District presents multi-year secondary redesign with prototypes, seeks wide feedback

Will Rummert, the district—s principal on special assignment, told the Mankato Public School District board on Feb. 2 that a months-long secondary redesign effort is moving from research and site visits into prototyping and community input.

Rummert said the district has completed needs assessments, student focus groups and site visits to peer schools to inform four redesign pillars: student learning at the center; durable skills (employable/soft skills); equity and belonging; and teacher empowerment. "When we talk about student learning at the center, that's exactly what we're talking about," Rummert said during the board—s presentation.

The district convened a secondary input team made up of members from each secondary school and plans to form a community input team of alumni, corporate partners and families. Rummert said principals are building prototypes that will be reviewed by the SIT team and community input team and used for pilot work. "We're going to continue to do research...and bring that back to the design team," he said, describing the proposals as iterative.

Board members pressed the administration on how student feedback will be incorporated and on timing. One board member asked whether changes could affect registration that is occurring this week; Rummert said micro-implementations could start next year but that major transitions will likely be visible over a multi-year horizon. He noted summer months will be used to implement some changes and that work is being done to connect career pathways to registration to drive student choices.

Members asked which elements from site visits seemed most actionable. Rummert pointed to flexible scheduling, embedding STEAM/CTE pathways earlier (starting in seventh grade at some peer sites), and structures that give teachers more collaborative time. He said the redesign is not about simply buying programs but about changing school culture to support different scheduling and learning pathways.

The board and administration agreed on the need for teacher buy-in. Rummert said prototypes will be refined with teacher feedback and that pilots could be small, medium or larger scale depending on results. Superintendent Peterson and other board members encouraged urgency while noting the work must be implemented with strong staff engagement.

The district plans further updates as prototypes are developed and when the SIT and community input teams have reviewed proposed models. Next steps include principal prototypes, SIT feedback and planned presentations to the community and board for subsequent approval of any large-scale schedule or program changes.