MANKATO — Those in the community driving by Mankato West High School this summer may notice some drastic changes taking place.
“It’s an exciting time, just visually,” Supt. Paul Peterson said. “I’ve been kidding around with people the last few weeks saying, ‘The district has been doing work for a year and a half, but if you want to get people’s attention, rip the front off of West.”
That’s exactly what took place Monday, with crews working to tear off a part of the high school — the first step in tearing down the old gym and music rooms so that the district can build new facilities for those programs at the school. The project and more across the district are all a part of the Future-Focused Facilities Bond Vote, a $105 million bond referendum passed in 2023 to improve facilities at schools across the district.
“West High School is the original Mankato High School, back before there was an East and West, so parts of that building are very, very old. We surveyed the community and asked if building a new West was something people were interested in, and the result was an overwhelming no. They wanted to see us renovate the high school and reinvest in that space.”
Scott Hogen is the facilities manager at the district and is also the bond construction manager for the West High project. He says the primary goal of the project is to secure West’s entrance by moving the office, which was on the second floor, to the main floor and putting it at the front of the building. It’s a move the district hopes will bring the school forward, meeting the needs of today.
“The offices were on the second floor … from not only a welcoming standpoint but also a safety and security one that just doesn’t make sense in the 21st century,” Peterson said.
A number of other renovations and changes are being made, including the building of a new gym and locker room and addition of flexible learning spaces.
Both Peterson and Hogen said the project is mostly on track, with the entrance redesign planned to be done by the beginning of the 2026-27 school year. Other planned renovations, such as a new space for music and art, are scheduled to be wrapped by the start of the 2027-28 school year. That’s good news, considering there have been a few unanticipated challenges.
“We’re doing fairly well, we’re set back about 15 days due to weather concerns and we had an unexpected water main that ran to some fire hydrants the district wasn’t aware of, so we had to reroute the construction area around that,” Hogen said.
Peterson wants to remind the community that the upcoming school year will be starting a week before Labor Day, meaning the school year ends in May to give the construction crews a “super summer,” allowing them to complete projects that would otherwise not be able to be done in an ordinary summer.
“We want them to know that kids who have plans at the end of August, particularly the State Fair, we encourage them to do those,” Peterson said. “But this will allow us days that we can recapture at the end of the next school year in May.”
West High School isn’t the only school in the district undergoing changes. Peterson said that elementary schools, including Hoover, Jefferson and Monroe are all under construction to add secure entrances. At Dakota Meadows in upper North Mankato, construction continues on a new gym and pool, and a new secure entrance is also being added.