Board of Trustees Secretary Lamont Repollet Nominated as NJ Commissioner of Education

Governor-elect Phil Murphy today nominated Kean University alumnus and Board of Trustees Secretary Lamont Repollet, Ed.D., as the next New Jersey Commissioner of Education. At Barack Obama Elementary School in Asbury Park, where Repollet is superintendent, Murphy said Repollet is an innovator who provides strong leadership to “ignite an educational revolution.”

“Every student and every educator in every New Jersey classroom needs to know that someone has their back and will fight to help them achieve their dreams and live up to their full potential,” said Repollet. “From ensuring that every district gets full and fair funding, to creating the strong STEM curriculum that will drive our future workforce, to helping educators bring innovative teaching techniques into the classroom, I am committed to ensuring excellence in every school. I thank Governor-elect Murphy for this honor and look forward to working with him to ensure New Jersey has the best public schools in the nation.”

Repollet received his master’s degree in educational administration from Kean University in 2000 and has served on the Kean Board of Trustees since 2011. He became the Asbury Park Schools superintendent in October 2014. In his early days on the job, he carried a white hard hat to send a message that together with staff and students, they would rebuild the schools. As principal of Carteret High School in Carteret, his leadership garnered national recognition, earning him a reputation for decreasing the achievement gap.

“I want to congratulate Lamont on this tremendous and well-deserved honor,” Kean University President Dawood Farahi said. “As a Kean alumnus, Lamont has used his education to help others achieve their dreams in classrooms from Carteret to Asbury Park. His perspective and insights as a member of the Board of Trustees have also been invaluable in helping us deliver a world-class education here at Kean University.”

Murphy, who takes office Tuesday, January 16, said Repollet also would take the lead in putting the state on a path to universal pre-K, initiating a new focus on vocational education programs to create alternate pathways to success for students who will not attend college, and creating new and less time-consuming means of assessing student achievement and ending the state’s failed experiment with PARCC testing.

“During his time on the Kean University Board of Trustees, Lamont has always focused on how to achieve educational excellence for our students, particularly those who come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds,” said Ada Morell, chair of the board. “His expertise has been a tremendous asset to the University, and I’m thrilled to see that students across New Jersey will now benefit from it.”

In addition to his Kean master's degree, Repollet received his Bachelor of Arts in communication from The College of New Jersey and a Doctorate in Education Leadership from Nova Southeastern University. He resides in Somerset with his wife Darlene and their daughters Lauryn and Taylor.

Photo Caption:  Kean University alumnus and Board of Trustees Secretary Lamont Repollet, Ed.D., introduces Commencement Speaker Norah O'Donnell, host of CBS This Morning, at the Nathan Weiss Graduate College Commencement on May 16, 2017. Repollet has been nominated by Governor-elect Phil Murphy as the next New Jersey Commissioner of Education.