Hoboken's PROUD of the Moms & Tom! (Bios)

Moms & Tom BoE Dream Team: Tom Kluepfel, Ailene McGuirk, Malani Cademartori

Alas, Hoboken's recent HUB sexcapades and a (historic) voter fraud arrest have crowded out better news, like next month's School Board Election.  That's right...

On Tuesday November 6, GA hopes that you will be voting for the best qualified, most compassionate and hardest-working candidates to oversee the education of 2,000 Hoboken district children.  

I sure will. 

GA knows the difference that electing dedicated, competent, caring and HONEST School Board Trustees (no-grifters) makes to every child.  Like my own; my daughter was educated through 8th grade in the Hoboken district (I promise not to brag AGAIN about her 4.69 high school GPA or 800 SAT score) and I credit the excellent educational foundation she got in the Hoboken district with her continued achievement.  GA will take the education my kid got here in the Hoboken district  any day over one on the realtors' "Wall of Shame."    

And so, GA is delighted to endorse the Moms & Tom Dream Team.  When you read their bios below, you will agree they are a Dream Team.   What makes this Dream Team a little unusual for a Hoboken BoE election, is that it is a hybrid -- candidates from two campaigns:  Hoboken Proud  (Tom Kluepfel, Malani Cademartori) and All our Kids (Ailene McGuirk). 

Can we agree to call them, "Hoboken's Proud of All Our Kids?" 

Here you go, people. Please take a few minutes to read their biographies. They are ballot numbers 1-3-4.   (This rhyme will help you remember: Skip "2", P-U)

THE MOMS

MALANI CADEMARTORI has a unique appreciation for the opportunities afforded by public education. Born in Thailand and raised in Australia, Malani’s mother moved her daughters to Philadelphia in search of a better education and more opportunities than would have been available to them as half-Asian minorities in Australia at that time. The move changed the trajectory of her life and her ability to achieve thereafter.

Having been taught by her mother to never accept compromise in her academic performance, Malani attended New York University, where she worked her way through school as a full-time waitress and ultimately earned her Bachelor of the Arts with a double major in Political Science and East Asian Studies. Malani went on to graduate from Fordham University School of Law and was elevated to the position of partner with her current law firm of Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton in 2010—just 10 days before giving birth to the first of her two daughters.

Although Malani has only lived in Hoboken for six years, her husband, Michael, and his family have deep Hoboken roots. Michael’s grandmother and grandfather, Catherine and Rudolf Bahun, were both born, got married, raised two children and ultimately passed away in Hoboken. Catherine Bahun worked in the Wallace school for over 40 years as an office administrator and is said to have known the name, birth date, phone number and all family members of every student she ever met.

Malani's daughters both attend Salvatore Calabro Elementary School. For her, the choice of the Hoboken district schools for her children was never a question. “When I moved to public school in South Philly, I found a home in the diverse student body. Discovering and learning from our vast differences and experiences was the best part of my education.”

Malani was recently re-elected president of the Calabro PTO. She has worked diligently to enhance the experiences of the school's students and support the faculty and staff. She has advocated and worked with the district to create a dedicated and safe outdoor play space for Calabro students and founded a monthly career day panel for kids in the upper grades to get them thinking about career possibilities later in life. Malani was also a main organizer of the district’s first district-wide PTO fundraising event featuring the Harlem Wizards and our various schools’ faculty members.

AILENE MEcGUIRK   is a Hoboken Public School parent living in Southwest Hoboken.  Born in Brooklyn and raised in Spring Lake Heights, NJ, Ailene is a graduate of Manasquan High School, Villanova University, and holds and MBA from Montclair State University.

Ailene first moved to Hoboken in 1999 as she began her career in pharmaceutical sales with Janssen Pharmaceutica.  She has enjoyed a variety of sales roles in the bio-pharmaceutical sector and currently works for Actelion Pharmaceuticals of South San Francisco, CA.

Ailene and her husband, Matt Shoemaker met in Hoboken and married in 2009.  They are the proud parents of two daughters Grace (6) Siobhan (2)

Grace is a graduate of Mile Square Early Education at the Demarest site and is in first grade at TG Connors Elementary School.  Siobhan is at WOW Kids in SW Hoboken and will enter the district pre-k program in 2019.

Ailene is the co-chair of the Connors PTO.  She is active in the SW Resiliency Park Alliance, and started the SW Hoboken Parents Alliance, a group that works to connect and inform parents in SW Hoboken about educational and cultural opportunities.  Ailene is also a Daisy Troop Leader.

Ailene enjoys gardening, live music, spending time with her family and their ten year old rescue cat, Lowell.

Ailene began her involvement in the Hoboken Schools first volunteering at Demarest when Grace was in pre-K 3.  She has been an outspoken advocate for greater classroom space downtown and for making sure that all classrooms in Hoboken reflect the diversity of the city she loves.  Ailene supports our current Superintendent Dr. Christine Johnson, and believes that the Hoboken Public School District, students and teachers deserve our community's pride and support.

THE TOM

TOM KLUEPFEL has devoted many years working to improve public education opportunities for Hoboken families. He was one of the co-founders of the Elysian Charter School in the 1990s and served as its inaugural board chairperson. He has volunteered in the district, and is now seeking re-election to a third term on the Hoboken Board of Education. Tom has chaired the Finance and Communications Committees, and has served as the board president since January 2016.

Tom is a graduate of The Cooper Union School of Art, the tuition-free New York City institution. "I was blessed with an education that I would never have had access to otherwise, thanks to a civic-minded 19th-century philanthropist," he says. "That instilled in me an obligation to do whatever I can to further education opportunities for others."

In his time on the board, those opportunities have certainly expanded. "I take no personal credit for the recent accomplishments of district; credit goes to our administrators, teachers and students. But I do take pride in board teamwork, and in helping to form a united board in support of equal access and academic opportunities for all of our students."

Although recently retired, Tom was the co-creative director and partner at Doyle Partners, the internationally recognized N.Y.C. design studio, and has thirty years' experience working on communication and design projects for a broad roster of clients ranging from major corporations to grassroots non-profit and arts organizations.

Tom and his wife, Lynn (a special education instructor at a local charter school), raised their two children in Hoboken. Although they are no longer district parents (their youngest, Hoboken High Class of 2014, recently graduated as a biology major from Ramapo College), Tom remains committed to working hard on behalf of the district and the democratic ideals of public education.