Hedalen Scores Easy Victory
Author: MT43 News
Susie Hedalen of Townsend coasted to an easy victory over Sharyl Allen in Tuesday’s Republican primary race for state superintendent of public instruction. Unofficial totals posted Wednesday showed Hedalen captured about 62 percent of the vote, compared with 38 percent for Allen.
Hedalen will face state Sen. Shannon O’Brien, D-Missoula, in the November general election. O’Brien was nominated without opposition on the Democratic party’s primary ballot.
Hedalen, 40, is currently superintendent of the Townsend school district and is vice chair of the Montana Board of Public Education. Allen, 65, has a teaching and administrative career of over 40 years in public education in seven states, most recently as superintendent and principal in Harrison.
Gov. Greg Gianforte and Attorney General Austin Knudsen endorsed Hedalen. Both Hedalen and Allen were former deputies of Elsie Arntzen, the outgoing two-term state superintendent of public instruction who this year ran unsuccessfully for Montana’s eastern district seat in the U.S. House.
On May 14, the Harrison school board of trustees placed Allen on paid administrative leave for the duration of her contract, set to expire on June 30, with the notation that “our district no longer requests her services.” That came after she was arrested on April 23 by Madison County officers on a misdemeanor charge of obstructing a peace officer. The charge was in response to her alleged refusal to allow an agent of the state Division of Criminal Investigation and a deputy sheriff to question children without parental consent about alleged misconduct of a recently fired teacher. She has pleaded not guilty in Madison County justice court. Allen says she was standing up for parental rights and student protection.
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PhotoCredit: Susie Headalen
Image 1 Caption: Susie Hedalen
