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Dr. Shannon Allen is the superintendent of the Beaumont Independent School District. She made history on April 17, 2019, by being named the first female superintendent in the district. A Beaumont native and a graduate of BISD, Dr. Allen is uniquely qualified to serve the community as the leader of the district through her background and work experience of 25 years in the district. Over the years, her passion and commitment to the students in the district and the entire community has continued to increase.She earned her Bachelor of Science in biology with a minor in chemistry from Prairie View A&M University and obtained her master’s and doctoral degrees in education from Lamar University.
She began her career as a substitute teacher at Fehl Elementary and quickly found her niche in education. She became a biology teacher at Clifton J. Ozen Magnet High School in 1997, later serving as an elementary school curriculum coordinator, assistant principal and magnet coordinator, middle and high school principal, and Associate Superintendent of Secondary Schools.
An advocate for all students, Allen is focused, driven and committed to the success of the nearly 17, 000 students in Beaumont ISD. It is her mission to change the trajectory of the lives of all students so that they become the next generation of educators, innovators, business owners, and community leaders. Her focus is to improve the entire community by breaking the cycle of poverty through providing an exemplary education for every student.
She continually strives to be a transformational leader and is changing the philosophy by which the work of the district is executed. Every Moment Matters or the EM2logo can be seen all across the district and applied in classrooms each day. Allen believes that maximizing the time and continuous improvement in all facets of the organization will yield increases in reading performance, student attendance and ultimately attract families back to BISD. Under her leadership, several innovative school models and campus redesigns have been implemented to increase the number of students served in high performing campuses.
Allen is a member of the advisory board for the Art Museum of Southeast Texas and she is a member of the Rotary Club of Beaumont. She has been recognized for her work over the years and been the recipient of the A & M Outstanding Classroom Teacher Award, Region V Middle School Principal of the Year, Lamar University’s Outstanding Doctoral Student and Pioneering Women award in 2019.Dr. Allen has been recognized as the 100 Plus Black Women Coalition’s Woman of the Year for 2020 and a 2021 Lamar University Distinguished Alumnus. In June of 2022, Dr. Allen was named Texas PTA’s Superintendent of the Year. Most recently, Allen was named as the Friends of Texas Public Schools, Ambassador of the Year 2022.
She has been a proud member of the Antioch Missionary Baptist church for more than twenty years and has been married to retired professional artist and educator Red Allen for the past 13 years.