Our Faculty

Marianne Aitken 

I graduated from St. Leo’s College in Florida with a Bachelors Degree in Elementary Education.  Currently, this is my fourth year teaching at Atlantis Prep.  I spent three years in the First Steps class.  This year I will be in the Junior Learner and Junior Kindergarten Enrichment classes. I have three wonderful daughters, Amy, Keira and Kendra.  They now have children of their own.  My adorable grandchildren are Quinn, Luke, Reid and Ella.  I also have three sweet cats, Eli, Calvin and Brody.

Laurie Aravich

I teach the Full Day Starters program.  I have a BA in Elementary Education with a concentration in Early Childhood Education and I am a certified teacher in the State of New Jersey.  This is my eighth year working at Atlantis Prep School and my fourth year teaching the Starters class; prior to having two children I was the Assistant Director on the Administrative Team.  I am the mother of two children who attend Atlantis Prep, Izabella, age 4 and Emmett, age 2.  Aside from spending time with my family, in my spare time I enjoy reading and going to the beach.

Robin Burkard 

I graduated in 1984 from Centenary College with a BS Degree in Elementary Education with Nursery School Endorsement. While substituting at Atlantis Prep, teaching opportunities became available.  I have taught Kindergarten, Second Grade and Basic Skills Instruction.  This year I will be working as a Kindergarten Assistant Teacher. I have been married for nineteen years.  I have a son who just entered college and a daughter in seventh grade.

Sue Carone 

I am a Kindergarten teacher here at Atlantis Preparatory School.  I graduated from Lycoming College in Pennsylvania and hold a New Jersey State certification in Elementary Education.  I met my husband Jim, 32 years ago at Lycoming.  We have two children, both recent college graduates.  Jimmy is 25 and is a college baseball coach at Rider University.  Lisa is 22 and has just been hired by the Philadelphia Phillies Class A Lakewood Blue Claws organization.  We reside in Point Pleasant Beach. 

Judy Clayton

I attended Monmouth College in the days before it was Monmouth University. I have two “grown-up” children, one son and one daughter.
In my spare time I am a big Yankee fan, I like to draw, read, ride my bike and go to the beach in Bay Head where I live. This is my eighth year at Atlantis Prep.

Laurie Colombo

I graduated from Monmouth College with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Education and Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology.  I have been teaching at Atlantis Prep for eleven years. I have been happily married for ten years and I have two children, a six-year old son named Tyler and a two-year old daughter named Ashley.

Mary Devereux

I have been teaching Junior Kindergarten for over ten years.  I have a Bachelors Degree from West Chester University. I am a lifelong resident of Manasquan.  In my spare time I enjoy riding my bike and taking long walks on the beach. 
This is my eighth year at Atlantis Prep.
 

Leigh DeVito

I currently teach the Junior Learner and Junior Kindergarten Enrichment classes at Atlantis Prep. I graduated from the University of Delaware with a degree in Early Childhood Education and Development. I accepted a job at Creative Campus (Atlantis Prep’s original name) teaching in the three-year old program and also taught Kindergarten for three years. My husband of ten years, Michael and I are also Atlantis Prep parents with one son Evan who graduated Kindergarten in 2006 and one son, Jared currently attending a Junior Learner program.

Joyce Figaro

I have been a Wall Township resident for the past twenty years.  I attended Bergen Community College in the field of Early Childhood Education.   I have two children, Ashley, age 19 and Stephen, age 15.  This will be my third year with Atlantis Preparatory School.  I have found teaching the most rewarding and fulfilling career I can imagine.

Janet Ford 

I am currently the Midstream teacher at Atlantis Prep.  I hold an Elementary Education certificate as well as a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management.  My experiences are supported by 10 years business administration at various supervisory levels in the financial industry and 8 years of teaching in various capacities within the educational field. I am a mother, wife and an educator.  I find great pleasure in my chosen roles in life and treasure each equally and individually.  As an educator, I believe, while working together, the school, the family and the community, can share responsibility of developing students who become successful members of our society.  I approach my students with the same respect that I show for myself.  I value diversity and display this by embracing all my students and seeing each child for whom he/she is. 

Donna Fortney, Director  

I have served here at Atlantis Prep since 1999.  I have had many years of experience in working with young children and their families.  I was a teacher for many years before becoming a Director in 1995.  I’ve taught all levels of preschool, from infants all the way to Kindergarten!  I truly enjoyed them all! 

I graduated from Montclair State University with a degree in Early Childhood Education and a Concentration in Family and Child Studies.  I am a New Jersey State Certified Teacher and Early Childhood Director. I live in Spring Lake Heights with my husband, Joe. We are the proud parents of 2 boys, Cooper, age 9, and Keaton, soon to be 6.  Both of my sons were lucky enough to attend Atlantis Prep!   I enjoy reading, knitting and especially riding my bike, running, surfing and snowboarding with my family! 

Beth Ann Gibbs

This is my sixth year teaching Junior Kindergarten here at Atlantis Prep.
I graduated Towson State University in 1996 with a B.A. in Early Childhood Education.  I taught full day Kindergarten in Baltimore, Maryland for three years and then taught in San Diego, California until I moved back to New Jersey in 2000.
This summer I celebrated my first wedding anniversary and there was a new addition to our family, a beagle puppy named Jack.
 

Linda Gill

 

Carol Gorto

I live in Wall Township and I have two children.  My daughter, Heather, is married and has blessed me with two beautiful granddaughters.  My son, Matthew, is currently a junior in college and is making me very proud. I am entering my sixth year employed at Atlantis Prep.  I have always worked as an assistant teacher with Patti Matthews.  I love working with the three and four year old children.  I find them to be eager to learn and filled with enthusiasm. 

Joni Grodeck

I am married and have two lovely daughters.    I live in Wall Township and am beginning my sixth year teaching Junior Kindergarten here at Atlantis Prep.  I spend my days with very busy children who are drawing and counting, learning their letters and numbers and signing lots of songs.  I am able to read wonderful stories and have amazing conversations.  I truly enjoy working with children each day and am fortunate to touch their lives for a short time each September through June.
 

Cindy Harris

 

Sharon Hoagland   

I have been working at Atlantis Preparatory School for six years.  I have received my Associates Degree and a Group Teaching Certificate in Early Childhood Education.  I have taught the Starters II program for four years and I am currently assisting Mrs. Laurie Colombo in the Junior Kindergarten program.  I find that teaching is extremely rewarding!

Margaret Hoang

I have worked at the Atlantis Preparatory School as a Kindergarten Assistant for five years with Mrs. Sandfort.  I am a 1980 graduate of Trenton State College.  I hold a B.S. Degree in Elementary Education.   I am married and have two children.  My son is a junior at Virginia Tech University and my daughter is a senior at Howell High School.  We reside in Howell Township.

Gwen D. Holloway

I am originally from North Caldwell, NJ and I moved to Manasquan in 1970, after attending college in Bryn Mawr, PA. I now live in Point Pleasant Boro. I have two sons, Buck, age 20 attending Penn State University and Ben, a 17-year-old senior at Point Boro High School. I was employed by The Atlantic Club in 1995 for three years as the Mini Gym Director.  I then accepted a position as a teacher assistant at Atlantis Prep for Junior Learners, a position I have held for seven years. 

I enjoy the Junior Learner age group immensely as well as my co-workers at Atlantis Prep.

Diane Horn

I lived in New Jersey most of my life and also completed my education in New Jersey.  I now live in Manalapan with my husband and two teen-age children.  I have been working at Atlantis Preparatory School since 1997.  I have taught the Junior Learners’ class for seven years and I really love doing it.  I always knew that I wanted to teach and I find this age to be a lot of fun and very rewarding.  I am looking forward to many more years of teaching here at Atlantis Preparatory School.

Donna Hubbard

I have been a preschool teacher here at Atlantis Preparatory School (formerly, Creative Campus) since 1985.  My formal education and practical education has been concentrated in the field of Early Childhood Education.  I am married and have two grown sons and two beautiful grandchildren, a girl (Emily) and a boy (Benjamin). I find the challenge of teaching young children very rewarding – this is a very formative time in their lives and I take great pride in giving them a good foundation to their future education and social development.

Patti Matthews

I teach the Preschool Plus class at Atlantis Prep.  This is my eighth year teaching at this school and my seventeenth year teaching three and four year olds.  I graduated from Georgian Court College with two degrees, one in Early Childhood and one in Psychology.  I am married with a four-year-old girl named Sienna and a 2-year-old boy named Chase.  I enjoy cooking, bike riding and especially shopping.  When I am not teaching, I love spending time with my family.
 

Kendra Reminger

 

Jennie Repsher

I am the Administrative Assistant here at Atlantis Prep.  I’m a proud Jersey native and my education includes Neptune High, Georgian Court and Monmouth College. I have been both a director and teacher of infants, toddlers, and preschoolers.  I have enjoyed working in the early learning field for approximately sixteen years and I have been with Atlantis Prep for nine years. I have three grown children, Michael lives in Chicago, Angelina lives in New York City and Nicholas lives in Red Bank. My husband Frank and I share our empty nest with Duchess our dog.

Shannon Rule

I received my BFA from the School Ceramics at Alfred University in Alfred, New York with a concentration in painting and ceramics. I spent my summers while at college teaching art at a summer camp and loved working with children.   I came to Atlantis Prep in the fall of 2001.  This is my sixth year with Atlantis Prep.

Dawnn Sandfort

I am a Kindergarten teacher here at Atlantis Prep.  I came to Atlantis Prep as a full day Pre-K assistant and the following year I had a Pre-K class of my own.  The next year I moved with some of my Pre-K students to Kindergarten.  I have been teaching Kindergarten for seven years with Mrs. Hoang as my assistant.
I graduated from Lycoming College in Pennsylvania with a BA in Psychology and certifications in Elementary Education and Teacher of Psychology. Mr. Sandfort and I have four children.  We live in Point Pleasant and we love to travel.

Kathleen Siderko

I graduated from Kean College with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Elementary Education and a Masters Degree in Reading Specialization.  This is my ninth year at Atlantis Prep.  The past six years I taught First Grade at Atlantis Prep. 
I have two daughters.  Erin works for an accounting firm in Wall Township and is in the auditing and accounting department.  Alison is attending Ithaca College and studying to be a physical therapist.  My husband, Rich, works in Cranford at Banker’s Cooperative Group.

Sue Smith 

In 1977 I married Gary Smith and we have four children, Stephen, Bob, Will, and Joanne. In 1987 I started working in the Atlantic Club nursery.  This was before the addition with the indoor pool was built. Thirteen years later I came over to work at Atlantis Prep.  This year will be the fourth year working with Linda Gil.  I think we make a GREAT TEAM. I am looking forward to this year and am excited to have your children in our class. 

Gayle Torode

I grew up in Belmar, New Jersey and now live in Lake Como, New Jersey.  I live there with my husband, my daughter, my dog and my cat!  I always wanted to be a teacher, ever since I was a little girl.  My sister and I would always take turns being the “teacher” and write on our very own blackboard in our playroom.   This is my fifth year teaching the Five Full Day Junior Kindergarten class at Atlantis Prep School with Mrs. Robin McNulty.  We are quite a team!