Every fall is an exciting time at BARR Center as we welcome new schools to the BARR family. We are thrilled to have served nearly 500 schools across 25 states and DC.
We also have an exciting launch this fall. Last year, Independent School District 196 in Rosemount, Minnesota, piloted BARR at one of their high schools, and this year it is expanding BARR to all four high schools in the district – Apple Valley, Eagan, Eastview and Rosemount High Schools. This milestone is powered by the leadership of passionate educators in the district, like Assistant Principals Pete Buesgens from Apple Valley High School and Pete Zak from Eagan High School.
Pete Buesgens
Pete Zak
We asked Pete and Pete to share some background on how the district began their partnership with BARR, why they have worked so hard to bring this program to all four high schools in their district, and what they are looking forward to this school year.
Here’s what Pete and Pete had to say about what BARR means to them and their schools:
Pete Buesgens: This isn’t just another program – it’s a gamechanger.
Pete Zak: BARR is about relationships. That’s what makes the difference – between students and staff, students and students, and staff and staff. We will approach problems and issues from a strength-based perspective and measure our progress along the way.
What impact has BARR already had in your district?
Pete Buesgens: In our [pilot year at Apple Valley], we had only eight total failing grades across our BARR houses. And many of those came from a couple students with significant attendance barriers. For a school with a high number of special education and EL students, that’s powerful progress.
Pete Zak: It’s hard not to get emotional. In 34 years of education, I think I’ve finally found something I truly believe in that isn’t a rehashed or a remodeled project. BARR is going to make a great school even greater and make a difference in the lives of our entire community.
What challenges has BARR addressed in your school?
Pete Buesgens: Apple Valley High School is a unique high school within District 196. We have the largest population of special education students … We also have the most English learning population in the district … It has been tremendously helpful for Special Ed and EL students. We have invited those teachers to BARR meetings to bring that perspective into those experiences … The community relationship aspect of BARR is so powerful. A lot of our kids are new to the country. We have so many brand new, new to country students in our building. Building relationships through I-Times and that connectedness with the teachers have been extremely valuable and powerful.
What have you heard from teachers about BARR?
Pete Buesgens: One teacher told me it rejuvenated his career. For him, it was the colleagues. It was, I’m not on this island in a classroom anymore, I’ve got people that I can say, I’m struggling with this kid today, what have you found that works? Or hey, guess what, the kid that never talked raised her hands today! The moments we all get into teaching for, BARR has brought so many of those back to this group. It’s been energizing and gamechanging for them. It has fired me up.
How have families responded to BARR?
Pete Buesgens: I get a little fired up and emotional about it. We encouraged teachers to take time to call parents and leave voicemails. They were calling and leaving positive messages for moms and dads. Parents were calling back and saying, I have never had this call about my kid before. They can play it back and listen to it again. It got pretty cool with our teachers. Gratitude works that way. When you give it to others, it comes back around.. That’s been a really cool part of what we’ve done with BARR.
Pete Zak: The response from parents has been one of excitement and curiosity. At freshman orientation, we proudly shared our impressive U.S. News school ranking—a true cause for celebration! But we didn’t stop there. We immediately followed up with a challenge: last year, 16% of our freshmen failed at least one class. That’s a number we are determined to change.
This year, we are thrilled to be incorporating BARR and a new team-teaching approach, rooted in evidence-based practices, to truly transform the student experience. And here’s the best part—we’re inviting our parents to work with us. The difference will be clear: phone calls home will now begin by highlighting each student’s strengths, talents, and connections before addressing areas where we can work together for growth. On top of that, we’ll be following BARR’S lead and launching positive postcards—to spark celebrations and spread encouragement across our entire community.
Why does this expansion matter?
Pete Zak: We’ve always operated school by school – very site based. Decisions had been made by schools themselves. But BARR is helping us move forward together. It’s shifting our culture across the district in a way we haven’t seen before. We are sharing more and more and working toward a common goal of student success.
What advice would you give to other schools implementing BARR?
Pete Buesgens: Two things come to mind. First, stick with the process. Start from strengths and lean into relationship-building. It will absolutely pay off! Second, share what you learn. We take all of our ninth graders, consolidate them onto one spreadsheet, remove any personal data, and share that forward with 10th grade teachers, saying hey, you have students coming out of a BARR experience. Here are their strengths, here are their people, here are the things they’re interested in. Use this information to help you continue that relationship process. It gets me jazzed up. Moving that forward with our 10th grade teachers, they have all said this is so helpful. They’ll say, “I have been struggling with this kid, and now I know mom is the one to get ahold of, or here’s their person last year, I can talk to their teacher to see what worked well for them.” That’s been a powerful shift.
Pete Zak: The BARR conference helped us a great deal. You can really brainstorm and form a community. We had amazing conversations with schools from Massachusetts, Tennessee and a school in Wisconsin. We talked about scheduling and inclusivity, and what we learned from those conversations filled in gaps for us. We now have over 350 schools across the country that we are working with to implement this amazing structure and culture. That doesn’t even count the amazing support we have received from BARR. The first training provided our ninth grade staff with the chance to work together and develop some common language and interventions for student success. Everybody at BARR has such a strong belief in what they are doing for kids and focusing on the right things for success and backing it up with data.
What are you most looking forward to this school year?
Pete Buesgens: We continue to add and expand our BARR programming at AVHS. This year, virtually every 9th grade student will have some or full exposure to BARR. Additionally, we will have three classes of students in the building who are or have been through the program. The connections and relationships being built are changing the landscape in our school.
Pete Zak: I’ve never been more excited. We’re jumping right into the water with all 600 of our freshmen students and we’re ready to start teaming the BARR way. The BARR way is going to be our way.
Welcome to the BARR Family, District 196. We can’t wait to see the impact you’ll make this year – and beyond!