When it comes to athletics, the arts, and academics, St. Clair has built a strong sense of community and family that has helped make it one of the more desired school districts in the Mankato area in the past few years.
The ever-growing growth of St. Clair is a testament to one of its fearless leaders for 18 years, High School Principal Dustin Bosshart, who will be stepping down from his position at
St. Clair officially on June 30. Bosshart will become Superintendent of Cleveland Public Schools starting July 1.
Bosshart has served St Clair as the 7-12 grade Principal since 2006, after a brief one-year stint as K-12 Principal at Truman, and a five-year Dean of Student AD at Wabasso; he initially was hesitant to take the job at St Clair despite numerous calls from the existing Superintendent at the time because “I had only one year at Truman” but eventually took an interview for the position.
At that time, the culture at St Clair, according to Bosshart, seemed “closed” to him as “the staff didn’t come out of their rooms, didn’t have a great relationship with administration, and the students were very individualistic.” Bosshart is a high school teacher by trade, so the 7-12 position soon appealed to him as it was “more up my alley” and he accepted the position and soon got to work.
It took a few years to change the culture at St. Clair into what Bosshart calls “a family” but the results can speak for themselves. However, he was patient in his first few years at St. Clair and made it a priority to “sit back and observe what’s going on and learn more about your students and staff…I didn’t want to come in and just make changes.” Bosshart’s humble approach helped him better understand the needs for the school as he worked to create the culture the school is known for today, “I took notice of what made this school tick, pulled the great things out of it, and tweaked or added things to build toward something even greater.”
One of his greatest achievements as Principal at St. Clair was his implementation of technology across the entire school; Bosshart introduced personal computers for students long before many schools in the Mankato area even considered the idea.
The unilateral shift toward the digital age eliminated the clutter of heavy textbooks for many of the courses and while technology has continued to evolve since 2006, St Clair continues to evolve with it. Additionally, Bosshart also implemented the Blended schedule for students to give them the potential to earn some freedom during the school week.
While Bosshart may have been the orchestrator of many key changes for St Clair, he was quick to acknowledge the support from his staff and the students, “Anytime you make a change, there’s going to be pushback and it can be an uphill battle; we incrementally added the Blended scheduling to the teachers and helped them and the students operate the technology. We faced some challenges, but the total buy-in from everyone really has helped make St. Clair what it is today.” Academically, the students at St. Clair are some of the most brilliant minds in the Mankato area as 24 seniors from the Class of 2023, were named Distinguished Honor Students while 35 of the 49 graduates received academic honors.
However, Bosshart’s true goal as an educator stems from the life skills it takes to thrive outside of the classroom, “The purpose of the Blended schedule was to teach kids time management and how to best use the time available to you. Once you’re out of high school and maybe on a college campus or in the workforce, you’re already prepared to use that free time to your advantage.”
If you really want to test your leadership at any workplace, put them in charge during a crisis and the results can either sink or swim your organization. The COVID-19 pandemic placed an insurmountable amount of change on schools at an alarmingly fast rate and while many schools are still adjusting to a more digital age of schooling, St. Clair already had its digital footprint firmly entrenched at the school. Of course, there were still hurdles to climb, but Bosshart and his team played vital roles in keeping the district intact. In fact, the school has seen its largest growth spurt within the past few years post-COVID 19 as several building projects look to add more classrooms and more opportunities for students at St. Clair. Open enrollment at St Clair has been a recent topic of discussion as for 2024-2025, the school stands at a 58% open enrollment–almost double what it was when Bosshart began his tenure (30%). He did admit that the transitions brought about by COVID, “were actually pretty smooth due our students already being used to learning online” and he praised the staff for “putting in the time to make themselves available during a time that challenged a lot of us.” He also thanked the students for “holding themselves accountable and not treating this time as a way to goof-off.”
The graduation of 2020 was…odd to say the least as the ceremony was held outside on the football field as students stayed in their cars until they were called and picked up their diplomas. Bosshart chuckled when he described the ceremony as “one of the more unique graduations you’ll ever find” but he added that it was “one of the best graduation ceremonies” he had been a part of considering the circumstances, “This moment means a lot to the students and to their families and to us as well; you spend a lot of time with these students and we still wanted to celebrate their commitment to St. Clair.”
As his 18-year career at St. Clair draws closer to an end, Bosshart reflected about the impacts he has made and how the culture at the school has grown into a family, “The relationships between the students and the staff that have been formed and developed over the years has really paved the way toward this change at St. Clair. The amount of pride the students have when they walk into the school is a testament to their commitment to owning their school district.”
“To see them embrace this culture of respect, family, and community is something to be proud of here at St. Clair.”
Bosshart has learned much throughout his career at St Clair, but he pinpointed the most crucial ingredient for the school’s success, “It’s the relationships between the staff and the students that has made this place thrive; it’s the most important aspect when it comes to education.” He equated teaching in the classroom to coaching sports, “You can know all the X’s and O’s or everything about the subject, but if you can build a relationship with a student and connect with them, the learning will come.”
