Governor-elect Murphy announces Asbury Park Superintendent Dr. Lamont Repollet as Commissioner of Education

Asbury Park – Saying New Jersey needs an innovative educational leader to ensure success for all children, Governor-elect Phil Murphy announced his nomination of Asbury Park Schools Superintendent Dr. Lamont Repollet to be the next Commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Education.

Repollet, 47, has served as Asbury Park’s schools’ chief since 2014, following a 9-year stint as principal at Carteret High School. He started his career in public education as a middle-school teacher.

“If we are to move ahead, we need strong leadership at the Department of Education with the real-world experience – both in and out of the classroom – to ignite an educational revolution. Dr. Repollet will be that leader,” said Governor-elect Murphy. “Ever since I began my campaign for governor, I have made it clear that one of my key focuses would be ensuring that every child, in every community, would have access to the very best education. In fact, the very notion of a stronger and fairer economy rests on a foundation of strong public schools that will allow all New Jersey children to get the tools they need to live their dreams.”

“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 Dr. 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.”

Murphy 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.

Repollet is a Carteret native. His parents struggled with unemployment, with the family relying on public assistance and moving to different public housing communities. He was able to attend Trenton State College through the Equal Opportunity Fund and graduated in 1994 with a bachelor’s degree in communications. He went on to receive a Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership from Kean University and his doctorate from Nova Southeastern University.