Check Out Julie Allen’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Julie Allen.

Hi Julie, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I grew up in a mostly white affluent suburb of Washington D.C. and attended a school system where everyone looked and talked just like me; I have learned and unlearned a lot through my teaching and leadership journey since then. Throughout my college experience I was exposed to a lot of amazing people with different lived experiences from mine. Especially transformative for my sense of self was the year I spent studying in New Delhi, India as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar. When I graduated, I became convinced that the best way to make positive change in the world was by educating the next generation. I decided to become a teacher, joined Teach for America, and was placed in Atlanta.

Throughout my teaching career, I taught students multiplication and how to tie their shoes and in return they taught me how to be a more empathetic, patient, and culturally responsive human. When I left the classroom, I spent time working with teachers across the country and designing professional development so that more classrooms across the country could be safe spaces for students to share their voices, personalities, and cultures proudly. I also coached teachers across Metro Atlanta and decided that I wanted to foster a learning environment where students, staff and families felt safe to share their concerns and collaborate to close the opportunity gap. That’s how I came to be the school leader at International Community School. Now, in my third year as Principal/CEO at the ICS, I am grateful for each step of my journey. I have learned so much about myself and about the world from the students, parents, and staff I get to work alongside every day. The world is changing so quickly. As adults, we need to provide a safe space for students to learn and explore and then get out of the way so that they can heal the world we are passing on to them. ICS currently serves 400 K-5 students in Decatur, Georgia using an International Baccalaureate curriculum. Over 50% of our students are learning English as a second language and over 70% qualify for free and reduced lunch. Our students speak over 25 languages and they know that learning alongside those that are different from them is a gift. The staff is similarly diverse, and I’m grateful to work alongside them every day as prepare our students to be global citizens.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has not been a smooth road at all. I have failed more times than I can count. One of the major struggles in my journey is the skills which made me an amazing educator are not the skills that make a great leader. Great educators are often insulated inside of their classrooms, making thousands of quick decisions in a day completely independently. I spent weekends working on lesson plans by myself and scouring the local library for new books to read-aloud to students. If I wanted to tweak a plan based on how students were responding in the moment, I changed it on the fly. As a leader, it is my job to facilitate collaborative, intentional decision making that is aligned to our strategic goals and values. Often this takes far more time and conversation than making a quick independent decision. I have had to learn the hard way that everything I do and say has a weight to it and to pause before any action is taken- often the hardest course of action is simply not doing anything at all when everyone has an opinion about the course of action you should take. When I began teaching, I was exhausted. My mentor made me write down the number of hours I spent working that past week: I had worked 92 hours. Ever since then, I strive to let my life outside of work get just as much of my time and energy as my work life. In my current role, this looks like not working past dinnertime and avoiding taking work home on the weekends as much as possible. I also don’t beat myself up if I have something I’m passionate about that I want to work on outside of these boundaries, or if I slip up. It’s less about a strict rule than a guiding principle for me.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
One thing I’m most proud of is the culture shift that has occurred at ICS. When I arrived at ICS, there were very few school-wide systems and structures in place and leadership turnover in the preceding 8 years led to a deep distrust between the staff, parents, administrative team and board of directors. These factors led to disorganization, negative culture and a reactive way of addressing problems. Nobody wanted to be stuck in the daily dysfunction, but nobody knew how to get out either. Don’t get me wrong- there were amazing moments of students learning together organically and everyone pulling together at the last moment to accomplish an urgent task, but it was all too reactive and sporadic to be effective. Together, we built the most important systems first and changed the culture over three years from one of scarcity and chaos to one of plenty and safety. This shift took some simple changes like loading the copier with paper instead of requiring teachers to bring their own and making school-wide essential agreements for how all students and staff would behave in the hallway to stay safe and promote learning. It also took some trickier tasks like raising salaries for teaching staff, redirecting parents with issues to me instead of going straight to the board of directors, and refocusing our school culture on academic excellence in addition to being a Beloved Community.

Finally, we had to stop focusing on all that was going wrong and be grateful for all that was going right. ICS is a model of the what the world should be: people from all over the world coming together to learn alongside each other and make the entire community richer. We started having celebrations at every staff meeting and rewarding students who exhibited traits of a Global Citizen. We praised those who brought solutions to the table when there was a problem, and we celebrated even small, incremental wins with our student achievement. Over the past three years, ICS has become a place that is not just safe and happy, but it is a deeply responsive and human place for our students, staff, families, and community partners. This has been apparent throughout COVID-19 as we have had over 90% daily virtual learning attendance, 85% of our families participate in drive-through supply pick-ups every six weeks, and over 94% of staff intend to return to ICS for the 2021-22 school year. We are a superdiverse team committed to what’s best for our students.

What does success mean to you?
Success for me is about living in alignment with my core values of freedom, justice, and compassion. If I can make decisions about my time, energy and resources centered in those core values, then I know I am being successful. So many times in life I feel the pull to take a short cut or make an expedient decision, but these are rarely in alignment with the values I hold most dear. If I spend time each day exercising my own freedom through art, expression, and creativity then I am usually much happier and relaxed. When I spend time advocating, becoming a better co-conspirator, and educating myself on issues that face people and living things without the privilege I hold then I feel powerful. When I spend time with others who I care about or time in nature it builds my compassion and reminds me we are all connected to each other. When I make time to prioritize each of those three things in a day or a week, that is success for me.

Contact Info:

• Email: julie.allen@icsgeorgia.org
• Website: icsgeorgia.org
• Instagram: julieroseallen
• Twitter: @JulieAllenICS