St. Francis School Faculty & Staff

Kay Allen

Seventh & Eighth Grade

I taught full time for 10 years prior to the birth of my children. For the next 13 years, I worked as a stay-at-home mom, with occasional forays into volunteer work, substitute teaching, tutoring, etc. In the fall of 2006, I returned to full time teaching at St. Francis Middle School.

I am the youngest of three girls born into a family of educators. With a mother and 2 sisters (and innumerable cousins and aunts) in the field, I swore teaching was the last thing I would ever do. After receiving a Bachelor’s Degree in Home Economics, with a major in Family Relations and a minor in Child Development, I began my first real job at the Methodist Children’s Home in Waco. My experience there provided a sobering dose of reality, along with the realization that working with children was, for me, both fulfilling and interesting. After a year in Waco, I returned to Texas Tech and completed a Master’s Degree in Education.

My first teaching job out of graduate school was in Baytown, where I taught in a public neighborhood demonstration school for three years. Being young, single, and looking for adventure, I moved to my hometown, Temple, to spend a year pacifying my parents, before I took off for the Middle East.

After a year at home, teaching in Temple’s gifted and talented program, I took a job for two years with the Anglican International School in Jerusalem, Israel. The Anglican School provided a phenomenal experience, working with educators from all over the English-speaking world, and extremely bright students from over 30 different countries.

Upon my return to the US, I entered a graduate program at the University of Texas, Austin, to gain a broader perspective of my experiences in Jerusalem. I received a Master’s Degree in Middle Eastern Studies, while working part-time in the Middle East Resource Center. At UT, I reunited with my old friend, Ki, who I married upon completion of my coursework. We then moved to Houston, where I taught for two years in HISD, including the Vanguard program for gifted and talented students. When we were ready to increase our family, I began to work reduced hours in our church preschool. I stayed home with Judith and Tres for 13 years, and enjoyed volunteer work when I had the time.

In 2000, we moved to Austin, and discovered St. Francis when Tres was entering Kindergarten in 2003. With both children now currently enrolled, we feel we’ve settled into a place that resonates with our desire for strong, but accommodating, academics, a diverse student body, a healthy athletic program, and relatively small, nurturing classes. After three years as a St. Francis parent, I resumed working full time in 2006-07 in the Middle School, where I enjoy teaching Texas History and Math.

I have been inordinately blessed in my career, having worked in a variety of excellent, but very different, academic contexts. Ki and I perceive St. Francis as a lovely mixture of the characteristics we value most for our children, and I hope to grow into a most excellent teacher in this environment.

Certifications:
Core Subjects (Reading, Math, Science, Social Studies) - grades 1-8
Home Economics – grades 1-8
Learning Resources Specialist (School Librarian) – grades 1-12
Kindergarten Endorsement