Student Services

Robbinsdale Area Schools provides services to students being served in day treatment and residential programs located within the district. We partner with Fairview-Crystal and Hazelden Betty Ford to meet the educational needs of students.

For students in programs located outside of the Robbinsdale Area School District,  services are provided to students being served in hospital, day treatment and residential programs, as well as adjudicated youth. 

Below is contact information for Care and Treatment:

Toni Boyden - 763-504-8082 | Toni_Boyden@rdale.org

Laura Ritter - 763-504-8381 |Laura_Ritter@rdale.org

Please feel free to reach out to us with any questions you may have.

The McKinney-Vento Act provides homeless and highly mobile students with certain rights so they have access to opportunities which will help them meet the same high academic standards expected of all students in our district. 

Homeless students live in any of the situations listed below: 

• Children and youth who are sharing the housing of others
• Children and youth living in motels, hotels, trailer parks or camping grounds due to lack of adequate alternative accommodations
• Living in emergency or transitional shelters
• Abandoned in hospitals
• Awaiting foster care placement
• Living in a public or private place not designated for humans to live
• Living in cars, parks, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, etc. 
• Migratory children living in any of the above circumstances

Under the McKinney-Vento Act, children in homeless situations have the right to: 

• Go to school, no matter where they live or how long they have lived there
• Attend either the local school or the school of origin, if this is in their best interest; the school of origin is the school the child attended when she/he was permanently housed or the school in which the child was last enrolled
• Receive transportation to and from the school of origin
• Enroll in school immediately
• Participate fully in school activities
• Have access to the same programs and services that are available to all other students, including transportation and supplemental educational services

Contact: Pam Maile - 763-504-8027 | Pam_Maile@rdale.org

Resources

• Hennepin County Shelter
• National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth
• National Center for Homeless Education

Students are expected to attend school to the fullest extent possible, but homebound instruction may be provided when a medical condition prevents them from participating in classroom instruction because they are confined to their home or a healthcare facility. The primary goal of homebound instruction is to allow students to continue their educational program when they are unable to attend school. Instruction is designed to meet the student’s individual needs and, when possible, is coordinated with the student’s school to ensure a smooth transition back to school. 

When Homebound Instruction is Required (MN Rule 3525.2325)

The district in which the facility is located must provide regular education, special education, or both, to a pupil or regular education student in kindergarten through grade 12 placed in a facility or in the student’s home. Educational services must be provided to a pupil or regular education student who is: 

• Prevented from attending the student’s normal school sire for 15 consecutive days; or
• Predicted to be absent from the normal school site for 15 consecutive data according to the placing authority; such as a medical doctor, psychologist, psychiatrist, judge or other court-appointed authority; or
• Health-impaired and in need of special education and predicted by the team to be absent from the normal school site for 15 intermittent school days. 

If a student is unable to attend regular classes at the normal school site because of illness, injury or placement in some type of treatment facility, the student, as classified by the homebound criteria, can be defined as a homebound student. To ensure that the student continues to make educational progress in their individual curriculum, a licensed instructor provides homebound instruction as soon as possible under treatment conditions for the student.

The referral for homebound instruction must be approved by Student Services and for students with a disability, the Individual Education Plan (IEP) must be amended to meet the student’s temporary instructional needs. 

If you feel your student has a need for homebound instruction, please contact the principal or counselor at your student's school. 

Counseling staff and social workers across the district have helped to create online spaces for students to find tools and strategies for managing their social-emotional health.

Virtual Calming Rooms

• The Calming Zone
• Armstrong High School
• Cooper High School
• Robbinsdale Middle School
• Sandburg Middle School

Updating Preferred Name/Pronouns

A student’s preferred name can be entered into the student database system as a nickname upon student request to the counselor, principal or other individual.  This individual needs to notify the office employee in charge of student records at the site.  A student’s preferred pronoun can also be noted in the student database system upon student request by updating information in the comments section (e.g., she/her, nonbinary, he/they). 

Amending Identity in Technology Systems 

With parent/guardian permission, a new Infinite Campus record can be created with the student’s preferred name and gender pronoun (male/female).  Nonbinary or other gender pronouns will be noted in the comments section. This record will lay on top of the student’s record with their legal name and assigned sex and will be the only record staff are able to see. Diplomas and state testing materials will reflect the student’s legal name, however, Robbinsdale Area Schools will issue diplomas in students' preferred names upon request.

In order to request an amended identity please reach out to your student's school counselor.

Legal Name/Gender Changes

When a legal name or gender change occurs, the protected identity information will be removed from Infinite campus and the new legal name and sex will be reported as it appears in Infinite Campus.  When the court order is received, submit the paperwork to your student's school counselor.