BISD announces Bryan Allen of Merkel ISD as lone finalist for superintendent position
The Breckenridge school board announced this evening, Wednesday, April 1, that the lone finalist for the Superintendent position will be Bryan Allen, the current superintendent of Merkel Independent School District.
Allen’s wife, Katie Armstrong Allen, is a 1994 graduate of Breckenridge High School. They have two kids, Jacob Toliver and Aimee Toliver.
“I can’t tell you how excited I am to get to Breckenridge and start working wonderful staff here,” Allen said at a special school board meeting Wednesday evening.
Although Allen was announced as the lone finalist, his contract will not be signed until April 23, following the three-week delay required by Texas law. (Texas Statutes, Chapter 552.126)
Allen is a graduate of Sweetwater High School and was the principal of Merkel High School for three years before becoming superintendent there in March 2015. He has also worked at schools in Bridgeport, Frisco, Mansfield, Hearne, Rankin and Ballinger.
Once he’s officially in the position, Allen will replace Interim Superintendent Earl Jarrett, who has been filling in since Tim Seymore retired last year. In November, the Breckenridge Independent School District’s Board hired Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) Executive Search Services to direct the search. TASB consultants met with staff and community groups to discuss leadership qualities of the new superintendent. The profile developed from these meetings was the yardstick used by the board and consultants in evaluating the applicants for the position, according to a news release from BISD.
The board selected six applicants for initial interview and then three applicants were invited back for second interviews. With the second round of interviews completed, a committee of the Board visited Merkel ISD and reported back to the board.
Because of the local shelter-in-place order and the Texas Governor’s executive order limiting groups of people to 10 or fewer, the meeting was held via video/teleconference. The video/audio meeting was allowed because, due to the public health threat of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, Gov. Greg Abbott issued a Temporary Suspension of Open Meetings Laws on March 16, according to the agenda posted by BISD. The meeting was available to board members who were not present and the public through the Zoom videoconferencing app.
Cutline, top photo: Bryan Allen and his wife, Katie Armstrong Allen, and their kids, Jacob Toliver, left, and Aimee Toliver, right, attended the BISD board meeting Wednesday evening when Bryan was named the lone finalist for the superintendent position. (Photo courtesy of BISD)
