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The Asbury Park Board of Education unanimously voted to extended Superintendent Lamont Repollet’s contract for another five years during its June 29 meeting.

In a written statement BOE President Angela Ahbez Anderson said:

“I was the Board President  at the time that the district was searching for a superintendent. We interviewed several qualified candidates but none rang the bell until Dr. Repollet interviewed. He came prepared with a blueprint and plan as to what he would do in year one through five. When he spoke about the students it was if he was speaking about his biological children. I believed that he was the candidate for this district and I and a few of my board mates were determined to appoint him. In October of 2014 he was appointed and he began disrupting the status quo.”

Repollet’s early contract renewal was made possible due to changes in State guidelines.

“The state changed regulations on salary as it relates to superintendents,” Business Administrator Geoffrey Hastings said. “The governor set salary caps based on enrollment and grade levels served. When the legislature completed their review, they increased those caps.”  

The Board formed an evaluation committee, which worked in conjunction with the NJ School Boards Association to vet Repollet’s performance during his first three years in the district.

“In less than three years under his leadership our district is making gains,” Ahbez-Anderson [at right] said. “We have been recognized twice as a Model School by the International Center for Leadership Education, an Innovative school district [by the state], and more importantly our children are reading, they enjoy learning, and our teachers are excited about the work they are bringing to their students.”

State assessment test scores show the Asbury Park School District students have made significant gains in terms of literacy and reaching at grade level valuations.

In November, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt named Asbury an Intervention District of Excellence for its holistic, student-centered approach to improving reading and literacy skills.

“As a result of the district’s comprehensive approach to reading intervention, every APSD school surpassed their 2015-16 literacy improvement targets, with 68 percent of students in Asbury Park’s reading acceleration program exceeding one year’s growth and 41 percent exceeding two years’ growth,” officials said in a written statement. “These students entered the program reading three to six+ years below grade level and previously averaged 0.4 to 0.5 years of growth per school year. These gains are being matched by rising graduation rates, which grew from 49 percent in 2014 and 66 percent in 2015 to 73 percent in 2016.”

Under Repollet’s administration, the district launched its Dream Academy in conjunction with Brookdale Community College that will allow qualifying students to graduate from high school with an associate’s degree. Through the Jules Plangere Family Foundation there is also a College Promise program that funds education at Brookdale.

Other initiatives include a GED program through the Dorothy McNish Parent Center; vocational academies in engineering, health, law and public safety, and fashion design, a college and career readiness program that helps students identify a path to their goals, and holistic programs that help students deal with stresses that could be affecting their educational progress. This school year students traveled with school and community members to Abrem Agona, Ghana as a part of an ongoing educational partnership that aims to construct a Literacy Lab in the African nation. 

“The signing of a second five year contract is monumental in itself, because for the first time in many years we are experiencing consistency,” Ahbez-Anderson said. “When you have consistency it ripples throughout the district. The Board and I were anxious to sign Dr. Repollet to a second five year contract. The day I signed was like being a kid opening my favorite gift at Christmas.”

Repollet’s new contract runs through the 2021-22 school year. His base salary will increase from $157,500 to $174,689. Merit pay will be applicable based on three quantitative and two qualitative goals for each of the new contract’s five years, Hastings said. For example, if Repollet meets the preset goals, he stands to receive an additional $25,436 in the first year. 

“I am very excited that the Board of Education has entrusted me again to be the superintendent for the next five years,” Repollet said. “This will enable me to continue our mission of ‘Building A Brighter Future.’ I look forward to expanding our partnerships with our community members, our parents and other stakeholders. More importantly, we will continue to develop innovative programs for our students that will get them college and career ready. I am also encouraged that our district is operating more efficiently, and all data points show that we are making gains.”

For more about the Asbury Park School District, click here.

[Photos, in part, courtesy of the school district]

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