Reimagine Rdale Vision 2030 Team presents final report, recommendations to School Board

After eight months of study, learning, and collaboration, the Reimagine Rdale: Vision 2030 Team presented its final report and recommendations to the Robbinsdale Area Schools (Rdale) Board of Education on Sept. 23, 2025.

The final 37-member Vision 2030 Team—representing students, parents/guardians, staff, alumni, and community members—invested more than 2,000 combined hours examining district strengths, challenges, enrollment trends, facilities, and academic priorities. Their work was informed by extensive community engagement, including a districtwide survey, staff meetings at every school site, community meetings, grade-level meetings with all students at all secondary schools, and even an age-appropriate booklet for our youngest learners. In total, these efforts generated more than 17,000 touchpoints of feedback from across the Rdale community.

Recommendations

The Vision 2030 Team’s recommendations include (see the report, see the presentation):

• Academic Priorities: Four “Core Pillars” emphasizing learning pathways for every student, safe and supportive environments, exceptional staff, and meaningful community partnerships.
• Facilities: Right-sizing the district by reducing the number of schools operated to align with the projected enrollment of 9,480 students in 2030.
• High School Model: Creating one unified high school campus serving an estimated 2,800–2,900 students in 2030-31, with specialized academies to support career and college readiness.
• Districtwide Identity: Position Rdale as a district of Arts and Innovation by expanding the most effective practices from the School of Engineering and Arts (SEA) and FAIR across all schools, ensuring every student benefits from hands-on, project-based learning and the arts.
• Building Standards: Establishing consistent facility requirements such as flexible learning spaces, outdoor classrooms, dedicated arts spaces, and secure single-stall bathrooms.

“These recommendations represent an opportunity to transform our schools into safe, modern, and innovative learning environments that reflect the needs of today’s students and prepare them for the future,” the report said.

Superintendent Dr. Teri Staloch praised the Vision 2030 Team for their commitment and care, noting that their months of study and collaboration reflect a deep dedication to the future of Rdale.

“The Vision 2030 Team’s work shows what’s possible when students, families, staff, alumni, and community members come together with courage and care to reimagine the future of our schools,” she said. “These are dedicated people who love and support Rdale and who put forward recommendations centered on what’s best for our kids—inspiring, safe, and innovative schools that every student wants, needs, and deserves.”

A Vision for the Future

The Vision 2030 Team emphasized that these recommendations are not only about closing schools or cutting costs, they are about moving Rdale toward a stronger, more unified future. The report points to a desired state: a district with world-class educators and rich programming for a diverse and talented student body.

In this vision, focused programming allows Rdale to become a destination district—one that is celebrated for innovation and excellence rather than constrained by financial shortfalls, lower-than-average achievement and graduation rates, safety and security concerns, or reputational challenges.

About the Vision 2030 Team

The team first convened in January 2025 and met 10 times through September, in addition to conducting building tours, visiting other districts in the metro area, and completing independent study assignments.

Members were selected from 155 applicants through a blind scoring process to ensure fairness and diversity. Applicants’ names were initially removed and replaced with numbers during scoring to avoid bias. Of those, 46 were chosen to serve, with 37 completing the full eight months. The final team closely reflected the demographics of the student body and included voices from all eight enrollment zones. Students, families, staff, alumni, and community members all had seats at the table. 

The group’s purpose was clear: to study data and community input in order to make long-term recommendations on academic programming, student outcomes, enrollment assumptions, and facilities.

Responsibilities and Process

The team was charged with four core responsibilities:

• Academic Programming: Identify key factors that support effective teaching and learning.
• Outcomes and Measurements: Provide input on how to measure student success through the Portrait of a Graduate.
• Enrollment Assumptions: Recommend long-term enrollment projections to guide future planning.
• Facilities: Examine building needs and utilization, including potential school closures, to align facilities with enrollment and academic priorities.

Throughout the process, student voices were centered, data was rigorously reviewed, and equity was a consistent lens. The group engaged with survey results, toured district facilities, and studied projections from independent demographer Hazel Reinhardt. The team’s recommendations were reached through consensus, reflecting the broad and collaborative input of its members.

Proposed Next Steps and Timeline

The School Board will now review the Vision 2030 Team’s recommendations and determine how best to move forward. As part of its responsibility to direct district administration in developing a plan of action for the 2026-27 school year, the Board requested a draft timeline and recommended phases. That planning could only begin once the Vision 2030 Team completed its final report. With the report now finalized, the following draft recommendations, which are subject to change, outline the next steps:

Draft Short-Term Timeline (Fall 2025 – January 2026):

• September 2025: Board provides direction to administration to develop options for both the Statutory Operating Debt (SOD) plan and the Reimagine Rdale recommendations.
• October 2025: Administration shares additional information and recommendations for Board consideration.
• November 2025: Administration and School Board refine information to reach final facility repurposing and related items for the 2026-27 school year; long-term facilities and programming discussions begin; SOD components refined.
• December 2025: Public meetings are held; final 2026-27 facility repurposing and related items approved.
• January 2026: Final SOD plan approved and submitted to the Minnesota Department of Education by Jan, 31, 2026.

Beyond these immediate steps, the district’s broader plan to right-size facilities, strengthen programming, and modernize schools is expected to unfold in phases through 2030. These phases are draft and subject to change as planning continues and new information emerges.

Draft Long-Term Implementation (Phased Through 2030):

• Phase I (Sept. 2025 – Aug. 2026): Develop and approve the SOD plan; reduce district footprint through initial building closures, consolidations, or reconfigurations; plan remaining building configuration and related bond work; create initial boundary adjustments; finalize initial operational changes.
• Phase II (Jan. 2026 – Aug. 2027): Implement initial reconfigurations; finalize longer-term building configuration and bonding needs (Nov. 2026); plan long-term programmatic, operational, and boundary changes; potentially begin first facility improvements.
• Phase III (March 2027 – Aug. 2028): Implement additional reconfiguration moves without facility improvements; begin facility improvement projects; continue programmatic planning and preparation; stage facility transitions.
• Phase IV (March 2028 – Aug. 2029): Carry out facility improvements; implement programmatic changes; prepare for additional programming; complete facility moves.
• Phase V (March 2029 – Aug. 2030): Fully implement Reimagine Rdale 2030; complete the SOD plan.

Formal proposals and specific details about implementation will be forthcoming in the months ahead. All updates regarding Reimagine Rdale: Vision 2030, including the full Vision Team report are available at: rdale.org/discover/reimagine-rdale-vision-2030.