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July 1 marks the fifth anniversary of the appointment of Shannon Allen as Beaumont ISD Superintendent. Yes, the public comparison to Carrol Thomas and his band of thieves was not much of a hard act to follow, yet Allen took the reins after an extensive house cleaning. Yes, it can be argued that the house certainly could have used more garbage removal, but Allen assured that she was, in fact, the best person for the job as the one that could navigate the district to accomplish the goals set out by the community and the Board of Trustees.
In that, she has failed.
The district is plagued with violence; and, instead of fixing underperforming schools, she and this board have elected to take the state-allowed loophole of transferring responsibility of our children’s education to “charter schools” still under BISD control to stave off another takeover by the state, enriching people like Mike Miles, former CEO of “Third Future Schools” and current TEA-appointed Houston ISD Superintendent. Allen has failed in her own mission statement to increase reading abilities and has continued to place blame and not accept the responsibility for failing a majority of our students.
In reviewing the dismal performance noted on the Spring 2024 STAAR test results, Allen strongly suggests that the writing test scores are suspect because they were graded by Artificial Intelligence (AI). Suspiciously, still, Allen’s plan now includes spending taxpayer dollars to buy an AI reading coach program from Amira Learning Systems, dumbing down students to substandard test reviews, if she’s telling the truth.
Failing does not mean that Allen is a bad person, only that she is not getting the job done. We are not losing great teachers because the pay is a few dollars less than a neighboring district alone, and increasing the budget to pay teachers more, while it may be deserved in many cases, just means Allen is not the right person for this job because it is not getting done.
Good teachers are leaving for the same reason everyone else is – they are scared; they are tired; they are in search of something better. Parents, students – and, yes, teachers – are done putting up with the violence on campuses, which has erupted from elementary through high school level. They are done doing their best only to get the worst. They are not running away to find a few extra pennies; they are moving on to salvage a better environment in which to spend their days.
As we look to the new school year, “vision” statements of “academic excellence” and visions of “exemplary education in a safe learning environment” are nothing but platitude and excuses. Very simply, the job is not getting done and, guess what, Allen still accepted more than a quarter of a million each year while failing to get the job done.
There is a very well financed initiative across Texas to get rid of the entire public school system. Those such as Allen or her board can blame the state and, to some degree, may be correct. But, the reality is, if our public school system is not working, and it isn’t, then it will collapse. And what is the alternative?
Before the baby gets thrown out with the bathwater, districts failing as hard as Beaumont ISD could start with new leadership, with a new approach – because this one is not working.
It begins with the school board, as we all saw in the not-so-distant past. If we don’t do it, the state one day will … Again.