Robbinsdale Area Public Schools may consolidate its two high schools and shutter some middle and elementary schools if the board accepts key recommendations from a group tasked with rethinking the embattled district’s future.
The school board on Tuesday heard for the first time the guidance from the Reimagine Rdale: Vision 2030 group, a team of more than 35 parents, students and community members that met for months to develop a five-year vision for the district.
The team’s work was prompted by the district’s declining enrollment and urgent financial crisis, exacerbated by a $20 million budgeting error discovered last year. By the end of January, administrators must submit a debt plan to the state.
“Even before the current financial crisis, our district needed to change,” said BriAnn Foss, a Vision 2030 team member who spoke to the board Tuesday. “But now, it’s essential.”
The school district serves about 10,200 students, down about 2,000 students from a decade ago. The district’s 11 elementary schools, four middle schools and two high schools have capacity for about 14,700 students.
The district last closed schools in 2009, but later repurposed the buildings for other programs.
Among the Vision Team’s recommendations:
- Create a single high school, preferably a new building that includes smaller “specialized learning communities” organized around students’ areas of interest. Financial projections estimate an average annual savings of $1.5 million from closing a high school.
- Fewer middle schools. Although the team did not recommend the number of middle schools to maintain, it estimates that two or three would be needed. A closed middle school could save the district an average of $1 million per year, according to district projections.
- Fewer elementary schools. The Vision Team estimates the district will need six to nine elementary school buildings to serve students over the next decade. The district has 12 elementary school buildings, including the New Hope Early Learning Center. Closing an elementary school could save the district more than $500,000 a year, administrators said.
- Districtwide building improvements that include flexible learning space, dedicated art and music space, outdoor classroom space, reliable air conditioning and heating, safety improvements and private, single-stall bathrooms.
- A districtwide identity built around art and innovation. This would involve dissolving two of the district’s popular magnet schools and instead expanding those arts and engineering programs across all schools.
Board members Helen Bassett and Kim Holmes expressed concern over asking taxpayers to help fund any future building projects. If the board moves forward with most of the plan, a building bond referendum would likely go before Robbinsdale voters in November 2026.
