Jean Brown shares civic engagement journey with city council
Jean Brown addressed the Woodbury City Council on Monday evening, reflecting on her decades of public service to the community, including her pivotal work on the school board that resulted in the construction of Valley Crossing School.
Brown, a lifelong Woodbury resident, spoke to the council about her path from growing up in the city to becoming an active participant in local governance. She credited her father's influence on her values, particularly his emphasis on education, as a driving force behind her decision to run for the school board.
During her tenure on the school board, Brown focused on addressing school districting challenges that were straining the district's capacity. Her work on this issue led directly to the planning and construction of Valley Crossing School, a new educational facility designed to better serve Woodbury's growing student population and distribute enrollment more evenly across the district.
Brown reflected on the broader impact of her public service, emphasizing how her contributions to the school board benefited not just children in the community, but families and adults throughout Woodbury. She highlighted the tangible outcome of her work—a new school building—as evidence of how civic engagement can produce meaningful, lasting improvements for a community.
Brown's remarks underscored the connection between personal values, community involvement, and concrete results. Her journey from a Woodbury native educated at Hamline University to a school board member who helped shape the district's infrastructure illustrates one resident's path to making a difference in local governance.
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Source document
[0:18] I’m Jean Louise Garbe Brown.
[0:21] I am from Woodbury.
[0:23] I was born, I was raised,
and I stayed in Woodbury.
[0:57] My dad was a farmer,
[1:00] and he was very pro education.
[1:04] And he always said,
you're always learning.
[1:07] As long as you live,
you should be learning.
[1:19] I went to a one room
[1:21] schoolhouse,
and we walked two miles to it.
[1:24] Well, then my dad said,
how would you like a pony?
[1:29] Well,
of course we would like a pony.
[1:36] The minute
[1:36] we saw Zipper,
we fell in love with him.
[1:39] He was very smart,
and he sometimes
[1:42] got the latch up
and he would go home.
[1:46] So when we got out of school,
we would go to get the pony,
[1:49] and the pony was home.
In the winter,
[1:52] we hitched a toboggan into him.
[1:54] The pony really made a fun time.
[1:57] Oh, we loved him.
[2:07] My dad
[2:08] influenced
me to go into education.
[2:12] I actually was out
of high school at 16,
[2:16] and he was very adamant
[2:20] that I go right into college,
which I did.
[2:23] I went to Hamline University.
[2:25] I just loved the student
teaching.
[2:29] My advisor said:
“We don't practice teach,
[2:33] we student teach.”
[2:35] That was a real big thing.
[2:37] And so I loved the teaching
[2:41] of the young people.
[2:53] And then I had these people
[2:55] that wanted me to run
for the school board.
[3:00] So I was able to do
a lot of things for Woodbury
[3:03] while I was on there.
[3:12] We had people coming
[3:14] and saying, here, we had no idea
we bought this house,
[3:19] and we're on here
and our children
[3:20] going across the street to play.
[3:22] Those children
don't go to the same school.
[3:26] And, we decided
[3:28] to build the school in Woodbury.
[3:32] The Valley Crossing
School. So... worked out great.
[3:43] I love gardening.
[3:45] My dad
was the one that got me going on
[3:48] that.
[3:53] Some of the iris are actually
from my grandmother.
[3:58] And every year
I think about that,
[4:01] and I think about her.
[4:08] As I plant
[4:09] the different seeds,
I look at that,
[4:13] as like with my students.
As they,
[4:16] the seeds grow,
so do our students.
[4:20] I just feel very fortunate
that I've been able
[4:24] to do a lot of good
for children
[4:27] and adults. And
[4:30] I feel very fortunate,
very blessed.
[4:34] I had a wonderful life.
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Other Topics from This Document
Educational Policy and Infrastructure Development
Reflections on Public Service Impact
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