M-C Superintendent Brings Rural Roots and Experience to Job

The communities of Mabel and Canton welcomed a new superintendent this summer as Michael (Mike) Harvey took the helm of the Mabel-Canton School District.

Mike graduated from Lake City High School. After high school, he attended the Technical College in Faribault, where he studied machine tool technology and became a machinist. He took classes at Mankato State University and Winona State where he earned a degree in social studies. Mike also holds a master’s degree in teaching and a license in school administration.

Throughout the interview, Mike returned to one important teacher in his life: his children.

“I’ve learned the most from raising my own kids,” Mike said. “My education came from my children. Just when you think you know it all, you start having kids and you learn a lot more about yourself.”

He and his wife, Jolene, started dating when they were sophomores in high school. They both grew up on farms and have four children ranging from 22 to 32 and two grandchildren.

They live between Lake City and Plainview and farm approximately 260 acres. They have raised pigs, beef, and lambs. He now farms with his son, and the sheep are being transitioned to his daughter’s farm.

Last year, Mike, his son and nephew started a farm tire service business, Cat Country Tire, in Goodhue.

Mike explained that years ago he helped his dad start a tire business. When Mike was in college in Winona, he worked for Brad Regan Tire the Good Year dealer.

“That’s just the beginning,” Mike said. “That’s what a good life is full of – a lot of different adventures.”

In his first year of teaching, he taught part time in Byron and part time in the Zumbro Education District. While at Zumbro Education District, he helped start an alternative school.

The following year he taught social studies to juniors and seniors, as well as economics, psychology, sociology, and world history in Stewartville.

At Lake City, he taught ninth-grade world history and civics for eight years.

He then served as the 7-12 grade principal in Goodhue for 10 years before becoming superintendent of the Zumbrota-Mazeppa School District, a position he held for six years.

For the past three years, Mike has worked in Goodhue as a shop teacher.

When asked what he was most excited about in his new position, Mike pointed to the community.

“I love small towns,” he said. “It fits my background, being from Southeast Minnesota and pretty tied to the rural economy and agriculture.”

Mike said he is looking forward to continuing his career in education while also making more time for his family, travel and farming. With a smile, he explained that he will now be able to harvest during the day as compared to coming home from work to harvest in the evenings and on weekends.

Mike believes that one of the biggest challenges facing education today is artificial intelligence (AI).

“Not just our district, but I think education in general,” Harvey said. “Where’s AI going and how do we integrate that into the classrooms in a responsible manner?”

He emphasized that enrollment in Mabel-Canton is positive and steady.

He wants to continue finding creative ways to use district resources while providing students with as many opportunities as possible.

“We want to give them as much exposure to different things as we can. You never know what experience will spark the interest of a kid that makes them say, ‘I want to do this,’” he said.

“The staff here wears many hats,” he said. “They might do multiple things. They are coaching this, they are advising that club, they are teaching this class, and they are teaching a completely different class.”

That flexibility, he said, is essential to the success of a small school.

“Everybody has to pick up and do everything,” Mike said. “If you just say, ‘Well, these are my guardrails, and this is all I’m going to do,’ then it won’t work.”

Mike said his first-year priorities for the district include completing the building project, getting to know the district, and making sure the school remains financially sound.

“My biggest job is to work with the finances and to make sure the school is financially sound,” he said.

Success after his first year includes getting to know and feeling comfortable in the community and feeling comfortable at school.

He also wants to see all the students graduate and above all he wants to see that they are all safe.

“I just want to get to know the staff, get to know as many students and people as I can,” he said.

“We want to do well academically, but the bigger thing is the quality that we are a community, and we want to remain a community,” he said.

Mike said one thing he appreciates about a small school is that it can provide an experience like that of a private school.