District 129 is located in Montevideo (population 5,400), the county seat of Chippewa County. Students from Chippewa and surrounding counties are enrolled in our schools. Montevideo is located at the confluence of the Minnesota and Chippewa rivers and is a hub city for the surrounding agricultural area.

A six-member Board of Education is responsible for developing a policy to ensure the proper care, management and control of district affairs.

The chief executive officer of the district, the Superintendent of Schools, is responsible to the board for providing direction and leadership to the district.

The district’s five educational sites serve approximately 1,400 students in a technology-rich, student-needs-first centered environment.

The Hawks Nest Early Childhood Center is the newest  to the school district.  The center is home to early childhood programming serving students ages 6 weeks to 5 years old as well the Community Education program.  The district after school program, Jr. ThunderHawks, is also  housed out of the Hawks Nest.  The district’s strong emphasis on early childhood and ensuring that all students are kindergarten ready makes the Hawks Nest a unique and critical part of the district educational plan. 

Ramsey Elementary serves students in grades K-2.  The elementary curriculum focuses on basic concepts in 10 major subjects: art, computers, health, language arts (speaking, listening, writing, spelling, handwriting), mathematics, music, physical education, reading, science and social studies. Music, physical education and media specialists are at each school to give students special attention.  There are a variety of choices such as all day-every day kindergarten, multi-aged level programs, and the traditional classroom setting.

Sanford Elementary is the district 3rd and 4th grade school.  This small setting acknowledges the critical transition period in an elementary student's educational career and provides opportunities for students to explore interests, utilize experiential learning, and master educational fundamentals to empower success at the middle and high school levels.

The teaching of basic skills that begins in elementary school is continued in the middle school where programs for students in grades 5-8 are designed around the developmental characteristics of 10 to 14-year old students. There are four major emphases in middle school:

• The acquisition of basic skills through academically challenging experiences;

• Social and emotional development through co-curricular experiences;

• Personal development through interest area exploratory activities and fine and applied arts; and

• Creative use of energy through physical and hands-on activities.

Middle school students participate in an advisor-advisee program that provides each student with the same homeroom teacher/advisor for three years.  The program also teaches students how to set and achieve personal goals, gives students a chance to make friends and provides a place where school procedures, rules and operations can be explained and understood.

Montevideo High School is home to the district’s 9th-12th grade students.  The high school offers a  broad curriculum that  includes over 120 semester courses in agriculture, art, business, communications, computer science, family and consumer science, industrial technology, mathematics, music, physical education, science, social studies and world languages.  The high school offers robust “college in the school” opportunities where students can graduate with up to 34 colleges. The high school also offers unique industry-school classroom partnerships, and a strong career and college readiness process that empowers students to meet their individual potential.

Students also have the opportunity to participate in a wide variety of co-curricular activities including athletics, fine arts, band, theater, speech,  yearbook, math team  and academic competitions.