Robbinsdale Area Schools

Unified District Vision

Group of four pictures of students from Robbinsdale Area Schools, with the text Excellence is the Standard

Unified District Vision: High Intellectual Performance Through Equity

Adopted March 3, 2014; School Board approved modification November 19, 2018

Our Mission

The mission of Robbinsdale Area Schools is to inspire and educate all learners to develop their unique potential and positively contribute to their community.

Unified District Vision

Robbinsdale Area Schools is committed to ensuring every student graduates career, articulated skilled trades and college ready. We believe each student has limitless possibilities and we strive to ignite the potential in every student. We expect high intellectual performance from all our students. We are committed to ensuring an equitable and respectful educational experience for every student, family and staff member, focusing on strengths related to:

  • Race
  • Culture
  • Ethnicity
  • Home or First Language
  • National Origin
  • Socioeconomic Status
  • Gender
  • Sexual Orientation
  • Age
  • Ability
  • Religion
  • Physical Appearance

The Unified District Vision Consists of Four Key Goals:

  1. Implement policies and practices that open pathways to academic excellence for all students
  2. Utilize culturally responsive teaching and personalized learning for all students
  3. Engage family and community members as partners
  4. Engage and Empower students by amplifying student voice

History of Our Unified District Vision

The roots of Robbinsdale Area Schools Unified District Vision (UDV) go back to 2013, when then-Superintendent Aldo Sicoli began planning for updating the District Strategic Plan due to the then-current Five-Year Strategic Plan reaching its conclusion.

The planning started with a steering committee which was made up of two administrators, the Robbinsdale Federation of Teachers president, two school board representatives, two principals, one teacher, two non-licensed staff members and the superintendent. An external evaluator was used to facilitate the meetings and the process.

The steering committee developed a plan to involve the community in the process, and this group was called the Core Planning Team. Steering Committee members reached out to community members, neighbors, legislators and clergy to create a diverse group of 52 members to work on the revision for the Strategic Plan. Individual Core Planning Team members also met with groups of their neighbors for input making the outreach for this process very wide.

There were many revisions of the new plan, which was eventually approved by the School Board on March 3, 2014. The School Board approved a revision to the Strategic Plan in August of that year to more explicitly incorporate language related to the five focus areas of the World’s Best Workforce statute. The Strategic Plan then became known as the Unified District Vision.

This is the memo that was in the agenda packet at the March 3, 2014, school board meeting when the Strategic Plan (now known as the UDV) was first approved:

"At the March 3, 2014 School Board meeting, the Robbinsdale Area Schools administration will recommend the adoption of a Unified District Vision strategic planning document. The redesign of the district Strategic Plan began at a School Board Workshop on January 13, 2013. The Unified District Vision that will be recommended is the result of many meetings with community members, students, and staff. Dr. Greg Vandal has facilitated the planning process with the steering committee and the Core Planning Team, a diverse group of staff, community members, and students who provided valuable input in the formation of the most recent Unified District Vision. Dr. Vandal’s executive summary of the process, as well as the Unified District Vision strategic planning document, appears with the Board Packet materials for the March 3, 2014 School Board meeting."