Independent file photo Karen Van Keulen served 10 years on the Marshall School District Board before deciding not to run for re-election in November.

MARSHALL — Looking back at 10 years of service on the Marshall Public Schools Board, Karen VanKeulen considered the ongoing bond referendums for facility replacement and upgrades as the biggest challenges during her two and a half terms.

The school district placed referendums on the election ballot twice during her 10 years on the board.

“I’d have to say the biggest roadblock would be the referendum,” she said. “There are a lot of people very much in favor of it or very much against it, so then it comes down to the people who aren’t sure yet. I would just like people to educate themselves — find out what’s going on, go to the schools, get the details — and don’t just vote ‘no’ or ‘yes’ without finding out the facts.”

VanKeulen, who decided to step aside and not run again for her Marshall Public Schools Board seat, was recognized last month by the school district for her 10 years of service.

“Everyone should serve on some sort of board or committee,” VanKeulen said. “You learn so much more about yourself and about everybody else. You get so much more out of it than you ever expected. I love being part of something that makes a difference.”

VanKeulen began serving as a school board representative in 2009.

“I had never thought of running for school board, but (current board vice-chair Matt Coleman) talked to (my husband) Pat about running,” she said. “Pat said, ‘Nope. But go talk to Karen.’ I ended up finishing Deann Reese’s term when she went to work in Minneota. It was around election time and there ended up being seven of us running for three spots.”

VanKeulen was elected alongside incumbents Tim Swenson and Jeff Chapman. While she admits it takes about two full years to fully grasp everything that is going on, VanKeulen was quick to jump in and learn all she could.

“Every year I was on the board, I went to school board training,” she said. “I loved the training we had in January with people from all over the state coming to the conference. There were break-out sessions and workshops along with presenters. It was free and you could talk to other board members or superintendents from around the state. I always enjoyed that.”

According to MPS Superintendent Scott Monson, VanKeulen completed 195 hours of training and/or conference attendance during her years of service.

“It has been a pleasure to work with Karen as a school board representative since I started here in 2014,” Monson said. “Karen was on the board that hired me, which I will always be appreciative of.”

Monson added that a lot of great things had been accomplished during VanKeulen’s time on the board.

“Karen played an important role in helping our district create and implement a Five-Year-Strategic Plan,” Monson said. “That plan — and the work she did and input she shared — will benefit our district through the 2021-2022 school year. Karen has also put in a great deal of time serving on the Facilities Committee and most recently helped with the creation of a Long-Range Comprehensive Facilities Plan for our district.”

Fellow board members say that VanKeulen has served as a strong advocate for the district and especially, for the students.

“Karen brings a sometimes contrary opinion or perspective to the school board, which helps other better reflect on whatever the topic is,” Monson said. “I’ve always appreciated Karen’s sense of humor, her sincere desire to do what’s best for students and her networking in the community and school district.”

VanKeulen skipped running for re-election in November. Chapman was re-elected for another four-year term. Newcomers Sara Runchey and Aaron Ziemer also began board duties in January.

“In all fairness, I think we have an awesome faculty and staff, along with a great board and superintendent,” VanKeulen said. “It’s great to have people who care about kids. But when I said I wasn’t running, I was worried there would be no one with kids (currently in the school system) running. I always feel like the board should be a mixture of people. But now Sara and Aaron both have kids, so I feel good about that.”

VanKeulen said she nearly questioned her decision to become a board member in the early days after being elected.

“When I first started, three of my first meetings involved three expulsions,” she said. “That was so hard. I wasn’t prepared for that. The administration has to come in and present. It’s really hard for the administration because they do care. I think they feel like they failed the student somehow. I thought, ‘Oh, no. Is this all it’s going to be about?’ But that didn’t happen very often. And when I look over the past 10 years, there weren’t a lot of bad things. Those were unique things that happened along the way. There are a lot of good things going on here.”

VanKeulen said she believes the bottom line is that you have to care about people and be willing to put the kids first.

“You have to do what works best for students,” VanKeulen said. “If people come in with agendas, to make sure this or that happens, they’re not looking at what’s best for everyone.”

While there were times when board members didn’t agree with one another, VanKeulen said everyone remained professional.

“We maybe walked away agreeing to disagree, but we didn’t disrespect each other,” she said. “When there’s good leadership, that makes the difference. And we weren’t a micromanaging board, but more of an overseeing board.”

VanKeulen added that it was oftentimes frustrating to try and reach out to people who are super busy these days. She said she’d love to see more people play active roles in the education process.

“Our community still supports the school and the kids, but when we hold an informational community meeting, there might be 30 total people there and about half are faculty and administration. In a community of almost 14,000, that’s not very good. So I hope there’s more support for the referendum this time around.”

VanKeulen said the board has tried to be very transparent, especially about the needs in the district.

“We tried to be as transparent as possible and not twist things,” she said. “I know if 150 called tomorrow and said they’d like to tour West Side, 150 people would get to tour West Side. I didn’t really feel like either (of the failed referendums) were a Cadillac version. We were trying to be conservative with money.”

While the newcomers are settling into their new roles on the board, VanKeulen said she’d love to see more people interested in running for school board positions at the next election.

“There were four people for the three seats at this last election, so we’re starting to talk to the right people,” VanKeulen said. “I think we’re planting the seed.”

While one door has closed, VanKeulen recently opened up another one, serving as a county representative for Marshall-Lyon County Library. The mother of four — all of whom graduated from MPS — keeps pretty busy most days. She currently works for Prairie Home Hospice and is also on the Southwest Minnesota State University alumni board.

“I miss it already,” VanKeulen said about being a school board member. “But I’ll be keeping busy. I’m finding other ways to stay relevant and be part of the community. I like knowing what’s going on. I love Marshall, so it’s hard not being part of that.”