When the South Allegheny school directors last week appointed Wayne P. Gdovic as acting superintendent and Richard M. Fine as acting assistant superintendent, they put the district in the hands of two men who have worked well together as colleagues and who have firsthand knowledge of what's going on in the district's classrooms.

Both appointments are effective July 1.

Since July 2006, Mr. Gdovic, 39, has served as director of elementary education, and Mr. Fine, 36, as director of secondary education. Together the two have worked on numerous district-wide initiatives they hope to watch grow to fruition in their new roles.

"We've made a lot of changes, but it takes time to see things emerge. We want to see through some of these initiatives we've put into place, to watch and observe them and tweak them as we go along," said Mr. Gdovic, a Port Vue native and 1987 graduate of South Allegheny High School.

Among the initiatives started by the men is the co-teaching model that is being used throughout the district.

It calls for one classroom at each level to have both a special education and regular education teacher with a mixture of students, which allows for inclusion of special education students in the regular classroom.

Last year was the second year of the effort, which Mr. Gdovic described as "very successful," and he indicated the district may expand it.

Another initiative started by the duo is the Response to Intervention program, which was put into place to offer help to students who are struggling academically. Through the program, intervention teachers are assigned to work with the designated students.

In addition, Mr. Gdovic and Mr. Fine implemented a new elementary level math curriculum.

"Those are some pretty big initiatives. So with any type of change, you need to give it time and evaluate it," Mr. Gdovic said.

Mr. Gdovic said in addition to programs implemented during the school day, he and Mr. Fine have fostered a before- and after-school tutoring program and expanded it into a summer session.

They also have scheduled family activities such as the summer concert series on Thursday evenings.

The board appointed both men as "acting" in their positions because they are both still working to achieve their superintendent's letters of certification.

Both are enrolled in the Doctoral Program for Administration and Police Studies at the University of Pittsburgh and both expect to have their superintendent's certification by next spring.

At that time, the school board is expected to take a vote on whether to place them in their new positions permanently.

In appointing Mr. Fine as assistant superintendent, the board changed the district's administrative structure. Mr. Fine will handle the responsibilities of director of primary and secondary education and those positions will be eliminated.

Though both Mr. Gdovic and Mr. Fine are taking on more responsibility in their new roles, the board did not vote last week to increase their salaries. Currently both men are continuing to work at their 2008-2009 salary of $91,155.

Mr. Gdovich started his career in public education as a high school health and physical education teacher, first for a year in the West Jefferson Hills School District before moving to South Allegheny. While at South Allegheny, he served as athletic director, dean of students, elementary building principal and assistant middle/high school principal.

From July 2004 to July 2006, he was an elementary principal in the Moon Area School District. In 2006, he returned to South Allegheny as director of elementary education. As acting superintendent he replaces Elaine Brown, who will retire June 30.

Mr. Gdovic lives in Jefferson Hills with his wife and two children.

Mr. Fine had previously served as middle school and elementary school principal at South Allegheny before also leaving for a two-year stint between 2004 and 2006. During that time, Mr. Fine served as middle school principal in the Ringgold Area School District in Washington County.

Mr. Fine lives in Eighty Four, Washington County.

As with Mr. Gdovic, Mr. Fine returned to South Allegheny in July 2006.

"We both left South Allegheny for a short time and we missed what South Allegheny has. There is something special about being here and we both had an opportunity to come back and we took it." Mr. Fine said.