immediate goal is to build a team-oriented climate at the school and build on the vision of her predecessor, Nina Zetty, who retired.

“In order for St. Sebastian to continue to move forward in a strong and positive manner, there has to be a climate in which everyone — administrators, teachers, students, parents, clergy on the Board of Trust Administrators, and other key stakeholders in the school and surrounding community — works together for the benefit of the students. Communication is vital for this to happen,” Aiello said.

“We all need to work to ensure that students are academically, emotionally, socially and spiritually prepared to be productive citizens.”

She wants to build an environment where students want to come to school every day because “they feel it is a second home.”

“I want parents to know they are partners in their child’s education, and I want teachers to help students feel OK with success and failure doing something new and out of their comfort zone,” Aiello said.

A parishioner of St. Elizabeth of Hungary Parish in Pittsburgh, she and her husband, Greg, are the parents of an adult daughter.