Rochester School Board approves new contract with Superintendent Kent Pekel, extending his leadership to 2028
ROCHESTER — In the wake of a successful effort to increase the District's revenue and prevent large-scale budget cuts, Superintendent Kent Pekel has reached an agreement to stay with Rochester Public Schools until at least the first half of 2028.
The Rochester School Board unanimously approved a new contract for Pekel on Tuesday, Nov. 19. It will span from July 1, 2025 through June 30, 2028.
"We are grateful to have had Dr. Pekel's leadership the past several years and look forward to seeing how Rochester Public Schools will grow and how student experiences and outcomes will be enhanced under his leadership," Board Chair Cathy Nathan said in a written statement. "As was evidenced by his receiving the University of Minnesota's College of Education and Human Development Distinguished Alumni Award just last week, his work and leadership are recognized beyond our community, and we want to retain his talent in Rochester."
Although the District issued a press release following the meeting, the Board approved the superintendent's new contract without any of the members commenting on the matter, except for a few brief remarks about the process.
According to the contract, Pekel will receive a salary of $242,000 for the 2025-26 school year. His salary will then increase by $10,000 for each of the two subseqent years of the agreement.
RPS first hired Pekel on an interim basis in 2021. The District then offered him a longer contract in March, 2022.
The new contract approved Tuesday comes three months after Nathan announced in August that the District would begin negotiating with Pekel on the possibility of extending his time in Rochester.
In the three years he has been with the District, Pekel has overseen some tumultuous challenges. When he first arrived, the school District was coming out of nearly a full year of distance-learning in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and trying to determine the best way to re-establish in-person classes.
The first years of his leadership also saw the need for $21 million worth of reductions from the yearly budget.
In the fall of 2023, the District hosted a referendum that, if approved, would have provided $10 million a year for technology needs, freeing up money the District was already spending on technology. That referendum failed by 318 votes out of more than 20,000.
That led the District to announce it was going to have to make a slew of additional cuts, including the closure of multiple schools. The District was able to change plans once the Mayo Clinic announced it would donate $10 million to help RPS become more financially stable.
The School District then hosted a second referendum a year later, taking place on Nov. 5. Unlike the first attempt, the second referendum was approved by 57% of the vote, providing a revenue stream of nearly $20 million a year.
"I am honored by the School Board's confidence in me," Pekel said in a statement. "Over the past three years, we have laid the groundwork for major improvements in student learning, and I am thrilled that I will have the opportunity to build on that work in the years ahead."
