Thomas A. Shannon

Thomas A. Shannon, 87, died on April 17, 2019 at Ashburn, Virginia, from natural causes. His beloved wife, Barbara Ann, died on November 30, 2017. He is survived by their four children -- Thomas, Paul, Suzanne, and Terrence --eight grandchildren and one great grandchild. A Mass of Christian Burial will be said at St. Theresa Catholic Church in Ashburn on Monday, April 29, at 11 a.m., with burial in the National Cemetery at Quantico, Virginia. Shannon was born January 2, 1932, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the second son of John E. and Eleanor A. Shannon. He attended parochial elementary school and graduated from Bishop Messmer High School in 1950. He then went to the University of Wisconsin - Madison on a U.S. Naval ROTC scholarship, graduated with a B.S. in Economics in June 1954, and was commissioned Ensign, USN. A week later, he married his college sweetheart, Barbara Ann Weidner, and they honeymooned on their way to San Diego, California, where Shannon was assigned to the U.S.S. John W. Thomason (DD760), part of the Cruiser-Destroyer Force, Pacific Fleet. After two years of service, he was promoted to the communications staff of Admiral Chester C. Wood, Commander, Cruiser-Destroyer Force. In June 1957, he was transferred to the NROTC Unit at the University of Minnesota - Minneapolis, as Assistant Professor of Naval Science, teaching navigation and naval engineering. He was also enrolled in the university's Law School. On June 30, 1959, he left active duty to become a full time law student. As a reservist, he taught weekly classes in the course "Orientation to Command" to reserve officers at the Naval Air Station, Minneapolis. In June 1961, he was graduated with a J.D. degree from the University of Minnesota Law School. Upon graduation, Shannon practiced law in Minneapolis for a year which included serving as legal counsel to the Minneapolis Junior Chamber of Commerce. He and Barbara and their three children then moved to San Diego, California, where he became Schools Attorney of the San Diego City Schools. This was the beginning of a booming time in school law with the civil rights revolution and the dramatic ascendency of student and public employee rights, as well as all the other legal issues related to the dramatic growth of the public school system, including construction of new schools and hiring thousands of new teachers and other employees. Shannon's representation of the school district had state-wide implications. He was legal counsel to the California Department of Education during its revision of the Education Code to devolve more control of the public school's curriculum to local school boards. He also chaired an advisory committee to the California Assembly's Education Committee that rewrote state law to permit local school boards to lease-purchase school buildings with a simple majority vote of the people rather than the constitutional requirement of 2/3 "yes" vote to incur bonded indebtedness. This law resulted in hundreds of millions of dollars of new school construction across the state to house a burgeoning student population. Shannon also served as an adjunct professor of law and education at the University of San Diego, was founding chairman of the Council of School Attorneys of the National School Boards Association (NSBA) (which is today a national specialty bar association of more than 3,000 attorneys representing public school boards), president of the Education Law Association of the U.S., chairman of the American Bar Association (ABA) subcommittee on education law, legal counsel of the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) and the American Association of School Administrators (AASA), chairman of the San Diego County Juvenile Justice Commission, chairman of the Resolutions Committee of the California State Bar's Conference of Delegates, and a member of an advisory committee of the California Legislature to reform the State Education Code. In June 1977, Shannon, who was then Chief Deputy Superintendent and General Counsel of the San Diego City Schools, moved his family -- Barbara and their four children -- to Arlington, Virginia, when he became Executive Director of the National School Boards Association (NSBA) in Washington, D.C. As chief executive officer and primary lawyer in NSBA, he led a federation of 49 state school boards associations and the school boards of Hawaii, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Guam at the national level. This included representation of America's 16,000 local community school boards before the public and Congress in legislative advocacy; work with the federal government's executive branch in the implementation and administration of federal educational and related social laws; and through the filing of many briefs amicus curiae on vital education issues with nationwide implications before the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1984, Shannon envisioned, initiated, and superintended the construction of NSBA's office building at 1680 Duke Street, Alexandria. A five story, 50,000 square foot building, it continues to house NSBA's staff that was increased substantially by Shannon during the nearly two decades of his executive leadership, along with a four-fold increase in NSBA's annual budget to $17 million. These activities were supplemented by Shannon's overseeing the providing of programs, services, conferences, and publications for school boards and their attorneys and administrators to enhance the democratic governance of the public schools in local communities across our nation, as well as to represent American public school governance at international venues. He also served as Advisory Commissioner of the Education Commission of the States, was awarded the Distinguished Educational Leadership Award by his undergraduate alma mater, the University of Wisconsin (1994), the Distinguished Service Award of the American Education Finance Association (1996), and the Award for Outstanding Service to Education of the Mediterranean Association of International Schools (1995). He also was Executive Publisher of The American School Board Journal and Executive Educator Magazine and founding publisher of School Board News. In recognition of his excellent performance as leader of NSBA, he was presented the "Key Award" given annually only to a few association executives by the American Association of Association Executive (ASAE) in Washington, D.C. ASAE had also conferred upon him the professional title "Certified Association Executive (CAE)." Shannon, who was admitted to the practice of law in Minnesota, California, Virginia, and the District of Columbia, as well as before the U.S. Supreme Court, earned a national reputation as a foremost expert in American public school law, governance, and educational administration. This led the NSBA Board of Directors to designate him as "Executive Director Emeritus" upon his retirement from NSBA in 1997. Shannon cherished his wife, Barbara, and their family above all. Indeed, he saw his most significant accomplishment as the "grand joint effort with Barbara of raising our four children to responsible, productive adulthood." Shannon was a prayerful man who valued highly his lifelong Catholic faith. He also was a vigorous supporter of the Constitutional provision ensuring separation of church and state and a strong advocate of the public schools, which he called "the main American institution necessary for the preservation of our democratic society in our nation's increasingly diverse population." Shannon was a prolific writer, regularly writing columns in The American School Board Journal and NSBA's newspaper, School Board News, as well as other articles in newspaper commentary sections and nationwide magazines. In his retirement, Shannon authored a book chronicling the over 100 year-history of NSBA and a separate book about the history of the Virginia School Boards Association (VSBA) and served as a consultant to the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. While Shannon welcomed such writing projects after he left NSBA, he said that his real joy in retirement was "holding Barbara's hand while we together observed our children's progress in their careers of service to others and participated in their lives as they raised our grandchildren" Shannon also was a life member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and a long-time member of the American Legion. Shannon also was a life member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and a long-time member of the American Legion.