ABOUT
LAMONT COLE

THE BEGINNING

LaMont Cole was born to Smith and Vivian Cole, and has one sister Shana, and one brother Shedric. He has dedicated his life to improving the community and serving as a positive role model for inner-city youth. LaMont has been in the field of education for 25 years. His commitment to education was fostered at a young age by his strong and nurturing mother. He credits his upbringing and his faith in God for placing him on the right path for success. He began working with young children in 1988, when he worked as a teacher’s aide at The Duffield’s Children’s Center in Brooklyn, New York.

His passion for education led him to complete a Baccalaureate of Arts from Louisiana State University and later a Master of Education from Southern University in Administration and Supervision. He has served as the Assistant Principal at Westdale Middle and McKinley Middle Magnet, and principal at Park Forest Middle School and Capitol Middle school in East Baton Rouge Parish. His last assignment as principal was for The Community School for Apprenticeship Learning, known to most in the Baton Rouge areas as CSAL, which is a 6-8 grade charter middle school in Baton Rouge where he worked diligently to improve education for inner-city youth leading it to be one of the top performing charter schools in the state of Louisiana. He currently serves as the CAO of CSAL INC., which is a charter management group operating three charter schools in the state of Louisiana where he guides the instructional programming at each school. His work as Chief Academic Officer of a network of public schools has afforded him the opportunity to increase educational outcomes through creating a space within the community that promotes and inspires academic rigor and participation.Mr Cole’s masterful leadership is evidenced on a daily basis as he interacts with students, teachers and parents. He is often found in the classrooms supporting teachers, guiding instruction, and motivating students. In his 17-year career as a school leader, he and his teams have always been successful moving schools forward positively. He successfully guided the instructional practices which helped to earn Madison Preparatory the letter grade of ‘B’ and a National Blue-Ribbon award for Academic Excellence. CSAL Middle School also earned a letter grade of B under Mr. Cole’s instructional leadership.

Mr. Cole’s community leadership has extended to service on the board of HOPE Community Redevelopment, President of The Tyrus Thomas Foundation and President The Glen ‘Big Baby’ Davis Foundation. He has also served the board for Jess’s Bra Closet.

Mr Cole served as the President of the Baton Rouge NAACP from 2005-2011 and was a co-host of a weekly radio show called NAACP speaks, where he engaged the listening audience in discussions of challenging community issues. As the former president of Baton Rouge’s NAACP Cole increased organizational impact through innovative initiatives. During his leadership with NAACP, he fought to change the state's accountability system which for years kept students from being promoted to the 4th and 8th grade and in some cases did not allow students to graduate from high school. As the program director of “Young Leader’s Academy in 2002, he directed and helped to mentor over 100 young men yearly to be better citizens in the Baton Rouge community.

Additional Activities:

Member of Mount Zion Baptist Church
Member of Nicholls State University Men’s Basketball Team.

Community Volunteerism.
Capitol Middle School Basketball Coach.
Community School for Apprenticeship Learning Board Member
NAACP President Baton Rouge Branch 2006 -2011

In the fall of 2015 Mr. Cole was nominated to serve on the East Baton Rouge Parish Metropolitan Council to represent District seven in Baton Rouge. He was successfully appointed to serve in the seat of Metro - Councilman for District seven. In the fall of 2016 Mr. Cole was elected by the people of district seven to serve on the Metro – Council for four years. During his service, he gained national acclaim for his activism and advocacy surrounding issues in the community relative to equity. After the flood of 2016 he led the charge to raise thousands in philanthropic funding to support families in rebuilding and achieving normalcy. In addition, to this work he has led the charge to execute a disparity study which is required by law to provide a comprehensive analysis of just how fractured the economic distribution system is, and how minorities are being left out of the equation. He, along with other advocates and politicians, intend to use the findings from this study to further push the agenda for increasing resources, establishing a goals program for small and minority businesses and re-investment in north Baton Rouge. He was a member of the mayor’s use of force committee which established the city’s first De-escalation policy for the police department. He chaired the selection committee, which led to the appointment of the current chief of police. Under Cole’s service, the city’s first needle exchange program was enacted and policies to decriminalize marijuana were introduced. He worked with members of the business community to establish guidelines for the ITEP program which for over 80 years allowed for tax abatements for manufacturing companies with no local input.

While serving as councilman he has spearheaded and participated in city wide initiatives including but not limited to:

Blight Remediation
Decriminalization of Marijuana
A City-Wide Needle Exchange Program
Creating guidelines for the Industrial Tax Exemption Program
Smoke-Free Baton Rouge
Bicycle Free Registration Program
The passing or a 2.4 mileage for the council on aging
The passing of a 900-million-dollar road tax for infrastructure
The selection of a new chief of police for Baton Rouge

His commitment to the community is demonstrated in both his annual bike ride against violence. His annual job fairs increase access to job training skills and employers. On any given weekday evening, you can find him at a local football game or community event, being in his element--with the people of Baton Rouge. Mr. Cole has received numerous local and state-wide awards for his service to the Baton Rouge Community. Mr Cole is also the CEO of The Cole Group, which is an education consulting firm specializing in leadership development, community organizing, school improvement and motivational speaking. Mr. Cole devotes many weekends to spearheading anti-gun and anti-violence rallies in the community, as well as coordinating community volunteer efforts like voter registration and workforce training. Mr Cole’s life is a striking example of service through action, as each day he shapes and inspires the youth of our community and works to improve the quality of life for all citizens.