Name: John Holley

Hometown: McKinney, Texas

Education: Collin County Community College, Southwest Texas State University (LBJ Outstanding Senior Award Recipient)

School Districts: Plano ISD (Rose Mary Haggar Elementary New Teacher of the Year (1995), Dallas ISD, Garland ISD, McKinney ISD, Allen ISD (Bolin, Anderson, Cheatham)

Grades Taught: Kindergarten, First, Fourth, Fifth

Allen ISD: Beverly Cheatham Elementary Teacher of the Year (2010), 20 years of service in Allen, Allen ISD Diversity Committee, Allen ISD DIPC Committee, Allen ISD Social Studies Curriculum Writing, Teacher Recruiting for Allen ISD, Project Kids Member, Bolin PTA, Anderson PTA, Cheatham PTA Member

City of Allen Community Service: Allen Parks and Recreation Board - 12 years, Allen Public Arts Sub Committee, Allen Senior Recreation Center Committee, Allen Public Library Sub Committee, Allen USA Celebration Committee, Allen Sunrise Rotary Club Member 

The safety of our Allen students, teachers, and staff will be my top priority.  As a teacher, I was responsible for keeping my babies safe while at school. I will keep that same focus on everyone in the district. The school district is moving in the right direction regarding school safety.  It will need to be a top priority even though we must cut the budget.  I would like to see the integration of more Allen PD SRO Officers on campuses in the future.

I have many friends in all of the positions mentioned above. These positions are so important when it comes to helping support our students.  Personnel makes up over 75% of the entire budget.  We already see some of these positions disappearing.  The district doesn’t want to cut these positions, but they have few choices.  These are areas that I do not wish to cut.  We need to continue to talk with our lawmakers and ask that they fund our schools for our children.  They are putting school districts and Texas children in a very difficult position. 

We need to continue to embrace Allen ISD's diversity. We must continue communicating and working together for our community to stay strong. As a teacher in the district, it was my job to ensure that my classroom was a welcoming place for all. My classes wouldn’t have been the same without the diversity of my students. That’s what made the classes so special. We should continue to learn about the different cultures in our district.  I also feel that it’s important for new families to learn about Allen and get involved in the community to help keep it the best place to be.

Recruitment and retention of high-quality teachers is highly important.  We have great teachers here in Allen.  Budget cuts are making it difficult to retain and recruit teachers.  Fast-growing districts around us are able to offer more incentives to teachers. We must find ways to be creative since we are having to go through budget cuts.  The district is moving in the right direction.  The district has created a program to help our dedicated paraprofessionals get certified, which is one way to help.  We have very dedicated paraprofessionals in our Allen schools.  They love our children and Allen.  These are the folks who can help us fill in some of the gaps when it comes to looking for teachers. We also need to continue to try and recruit teachers at job fairs.