TCNJ

26 The College of New Jersey Magazine Adjusting to the rigorous academic setting and being one of a few black students on a predominantly white campus was challenging. "You're struggling to be seen and be heard," Repollet says. His struggle to get a fair shot in college would later fuel his passion for bringing equity to New Jersey students. Though Repollet, a communications major, dreamt of becoming the next Spike Lee, his life took a turn post- college. He worked random jobs, from managing computers at Prudential to working for the state. Nothing stuck. His job coaching local youth basketball felt most right. When a colleague told him he didn't need an education degree to become an educator, Repollet started on a nontraditional route to the classroom. His first job was teaching students math at John L. Costley Middle School in the East Orange School District in 1996. In the following years, Repollet's journey would take him full circle, landing him in leadership roles in the Carteret school system where he grew up. He rose to top positions in the district, including principal at Carteret High School and Columbus Elementary School, before becoming superintendent of the Asbury Park School District — the position that catapulted him into the state's leadership spotlight. Repollet's reputation running Asbury Park rests on his various efforts to boost equity, to put the high-poverty district on par with other districts across the state. For one, Repollet developed a dropout prevention program called Murphy tells TCNJ Magazine. "Dr. Lamont Repollet is a preeminently qualified educational professional and New Jersey is fortunate to have him." White hard hats are sprinkled across the shelves of Repollet's office, and they sit atop the desks of select staff members — a remnant of what Repollet built in Asbury Park and a symbol for what he's still constructing for New Jersey at large. "We're building a brighter future," he says. In the fall of 2019, Education Week ranked New Jersey's K–12 school system No. 1 in its annual assessment of state education systems nationwide. The publication scores states accord- ing to big measures like school finance and academic performance. It was the first year New Jersey took the top spot, besting Massachusetts, the country's longtime education exemplar. Repollet admits that he's very competitive and so pro-New Jersey that he told his team ahead of time they would beat Massachusetts. "They've always been the standard bearer of high-quality pub- lic instruction," he says, "But this year New Jersey holds the gold standard. You know what pushed us over?" Repollet was quick to shift the conversation from the achievement itself to the bold actions it took to get there, chief among them: Governor Murphy's decision to boost educational investment. Just two months after taking office in January 2018, Murphy revealed that his budget would include a total of $14.9 billion in state funds to support schools for fiscal year 2019. That first budget increased state formula aid going directly to the Power of 10, which focused attention on the most at-risk students. Administrators led a concerted effort to advance each grade's bottom 10% of students by providing them with the counseling and academic support they needed to graduate. The graduation rate went from 51% in 2013 to about 75% in 2016, according to Repollet. This program proved the power of appropriately allocating resources based on student need and garnered the district national recognition. " Dr. Lamont Repollet is a preeminently qualified educational professional and New Jersey is fortunate to have him." — Governor Phil Murphy Perhaps most of all, Repollet is remembered for establishing high expectations through a "Hard-Hat Nation" metaphor-and-reward system that defined his leadership and the atmosphere he fostered. He walked into his interview for superintendent with a hard hat in hand to illustrate the kind of energy he wanted to put forth, an energy that was unyielding in the face of challenges. On day one as superintendent, he communicated that everyone in the district should be ready "to get their hands dirty." Repollet was one of Governor Murphy's first cabinet nominations upon entering office in 2018. "He and I first met when he was the superintendent of Asbury Park Schools, where he did tremendous work to improve the district's graduation rate,"

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