On Monday, Pike Liberal Arts School named Amy Allen as the new Head of School. 

Allen has been serving as interim Head of School since January, when Eric Burkett stepped down to accept a position at Troy University. 

“We are very excited that Mrs. Allen has accepted the position and are sincerely looking forward to the future success of our school under her leadership,” Pike Liberal Arts School Chairman of the Board April Johnson said. “Mrs. Allen brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the table, and leads by example. She has been in education for over 30 years and has been an instrumental part of the PLAS family since 2014. During her time at PLAS, Mrs. Allen has seen success in many roles including teacher, librarian, counselor and assistant Head of School. We truly feel that her success in these positions, combined with her experience and background, made her the right choice for the position.” 

Allen is a Greenville native and graduated from Greenville High School before graduating from Auburn University in 1988 with a Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education/History and Biology. She also received Master of Education degrees in Secondary Education/History, Gifted Education and Educational Leadership from Auburn-Montgomery and the University of Alabama. 

During her 37 years in education, Allen has served in the public school system with Butler County Schools, Talladega County Schools and Montgomery County Schools. She moved to Pike Liberal Arts School in 2014 as an anatomy and biology teacher and was the high school tennis coach for 10 years. Her husband, Gene Allen, is also a long time coach at Pike Lib for a number of different sports. 

Allen has been working as an administrator at Pike since 2020, first in the counselor’s office and then becoming assistant head of school, interim head of school and now permanent head of school.

“It offers some unique opportunities different from the classroom,” Allen said of working in administration. “You really build your relationships with students in the classroom and coming from the counselors office I got to see things from a different viewpoint. In administration, you get to work closely with the students and offer real world solutions and career path information to especially seniors, and it also gives you the opportunity to offer significant assistant and encouragement to our staff. I love it and I feel like that’s where I belong. I feel like I’m a problem solver and this puts me in a position to do that.” 

Allen called Burkett a mentor for her leading into her role as head of school.

“He was great, we enjoyed working together these past six years,” Allen said of Burkett. “He brought a lot of positive changes to our school. We’ve implemented a STEM program for our elementary school and have seen growth into the Alabama High School Athletic Association under Mr. Burkett, which offers additional sports opportunities we didn’t have before.

“Mr. Burkett was a great listener and he served as a mentor for me. He was great to talk out things with and bounce ideas off of. I appreciate him being willing to do that.”

Moving into her role as permanent head of school, Allen is already looking to the future for Pike Lib.

“Our No. 1 goal is always to educate our students in a safe environment and instill a love in learning; to be lifelong learners,” she emphasized. “Beyond that, we would like to see an increase in our enrollment. The CHOOSE Act is opening doors for us and possibilities for the future. I would love to see some more physical growth on the campus. There is always room for growth and expansion in facilities that could enhance our student learning and athletic programs.”