Chemistry Summer School Teacher

Superintendent of Rochester Public School District:

The Rochester Public Schools is a high performing public school district located in the middle of South-Eastern Minnesota and spans 218 square miles. There are 27 schools in the district; 17 Elementary Schools, 4 Middle Schools, 3 High Schools, and 1 Alternative Learning Center. The District currently has three new schools being constructed and are scheduled to finish by the fall of 2022.  Under construction is one new middle school set to open in the fall of 2022. Two additional elementary schools have been demolished and are being reconstructed with a reopening date planned for the fall of 2022.

There are over 18,100 students in the district with more than 80 spoken languages, and approximately 85% of students graduate from high school in four-years.  Rochester is a growing school district with over 3,000 employees which is the third largest employer in Rochester following the Mayo Clinic and IBM.  An incredible 63% of the teachers hold an advanced degree.  The District has a School Board approved budget of $516 million for 2021-2022, inclusive of the General Fund, Food Service Fund, Community Service Fund, Building Construction Fund, Debt Service Fund, and Internal Service Fund. The General Fund budget is $265 million.  Please see the Rochester Public Schools website for additional information about the district at.  https://www.rochesterschools.org

 

The City of Rochester.

Rochester is the birthplace of renowned healthcare organization the Mayo Clinic. In 1863 a physician named William Worrall Mayo, who emigrated to the U.S. from England in 1845, arrived in Rochester to become an examining surgeon of federal draftees during the Civil War.  In 1883 a violent storm brought a tornado to Rochester killing 24 people, injuring 100 and destroying 150 buildings. The Sisters of Saint Francis and Dr. W.W. Mayo and his sons came to the aid of those injured by the storm.  Sister Mary Alfred Moes, a Franciscan sister teaching in Rochester, approached Dr. Mayo with a proposal.  The Sisters would find a way to build a hospital if the good doctor and his sons would agree to provide the medical staff.  Their efforts would set in motion the development of what has become one of the world’s foremost centers of medical care.  Today the Mayo Clinic in Rochester has approximately 35,000 employees.

Thomas J. Watson, Jr., who would later become the second President of International Business Machines – IBM, was a pilot in WWII where he struck up a friendship with another pilot from Rochester named Leland Fiegel.  This friendship eventually led to IBM deciding to build a major manufacturing and research center in Rochester.  The initial structure was clad in blue panels of varying hues as the architect was inspired by the Minnesota sky as well as IBM’s nickname of “Big Blue“.  The mile long plant is now known as the Rochester Technology Campus.