On $p$-groups with a maximal elementary abelian normal subgroup of rank $k$

There are several results in the literature concerning $p$-groups $G$ with a maximal elementary abelian normal subgroup of rank $k$ due to Thompson, Mann and others. Following an idea of Sambale we obtain bounds for the number of generators etc. of a $2$-group $G$ in terms of $k$, which were previously known only for $p>2$. We also prove a theorem that is new even for odd primes. Namely, we show that if $G$ has a maximal elementary abelian normal subgroup of rank $k$, then for any abelian subgroup $A$ the Frattini subgroup $\Phi(A)$ can be generated by $2k$ elements ($3k$ when $p=2$). The proof of this rests upon the following result of independent interest: If $V$ is an $n$-dimensional vector space, then any commutative subalgebra of End$(V)$ contains a zero algebra of codimension at most $n$.