Candidate for school board interviewed by Gazette
Page 4 • Wednesday, October 31, 2018 • The Hammonton Gazette
COMMISSION, from Page 1
to the school district and commu-
nity that instilled in him the values
that
have
guided him
throughout
his life and
career.
a f t e r
graduating
from Ham-
monton
H i g h
School, an-
gelow at-
Anthony Angelow t e n d e d
thomas Jefferson University,
where he earned a bachelor’s de-
gree in nursing and a master’s de-
gree in the university’s acute care
nurse practitioner program. He
then completed his post-master’s in
education at Mount Carmel Col-
lege of Nursing, followed by re-
ceiving a Ph.D in nursing
education at the University of
Northern Colorado.
angelow is currently an assistant
professor at Drexel University,
while also maintaining his position
as a nurse practitioner in the trauma
surgery department at Cooper Uni-
versity Hospital.
angelow said he decided to run
to help make a “difference.”
“i thought running for school
board would be perfect because i
love the educational aspect, and i
love mentoring new people into
roles. So, if i can make a difference
for the next generation coming up,
i think that’s an awesome opportu-
nity for me,” angelow said.
angelow said that keeping stu-
dents safe and healthy would be his
main priority as a member of the
board of education. to help achieve
this, angelow said it is imperative
that the school district closely mon-
itors signs of bullying.
“[Bullying] seems to really be
impacting the lives of our kids. i
don’t know if it’s a different type of
bullying, or if it’s just so intense
that they don’t know how to deal
with it, and i think it’s contributing
to a lot of the struggles that our kids
have going forward … We’re never
going to prevent it 100 percent, but
how are we going to make sure we
have minimal impact on our kids?”
angelow said.
While many voters pay closer at-
tention to the political races of
town council and Congress rather
than the board of education on
election Day, angelow contends
that it is just as important of a race
due to the board’s ability to posi-
tively impact students.
“When you really look at it, the
board of education is basically the
policy-making body and the deci-
sion-making body for our public
school systems, and i think it’s the
basis for future,” angelow said.
Thomas Attanasi
Hammonton Board of education
Vice President thomas attanasi,
55, is the
lone incum-
bent board
member
running in
this year’s
election. He
will be seek-
ing a third
three-year
term.
attanasi,
Tom Attanasi
a native of
Washington twp., has spent the
past 22 years in Hammonton,
where he and his wife, Gabrielle,
have raised five children together.
for the past six years, attanasi
has worked as superintendent of
the Stratford twp. and Laurel
Springs school districts. through-
out the past 31 years of his exten-
sive education career—which
includes 20 years with the Ham-
monton School District— attanasi
has done everything from teaching
and coaching, to becoming an ad-
ministrator and assistant principal.
regardless of his professional title,
attanasi said he has always ap-
proached his career with a sincere
devotion to prioritizing the needs
and well-being of the student body
above everything else.
“My interest is in children—the
safety of the children—and my
heart’s in the right place when it
comes to the school board. i’ve
been a passionate educator all my
life,” attanasi said.
Looking back on his past two
terms on the board, attanasi high-
lighted many of the district’s teach-
ing hires and new programs that
were implemented as some of the
school district’s most notable suc-
cesses. Looking ahead to the fu-
ture, attanasi said, if re-elected, he
would like to push for a decrease in
class size at the primary grade lev-
els, seek additional electives and
push for more dual-credit courses
to be added within the district.
although improvements have
been made throughout the school
district during his six years on the
board, attanasi acknowledged the
challenging obstacle of being un-
derfunded by the state in years’
past. However, the 7.2-percent in-
crease in Hammonton’s state aid
funding that was recently an-
nounced by Governor Phil Murphy
has made attanasi optimistic that
the board will be able to effectively
operate and achieve its goals for
the district in the coming years.
“Hammonton has started to see
some of that funding come their
way, so i’m looking forward to see
even more revenue so we can do
more things and the initiatives that
we have put in place in our vi-
sion—to see them in fruition,” at-
tanasi said.
September Corgliano
September Corgliano, 34, is run-
ning for a seat on the Hammonton
board of education in the hopes of
providing a
voice to the
students and
teachers of
the school
district.
Corgliano
is a native of
Mays Land-
ing. She is
also a gradu-
ate of Buena
September
regional
Corgliano
High School
and is cur-
rently employed as an equal em-
ployment opportunity officer with
local construction company Bere-
nato Contractors.
in 2004, Corgliano moved to
Hammonton, where she resides
with her husband, robert, and their
two children, Bobby and alana,
who are both enrolled at the school
district. Corgliano said her children
becoming students in the district
instilled in her the passion that
eventually drove her to decide to
run for a seat on the board of edu-
cation.
“i just feel passionate about the
teachers, really, and i feel like if we
have things for the teachers—good
baselines and things like that—
then our students will thrive,” Cor-
gliano said.
if elected to the board, Corgliano
said she would bring an outspoken
and spirited presence to its mem-
bership, and would advocate for in-
creasing teacher resources.
“i think our teachers need more
… Our teachers dip into their pock-
ets a lot and we have teachers who
come to Hammonton, and then
they leave. We should be a district
that people want to come to and
stay and thrive in,” Corgliano said.
Student safety is among Cor-
gliano’s top priorities as a prospec-
tive
board
member.
She
commended the safety improve-
ments made to the school entrances
throughout the district a year ago
and said she hopes to help them
continue.
“We have these awesome, new
corridors when you walk in. it’s re-
ally great, just seeing that process
… i just want good things for our
kids, for my kids, for everybody’s
kids,” Corgliano said.
Otto Hernandez
Otto Hernandez, Ph.D., 65, has
devoted his entire career as an ed-
ucator. He previously spent 10
years work-
ing as vice
president of
academic
affairs at at-
lantic Cape
Community
College
(aCCC),
and has also
held
the
Otto Hernandez professional
titles of de-
partment head and dean.
in January, Hernandez transi-
tioned back into the classroom and
resumed teaching as a faculty
member, which has given him
enough free time to pursue a seat
on the board of education.
See BOE, Page 22