SPRINGFIELD — Lamar Allen wants to continue his broad impact on education in Georgia.
The Clyo resident is seeking his fifth term as the District 3 representative on the Effingham County Board of Education and his first as vice president of the Georgia School Boards Association (GSBA). He will be interviewed for the GSBA post on April 24.
“It won’t actually be voted on until June at the (GSBA Summer Conference & Delegate Assembly in Atlanta) but they pretty well will decided (April 24),” Allen said.
Allen, chairman of the local school board, is currently on the GSBA Board of Directors. He serves District 1, which includes Bryan County Schools, Bulloch County Schools, Candler County Schools, Effingham County Schools, Emanuel County Schools, Evans County Schools, Liberty County Schools, Long County Schools, McIntosh County Schools, Savannah-Chatham County Schools, Screven County Schools, Tattnall County Schools, Toombs County Schools and Vidalia City Schools.
“I have to come off the state board this year because you can only have two three-year terms on it,” Allen said. “I’d like to stay on it and the only way I can do that is to hold an office. I debated on it last year but I backed off.
“I’m going to give it a try this year.”
The GSBA’s mission is to ensure excellence in the governance of local school systems by providing leadership, advocacy and services, and by representing the collective resolve of Georgia’s elected boards of education.
“There are a lot of different areas in that,” Allen said. “They do insurance if we need it. They handle insurance, superintendent searches. They do all kinds of stuff to support the local school boards in the state.
“Every school board in the state is a member.”
Allen, a successful farmer and business owner, is a GSBA legislative liaison and the board designee for the GSBA Delegate Assembly.
“We voice what we want our state legislators to support (in regard to education) each year,” Allen said. “We meet and decide what we are going to present and do. Then we take it to the conference and vote on it.
“The result is what our lobbyist presents in Atlanta.”
