Massive Mayo Clinic Donation Stops Planned Rochester School Closures

Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News)- Mayo Clinic has swooped in with a massive donation that will prevent the Rochester Public School District (RPS) from taking drastic cost-cutting measures next year. 

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In November Superintendent Kent Pekel presented the school board with a proposal that would have shuttered three schools in order to implement new school start times and help the district trim transportation and other expenses over the 2024-25 school year. 

The belt-tightening was included in a 10-point proposal called the Attendance Options Redesign Plan. On Wednesday, district leaders announced that RPS has received a $10 million donation from Mayo Clinic. 

In light of the donation, the newly revised plan will no longer recommend closing Pinewood and Riverside Elementaries. It also scraps the sunsetting of a host of other offerings, according to a news release describing the changed proposal. 

“This extraordinary gift given at an extraordinary moment in the life of our community enables and empowers us to continue our work to raise the academic achievement of all students,” says Rochester Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Kent Pekel. “This investment from Mayo Clinic means RPS can avoid closing schools, raising class sizes, and cutting programs.” 

The new plan will instead propose moving Pinewood Elementary into the Longfellow School building. The 45/15 schedule at Longfellow would continue while the district would add a traditional schedule offering at Longfellow. 

The Mighty Oaks Early Learning School would occupy the building that houses Pinewood Elementary. The Lincoln K-8 school would stay where it is instead of moving into the building that Riverside Elementary currently occupies. 

The revised proposal also recommends continuing to operate Riverside Elementary as a K-5 School and to move the Spanish Immersion Language Program from Gage Elementary and the Willow Creek Middle School into the Riverside building, which would house a K-8 Spanish Immersion Program.  

Strong performing schools set our kids up for long-term success, and are critical to the health and vibrancy of our community,” says Mayo Clinic Chief Communications Officer Halena Gazelka, M.D. “This is an investment in seeing all kids reach their full potential, serving as a building block for our future workforce.

Major changes to the district’s attendance boundaries are also axed in the revised plan. Under the proposal attendance areas for district-wide option schools will be broken up by regions within the district. Those maps will be made available prior to the Jan. 9 school board meeting, the news release says.  

120 students who are currently bused to Franklin Elementary would attend the traditional schedule school at Longfellow under the revised plan. The newly opened space at Franklin would be used to expand the district’s Montessori program.  

The revised plan no longer recommends reconfiguring Churchill and Hoover schools. Schools housing the district’s newcomer program for students new to the U.S. would expand from four to seven. 

The news release describing the proposal says the district would also look to create a middle school-level Alternative Learning Center and recommend an expansion of the School Age Child Care Program. 

We are grateful beyond belief for this gift from Mayo Clinic, which provides us with a bridge to the referendum that I will recommend that the RPS School Board put on the ballot in 2024 to provide our system with the stable funding we need to meet the high educational expectations that the citizens of Rochester have for our students and our schools- RPS Superintendent Kent Pekel

Rochester School Board members are set to take up the proposal on January 9. It will be discussed during a study session on January 16 then put up for a vote as soon as Jan. 23. 

Community members can provide feedback regarding the revised proposal by emailing redesign@rochesterschools.org. District leaders are also holding a virtual informational session from noon-1pm. and an in-person session at the Edison Building at 615 7th St. Southwest from 7-8:30 p.m. on Jan 3.

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