Ellen Nitz BSN, RN
Ellen Nitz is the Director of Nursing Services for Charleston County School District. Nitz has served in the district for the past 6 years as the director and for 12 years as a nurse liaison . She has managed and helped standardize healthcare practices for her schools and has been an advocate for students and school nurses.
Nitz started her nursing career in North Carolina as a level II neonatal nurse. Her passion for education led her into medical sales with various national healthcare companies. It was there that she became well known with the local physicians for her knowledge of products and the importance of patient education. In 2007, Nitz’s desire to help children led her to school nursing. She began as a substitute nurse and quickly advanced to managing summer school. Her commitment and management skills helped her acquire the nurse liaison position for Mount Pleasant and McClellanville schools. In 2008, she assumed the role as the lead CPR instructor for nursing services and was responsible for training all CCSD First Responders. She also teamed up with Roper Hospital to provide an AED to every CCSD school.
Ellen is known as a lifelong learner who takes time to update and educate herself to be the best that she can be. She sets the bar high for her nurses as well as herself. She is a compassionate, informed, and professional school nurse administrator.
Nitz was awarded the 2018 South Carolina School Nurse Administrator of the Year and was nominated for the Mount Pleasant Community Preparedness Award for S.C. related to her Stop the Bleed training for CCSD staff. She also worked as a mother/baby nurse at Roper Mount Pleasant Hospital and was a Roper educator for women’s services.
Since becoming the director, she has been awarded the 2021 Janice D. Key School Health Visionary from the SC School-Based Health Center Collaborative, 2021 CCSD Operations Golden Mask Award for COVID 19 Efforts, and the 2024 CCSD Meritorious Service Award for her extraordinary efforts during the pandemic. Ellen was tasked to work with community experts to ensure that Charleston County School District remained safe during COVID-19. The efforts of the CCSD Operations team allowed CCSD to be the largest school district in the nation to return to school face to face 5 days a week. CCSD Nursing Services gave over 11,000 Covid vaccines to staff and students and contact traced over 35,000 cases. CCSD Nursing Services also has 2 unique programs to help remove any health care barriers for their students. The Vaccines For Children (VFC) program has given over 10,000 shots since its inception and Vision To Learn (mobile vision van) has provided 4000 glasses to Title I students. Both programs have no out of pocket costs and are done in the school setting.
Ellen is a driving force to ensure that we stay up to date in our field of school nursing. She always feels that there is room for improvement. She pushes herself and others to always better their personal best. Her big ask for all her nurses is to be the special nurse that cares for all the students. Don’t ask the easy questions, ask the questions that can make a difference in their care and their life. She is a pillar of strength and a positive, encouraging, compassionate, respected, proactive leader who makes her team want to strive for excellence everyday!