Mahan-Deitte reflects on her final year here

One year after her husband, Dan Deitte, resigned as superintendent at Minneota Public Schools to accept the same position in Hutchinson, Minneota Elementary Principal Jennifer Mahan-Deitte has also resigned and will leave after the school year.
The Minneota School Board accepted her resignation at their monthly meeting in January.
Mahan-Deitte has been in her administrative position here for the past eight years, one as Pre-K-12 assistant principal and the last seven as elementary principal. She is seeking an administrative position in the Hutchinson area.
“I’m not sure of my final day. I will have met the days of my contract when the school year ends,” she said, “but I’ll continue to prepare for and work with the new principal during the month of June. I’ll be done when the work is done.”
The school board recently accepted the hiring of Trent Johnson as elementary principal to replace Mahan-Deitter beginning next year.
Mahan-Deitte has been involved in education over the past 29 years in six different school districts.
“It’s been an eclectic experience as I’ve taught every grade and held positions of district assessment coordinator, assistant principal, curriculum director, school improvement specialist, and principal,” she said.
Mahan-Deitte has recently completed work toward getting her superintendent license.
“I could see myself taking on that challenge someday,” she noted. “For the immediate future, I’m searching for opportunities near Dan.”
When Dan left to accept the superintendent position this year with the Hutchison School District, Jen decided to remain in Minneota for an additional year. They commuted back and forth on weekends or breaks to spend time with one another.
“I chose to stay another year as the opportunities that came up did not work out for me,” Mahan-Deitte explained. “Maybe it was for the best. With so much turnover with administration, maybe it was meant to be.”Mahan-Deitte was referring to both her husband, as well as Jeremy Frie, the high school principal, leaving after the end of the 2021-2022 school year. Scott Monson replaced Dan Deitte as superintendent and Heather Anderson replaced Frie as high school principal.
Mahan-Deitte was asked what has been the most rewarding part of her job as elementary principal in Minneota.
“Being in education, you’re surrounded by ‘learning’ throughout the day,” she responded. “I have benefitted from and enjoyed the learning that teachers and students have taught me. Being a principal means you get to work with many gifted teachers and paras, to witness incredible growth and get to celebrate with them along the way. Their success is our success.”
There are also difficult parts of every job and being a principal is not an exception.
“I’d like to have more resources to provide students in need access to the items they lack,” she said. “There’s a disparity, particularly with regard to activities, food, clothing, and school items, that I’d love to address.
“We’ve been lucky to have the support of United Way, Thrivent Financial, and local churches to shrink the gap, but it’s hard to eliminate those hardships altogether. Beyond clothing and basic hygiene products, some students also don’t have access to regular dental or medical care. It’s been hard to try and bridge that gap for students to ensure they are optimally ready to learn.”
Among the community memories, Mahan-Deitte said Boxelder Bug Days has always been a joy to be around.
“The community has extraordinary hard-working members who go above and beyond to make this experience exceptional,” she remarked.
That is just one of the many things Mahan-Deitte will miss when she leaves Minneota this summer.
“We raised our family in southwest MN,” she said. “We’ve lived in Tracy, Milroy, Minneota, and now Marshall. Each community will hold memories of our daughters growing up – dance, swimming lessons, jobs they held, jobs we’ve held, piano lessons, musicals, and volleyball in the backyard.
“In comparison to my nieces and nephews who were raised in Edina and Eden Prairie, their experiences were very different. Our daughters still have strong ties to Minneota friends and community members. We will miss the people and the support we’ve been shown over the years.”