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Complete Championship coverage

l In Sports: Everything to know about high school gridiron championship games l Seven full pages featuring
nine Shore-area teams playing for titles l APP.com Video highlights, photo galleries and more

Rutgers hires
new coach
Chris Ash, defensive coordinator at Ohio State, has
agreed to become the next Rutgers football coach.
STORY, 1C

PHOTOS BY TANYA BREEN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Lamont Repollet, superintendent of Asbury Park School District, talks about his mission for the district during an interview at
Asbury Park Middle School in Asbury Park on Nov. 30.

Making
the grade
Graduation rate jumps, dropout rate falls under leadership
of new Asbury Park superintendent Lamont Repollet
NICQUEL TERRY @NTERRYAPP

SBURY PARK - The bell rang, classroom doors swung open, and children
in khaki and blue uniforms and hauling backpacks and three-ring binders
flooded the halls.

Some walked quietly, while others giggled and chatted

with their peers.
However, a handful of students were stopped in their
tracks by a tall, polished man wearing a dark gray suit

Buckle up:
Monmouth Co.
assessments
are on the way
Five things to know as third year
of tax pilot program gets underway
SUSANNE CERVENKA @SCERVENKA

Monmouth Countys new property tax pilot program

took many residents by surprise in 2015, sending their
property values skyrocketing. Months later, their property tax bills followed suit.
Buckle up. The process is starting again for 2016.
New tax values for Monmouth County properties
are coming in the mail as the third year of the beleaguered Assessment Demonstration Program kicks off.
Here are five things you need to know now about the
assessments and the timeline for appealing:
Some, but not all property assessment postcards have been mailed. Monmouth County Tax Board
approved this years preliminary tax lists tax values
for all properties in a given town in waves.
Only 24 towns had their preliminary tax lists complete when the tax board approved the first batch on
Nov. 9. Those new assessment postcards were mailed
on Nov. 15.
This batch of towns include: Aberdeen, Asbury Park,
Avon, Brielle, Colts Neck, Fair Haven, Farmingdale,
Freehold Township, Hazlet, Holmdel, Interlaken,
Keansburg, Keyport, Matawan, Middletown, Mon-

and periwinkle blue tie.

Hey, come here, Lamont Repollet said to four Asbury Park Middle School students as they attempted to

Repollet listens to Marckenley St. Surin, 12, talk about a

computer lesson in his ESL class at the middle school.

walk around him. See SCHOOLS, Page 8A

66%

10%

$3.4M

In 2014-15, under Lamont Repollet, the

graduation rate of Asbury Park Schools
jumped to 66 percent, up from 49%

The dropout rate in the Asbury Park

School District fell to 10% in 2014-15,
compared to 20% the previous year.

Repollet replaced unsuccessful reading

programs with a $3.4 million deal that
provides literacy programs for students.

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Islamic State: Man-and-wife

team suspected of killing 14
were supporters. STORY, 1B

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See TAX, Page 6A