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Superintendent Silvia Abbato

Mrs. Silvia Correa Abbato is the first woman and the first person of Hispanic descent to serve as Superintendent for the Union City School District. Before her appointment as Superintendent, Mrs. Abbato has served the Union City Board of Education and the students and parents of Union City as an elementary school teacher, science and math supervisor, school principal and assistant superintendent.

In her former position as the Assistant Superintendent of Schools for Curriculum and Instruction, Mrs. Abbato directed the District's Pre-School to 12th Grade educational programs, technology initiatives, and pre-college programs.
  • Mrs. Abbato has been instrumental in bringing about substantial educational reform and additional funding for the Union City Schools including  $3 million in ARRA funds and the Race to the Top Grant ($425,000).
  • Mrs. Abbato has served on the  10 members NJ Academic Achievement Gap Task Force to examine and make recommendations for improving test scores to minority students statewide.
  • She proudly represents New Jersey at the national level on the PARCC Assessment Task Force.
  • Silvia has previously served as a Commissioner for the State of New Jersey on its Education Mandate Review Study Committee and its Abbott District Advisory Task Force.
  • Mrs. Abbato has also served on the Review Committee for the NJ Science Curriculum Framework and on the Leadership Team for the NJ Mathematics Curriculum Framework. 
  • Silvia has been a Coordinator for Title II Eisenhower Grants and an Advisory Board Member for the NJ Statewide Systemic Initiative (SSI), overseeing $10 million dollars in federal funds.
  • Mrs. Abbato has been honored by the National Cuban Women’s Association, which recognized her achievements and contributions to the Cuban-American community with the Elena Mederos Award.
  • Considering education the key to advancement, Mrs. Abbato has taught as an Adjunct Professor for Kean University.
  • She was part of an Internal Management Monitoring team (Level III) that was instrumental in making significant reforms in the District in order to attain state certification.
  • When she served as a District Supervisor, Mrs. Abbato was Principal Investigator for numerous prestigious federal as well as state grants, including the following:  Project SMART a $600,000 grant from the NSF, the 21st Century Community Center funded by the USDOE ($600,000) and Goals 2000 Grant funded by N.J. D.O.E. ($425,000).  She was also Co-Principal Investigator for an NSF/NIE grant entitled Union City On-Line: An Architecture for Networking & Reform ($1,500,000). This grant which was awarded a Smithsonian Award was a partnership between the UCBOE and Bell Atlantic to introduce new technologies in the schools including the use of fiber optics.

Mrs.  Abbato is married to Christopher Abbato, an ESL teacher and has two children, Michael and Richard.  She is fluent in three languages:  Spanish, Italian and English. She also enjoys playing the piano.