Allen Schools’ Superintendent Jeff Hiatt recently announced he will retire from education at the end of the current school year.

Hiatt informed the Allen Board of Education Monday, January 13th, at its regular meeting.

The board, after executive session, accepted Hiatt’s resignation, effective June 30, 2025.

Hiatt’s has been in education for 32 years. He presented the board a letter that read: “I would like to thank all our current board members. I would like to specifically thank Jami Rinehart, Jeff Maloy, Robert Hammonds, Frayne Black, and Jason Watkins for originally hiring me back in December 2018 as superintendent. I would also like to thank Kelly Hurt for the five years I worked with him when he was on the board. This has been the greatest job I have ever had. It has been the toughest, but the most rewarding job I have ever had. I have worked with 13 different board members since my start.

When I started, it was not uncommon to have board meetings that would last until midnight. I am proud of this school district and community and everyone that has accepted my family and myself as Allenites. I have been blessed with great teachers and staff and have formed relationships that will continue a lifetime. I have been blessed with being able to do a lot of neat things for our school and community. Our facilities have been overhauled, and I am proud of everything we have been able to do to give our kids the best we can and a sense of pride in our school. Our school is in outstanding financial shape and I am proud of that from where it was when I started. I am thankful for Brenda Robertson and Lisa Cundiff for their hard work, dedication and loyalty to the school and myself while I was superintendent.

In my 32 years, I have seen a lot of changes, good and bad in education. Challenges facing all schools today and moving forward are: finances, finding quality certified teachers and keeping our local and traditional values. I was blessed with working with school boards and staff that still believe in local control and conservative, traditional values. I beg you to hang onto these values no matter what is going on in the world around us. I urge the community to stay involved in your school. Support your teachers and coaches in everything they do because their jobs continue to get harder and harder each year. Lastly, I urge you to support my replacement as he/she guides our school into the everchanging future and the tough decisions that will need to be made.

Thanks again, Jeff Hiatt.”

The board also accepted the resignation of School Resource Officer Shannon Butler, who is leaving after accepting the position of undersheriff at the Pontotoc County Sheriff’s Office under new sheriff, Arnold Scott.

The board voted for Brett Edens to be interim school resource officer for the rest of the year.

Consent Agenda Theboardapproved the consent agenda, which included the minutes of December 9th, regular meeting; the fiscal year 2025 Purchase Orders and Encumbrances: General Fund numbers 234 - 241 -- ($3,993.10); Child Nutrition Fund numbers 39 - 41 ($105,364.80); Sinking Fund number 3 ($9,800); Treasurer’s Report; Activity Fund Report; and Travel Requests – TR-16-17 (ACT Workshop).

Action Items

In action items, the board approved the updated special education policy to follow the state’s latest updates.