Brian Allen was appointed the next Superintendent of the Worcester Public Schools by the Worcester School Committee on Thursday, May 1 by an 8-1 vote. Aislinn Doyle recently posted “Meet Brian Allen, the Next Superintendent of WPS” at WPS In Brief. We urge you to read the entire post to learn more about Brian Allen. Here are some excerpts from the post:
Over the weekend I saw lots of fellow WPS parents and educators, and everyone had a different version of basically the same question: “Who is Brian Allen, anyway?” And I don’t think they meant who he is, like putting a name to a face, but they meant who is he; what’s he about?
He'll be the first WPS Superintendent to have graduated from Worcester Public Schools to be up there in a long, long time. So long, in fact, that the last one once took a photo beside John F. Kennedy.
He is the third generation on both sides of his family to grow up in Worcester–both his parents grew up on Belmont Hill until their families were displaced by the I-290 construction.
Allen is the Deputy Superintendent, CFO, and COO of Worcester Public Schools. That includes overseeing finance, facilities, transportation, safety, IT and nutrition departments. His understanding of school finance and operations is the best in the state, if not the region
Allen has worked in the district for almost 27 years, under five different superintendents, two interim superintendents, and too many school committee members to count. On Monday I emailed him and asked why he’s stayed in education, and in Worcester, as long as he has. He told me, “Public service is my calling. Working in Worcester is where I feel I can actually make an impact to improve opportunities for students.”
Allen is probably at his best, though, during the yearly budget process. For twelve years in a row, Worcester Public Schools has been awarded the highest national recognition in school finance, the Meritorious Budget Award, for budget transparency and preparation. And each year Allen makes his rounds to parent groups, community organizations, and the school committee, to talk about the budget. In these sessions I have seen him answer questions about some of the most mundane intricacies of the district off the top of his head.
Probably the biggest impact that Allen has had, not just for Worcester, but for students across Massachusetts, is his strong advocacy for equity funding of public schools. . . Allen was an instrumental part of the team from Worcester who pushed to get the Student Opportunity Act passed in 2019. . . which has brought millions of dollars into the district in the last few years.
While his wife has lots of public school teaching experience, Allen does not. (Allen has taught future principals as an adjunct at Worcester State for over twenty years.) She is currently the principal at Lincoln St. Elementary School. She has spent her entire career working for Worcester Public Schools.
As a parent, I asked Allen how he will lead our school district without K-12 classroom teaching experience. He told me, “We have very exceptional instructional leaders, both building principals and at the central office. The teaching and learning team will continue, as always, to provide the direct oversight of curriculum development and school-based evaluations.” He added, “Instruction happens in the classroom by our exceptional teachers, not at the central office. The most important work of the central office, among all of the things needed to run a district, is to support schools. We do that by providing resources–people, time, and materials. We look at data, we allocate resources, and provide tools for schools to support student achievement. We build systems and structures that best support the schools. I think my work has demonstrated that resource allocation and organizational structures have been an expertise of mine.”
Excerpts from this blog were taken from a recent article by reporter Aislynn Doyle. Her full article can be found below.
