Allen Parish School Superintendent Kent Reed plans to retire in July after 37 years with the school system, the last four as superintendent.

“I have spoken with the board members and would like  to announce that when my contract expires on June 30, I will not be seeking an extension and will be officially retiring on July 1,” Reed said in announcing his retirement at Monday’s School Board meeting.

Reed said it was an honor to serve as superintendent of Allen Parish schools and thanked the board for giving him the opportunity to lead the school district. He went on to thank them for their support, patience and guidance the past few years. Additionally he thanked all school employees for the job they do everyday in making the school district a success.

“This decision did not come easy for me, but after 37 years of service as a high school English teacher, football, basketball and track coach of eight years, high school assistant principal for eight years, high school principal for 10 years, and for the past 11 years I have served as a supervisor in various positions for the Central School Office, the last four as superintendent,” he said. “I have truly enjoyed my career as an educator and look forward to the next phase of my life as I enter retirement.”

Reed said he is looking forward to spending more time with his family, traveling and playing golf.

The School Board will begin advertising for the position in March and hopes to have a new superintendent in place before Reed retires. Reed said he will do whatever is needed to assure a smooth transition when a new superintendent is appointed.

Reed said he wants to be remembered as a person who was fair, honest, hard-working and someone who cared about and made decisions for the good of all students.

In highlighting some of his accomplishments in the past four years, Reed said he worked to complete many maintenance upgrades throughout the school district, maintained a fiscally sound budget, aligned the district work to the critical goals of the Louisiana Department of Education.

Among his achievements were continuing to grow the percent ante of students scoring “proficient” on LEAP assessments, assuring high school students grade on time college or career ready as well as TOPS eligible and continuing to recruit quality, certified teachers while looking at adjustments in the salary schedule.

He also worked to maintain a quality Early Childhood program to assure the all children are kindergarten ready, established a district literacy coordinator to oversee literacy programs, established an Ed-Rising program to grow future educators in the parish.