A new interim superintendent is taking over at Keller ISD following the announced retirement of Rick Westfall, who has been at the helm of the district for six years.
At a special meeting of Keller ISD’s board of trustees on June 28, the school board members voted to promote the current associate superintendent of education — John Allison.
“We are confident in and grateful for Mr. Allison’s leadership during this transitional period,” said Board President Charles Randklev, per a district news release. “He brings the proven experience needed to guide the district through the coming months to ensure that we continue to move forward in the service of our students, staff and community.”
Allison’s move to the interim post became effective on July 1. Westfall will remain an employee of Keller ISD until the end of the year.
While it is unclear whether the two were related, the leadership shakeup coincided with the school board’s adoption of new campus policies pertaining to the use of bathrooms and pronouns in the district.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, trustees voted to require students and staff to use bathrooms that correspond with their biological sex. They also moved to forbid district employees from promoting or requiring pronoun usage “inconsistent with an individual’s biological sex as it appears on the individual’s birth certificate.”
The policies were approved at the same school board meeting where Allison was promoted. Many district parents and community members turned out to voice their opinion on the policy updates.
Still, Allison will be inheriting a relatively well-performing district in terms of student achievement outcomes as the board of trustees searches for a permanent replacement.
According to the Texas Education Agency’s accountability report for the 2021-2022 school year, Keller ISD clocked an on-time graduation rate of 93.4%. However, only 60% of its students scored at grade level on their STAAR exams.
Despite the troubling metric, the district performs far better than Dallas ISD. The biggest school system in the metroplex only managed to graduate 81.1% of its Class of 2022 in four years, and only 41% of students scored at grade level, despite the dedicated work of its teachers and principals.
“I am honored to be selected for this opportunity and appreciate the Board’s confidence in me,” Allison said, per the news release. “I look forward to working with our families and staff during this time of change.”
