Montgomery, AL- Advocate for children and life-long learning, retiring Montgomery Public Schools (MPS) Superintendent Margaret Allen discusses candidly the travails of MPS and what parents, community, business and government must do to ensure student learning success in our county. She speaks to the Montgomery County Democratic
Conference (MCDC) Monday, August 7th at 6:00 p.m. at the Alabama Democratic Conference (ADC) Auditorium, 418 S. Decatur Street, Montgomery.
MCDC is committed to promoting political unity, advancing the cause of the Democratic Party, recruiting good Democratic candidates and winning elections. MCDC is the local unit of the Alabama Democratic Conference (ADC). The MCDC Education Committee invited Allen to speak to the group before sending an invitation to the State Board of
Education to discuss the intervention, its proposed outcomes and how MCDC can help facilitate learning success.
Allen took the helm of MPS after the ouster of former superintendent Barbara Thompson in 2013. The Montgomery County Board of Education voted 5-2 to accept a mutual separation agreement from Thompson amid protest from supporters who credited her with strengthening Magnet and Advance Placement programs. Allen was named Interim
Superintendent at that meeting.
Many people, however, blamed Thompson for failing to move the troubled district forward and for accusations in late 2012 that several MPS high schools — Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis and Sidney Lanier were systematically changing grades to improve graduation rates.
In 2014 the board named Allen MPS Superintendent. In 2016, MPS almost doubled its number of failing schools from 12 to 23, in addition to consistently poor test results. In January 2017, the Alabama State Board of Education voted to takeover MPS citing the above reasons.
Allen began her 40 years in education as a paraprofessional at the Montgomery Association for Retarded Citizens. She holds two Masters of Arts degrees in Early Childhood Education, both from Auburn University Montgomery.
During her tenure as chief administrator, she restructured and expanded the Professional Development Department, guided the system to its first district-wide accreditation achievement and initiated efforts to create the 2014 strategic plan.
All rights reserved, Gumptown Magazine. Copyright 2017.
