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Personal: Occupation, education, family:
I am Julie Allen and I have been a resident in Marshall for the past 47 years. I received my degree from the College of St Catherine in education and moved to Marshall for a teaching opportunity. Teaching is more than a career for me; it is my vocation. I was blessed to teach for 37 years, with 34 of those years in Marshall. I was fortunate that when my children were young, I could teach in the Title Program part time and as my family grew, I resumed full-time teaching in the classroom. After retiring from full-time teaching in the Marshall Public Schools, I continued to substitute teach for 5 years as I truly love being in schools. I also started working part time for a research based educational company that has allowed me to travel around the country, working in schools from the hollows of West Virginia to Scottsdale, Arizonia, to reservation schools across our country, to many school trips in Maine. This enabled me to learn current research as well as learn what other school systems are doing. I renewed my teaching license two years ago and worked as a substitute for first grade.
I have been married to my husband John for 44 years, who was also a teacher at Marshall Public Schools for 39 years. My family also includes my two sons, Tim and Tom, my daughter-in-law Bree and my grandson Dawson.
Why am I running for the school board seat?
I am running for the Marshall School Board due to my deep dedication to education and to ensure students' needs are our primary focus, in all decision making.
I intend to continue to build relationships between the board, community, administrators, teachers, and staff. We need more opportunities to listen to one another and there needs to be clearer transparency when, why and how decisions are made.
I am proud to have been a teacher in the Marshall Public Schools, and I know we have an incredibly talented staff that works very hard to provide our youth an exceptional education. My decades of experience combined with the fact I have time to devote to this work puts me in a unique place to serve the community I care for deeply.
What are the major issues facing the district?
• Funding is a major issue in our district. The recent cuts that were made to classrooms, home connectors, and classroom aides are going to cause more stress on our schools. We need to work to not have these funding challenges impact our students' experience.
• Schools are facing underfunded mandates from the State of Minnesota. We need to find creative ways to continue to provide quality education and look at ways to cut costs that don't affect our students.
• I believe that the overuse of technology disrupts the learning that takes place in schools. I am very pleased to hear that Marshall High School is no longer allowing cellphone use in the classroom and want to continue to explore technology uses in our schools to ensure our students are being served well. As a school we need to be reflective and intentional with our technology use.
What are the areas of concern regarding student achievement in the district?
If we are measuring student achievement by one test given in the spring, we will find that Marshall is slightly above Minnesota's average in math and below in reading according to the 2026 MCA results. LETRS training and the READ Act is important to ensure all students get the phoneme awareness and phonics needed to decode words, however, we need to continue teaching students the joy of reading by putting on level books in their hands and in the primary grades by reading stories that will develop vocabulary, background knowledge and the joy of books. Better readers occur by reading, A recent survey conducted by the National Assessment of Educational Progress reported in the United States only 14% of 13-year-olds reported reading for fun almost every day in 2025, compared with 27% in 2012. Reading skills will improve if we both use research-based education practices in education and instill a joy to read.
Do you have specific suggestion or improvement?
I would like to see an informational and listening session once a month between board members with teachers and board members with community members to share what is happening in the district. This time would allow people to have a conversation and help build relationships.
Board meetings need to have a clearer explanation about what is on the agenda and what is being voted on. The current structure is very confusing for those that are watching the board meetings on our local channel. It is nearly impossible to know what was voted on as each item is listed by a number which requires the viewer to look up each item. I want to have more transparency and clearly communicate to all our constituents what is happening in our schools so all can actively engage.
I would also like to see the School Board have their meetings at a time that is better conducive to community members. A 4:00 meeting works great for me but limits those individuals that cannot leave work before 5:00.