Chris Trostad has announced his retirement from his position as principal at Highland Elementary School, effective immediately. He made the announcement during an appearance on KROX’s Valley Talk program on Wednesday.
Trostad began his time with the Crookston School District in 1987 as a bus driver, left for a few years, and then returned to Crookston to teach in 1997. He continued to teach until becoming the principal of Highland School in 2014.
Highland has seen significant improvement under Trostad’s leadership, including the most recent building addition in 2024 and the inclusion of additional pre-K and kindergarten classes with the closure of Washington School earlier this year, and he is thankful to have had great teachers and faculty to help provide a quality learning experience for the children of Crookston. “I’m so proud of the accomplishments of the staff, teachers, administrative assistants, paraprofessionals,” said Trostad. “It’s an unbelievably great place to work, where they really care about kids, and they really focus on student growth, and I feel like we’ve done the best we can to be fiscally responsible to tax dollars. I felt like even looking at MDE’s (Minnesota Department of Education) website, we spend a lot less money than area schools do, and we get better results. So it shows that we’ve been fiscally responsible to taxpayers, and yet we’ve achieved great results for our children in Crookston, compared to other schools.”
Trostad has been working with the district to implement a transition plan, including assisting with the search for Highland’s next principal. He trusts that the district will find a candidate who can continue building on the progress he made in his 12 years leading Highland School. Trostad explained, “I think the most important thing in a principal is being a good leader, and the second thing is hiring good people. Very good people get good test scores, you get good growth for students, and fewer discipline-related issues. So those would be kind of the big things, you know. From there, I think, hopefully finding that person that’s just the right fit for Highland School is kind of what we’re looking for.”
Trostad is also continuing to work on developing graphics to help assist parents and guardians with the changes coming to Highland this year, including the addition of a pickup and drop-off zone on the east end of the school for pre-K and kindergarteners only, as parents typically spend more time making sure their children are safely taken into and out of the school. “That’s kind of my goal, to get those graphics, maps, and drawings out there, so that hopefully everybody, before school starts, kind of understands the process,” Trostad explains. “Then, it’s just a matter of if you need more time, you pull into the parking lot and get your child out, walk them across, and if they’re able to pull up, stop, jump out of the car seat, get out of the car, then they can be in that drop-off lane.”
Trostad has been eligible to retire under the Rule of 90, a policy under which public employees in Minnesota can retire before age 65 if their age and time of service add up to 90 or more. Now, he plans to spend more time with his family, including his grandchildren, as well as assisting his daughter, who has been battling some health issues. “I met the rule of 90, actually, about a year and a half ago,” Trostad said. “Then all of a sudden, grandchildren start coming, and I’ve got a daughter that has some breast cancer going on, and then she found out she’s pregnant and having a baby and going through chemo, and so I’m kind of trying to help out there.”
While Trostad is retiring from his full-time position at Highland, he plans to continue teaching driver’s education for the district and hinted at returning to drive a bus if needed.
