James E. Allen--The Man

How Did the James E. Allen Learning Center Get Its Name?

The school was named for one Mr. James E. Allen, who was the New York State Commissioner of Education in the 1960s. Mr. Allen died in a plane crash on Oct. 16, 1971.

Here are some key facts about James E. Allen the man:

Born James Edward Allen, Jr. on April 25, 1911 in Elkins, West Virginia to a Presbyterian minister.

Education

· Received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Davis and Elkins College, 1932.

· Received a research fellowship in educational administration from Harvard and later earned a Master's degree in education from that university in 1942.

· Earned a PhD from Harvard in 1945 after doing a dissertation on New Jersey state school policies.

· Received several honorary degrees and the Columbia University Teacher's College Medal for Distinguished Service.

Career Highlights

After working as a salesman for a few months, Mr. Allen joined the staff of the West Virginia State Department of Education in 1933. Within six years, he became chief of aid and statistics.
He was a research associate at Princeton University from 1939 to 1941. There he participated in an educational finance study.
While attending Harvard, Mr. Allen worked as a faculty secretary and director of placement.
After spending time in the Air Force following his doctorate, James E. Allen became an Assistant Professor of Education at Syracuse University in 1945. While there, Dr. Allen headed the Bureau of School Services.
In 1947, James E. Allen began a long career with the New York State Department of Education when he was hired as an executive assistant to the commissioner.
In 1950, Dr. Allen became Deputy Education Commissioner under Lewis A. Wilson.
In 1955, Dr. Allen became New York's Commissioner of Education, a position he would hold for the next fourteen years.
During his first year in office, Dr. Allen took a strong stand against McCarthyism by reversing the suspensions of six New York City teachers who refused to inform on past Communist associates.
In 1963, in response to a request from the Long Island Chapter of the NAACP, James E. Allen ordered a fact-finding study on de facto segregation in the Malverne School District and other Long Island school districts.
After getting the results, Dr. Allen imposed a racial balance plan on the Malverne school district. Other Long Island school districts soon devised their own plans for desegregation. The following words describe his feelings on segregation in education:

I've maintained all along that you can't have quality education for every student unless you have conditions that enable every student to learn. Segregated schools are a deterrent to full equality of opportunity and personally I think it's true for white as well as Negro children.

In 1968, Dr. Allen proposed and implemented a controversial decentralization plan for the bureaucracy-driven New York City school system. As part of the plan, Dr. Allen set up a five-member central board of education, fifteen almost autonomous school districts with locally elected neighborhood boards, temporary school districts in slums, and local community advisory councils.
The goals of this plan were greater community and neighborhood control over the children's educational destiny as opposed to centralized bureaucratic red tape, more say in educational decision making for Negro and Hispanic residents, and less decision making power for extremists.
In February 1969, President Richard M. Nixon appointed Dr. Allen as the United States Commissioner of Education/Assistant Secretary of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. Once he accepted the post, Dr. Allen vowed to send more federal aid to inner city schools.
Dr. Allen resigned from his federal post in 1970 due to disagreements with the Nixon Administration over school desegregation and Vietnam War policies.

It's the quality of the people, it's the quality of the schools that will make the difference in the long run as to whether or not civilization really makes a contribution and really advances the cause of mankind. --James E. Allen, Jr.

Sources: Current Biography Yearbook 1971:page 459; Current Biography Yearbook 1969: pp. 11-13; Cardinal ’74 Yearbook.