Robbinsdale schools apologize for failure to tell families about guns, alleged sexual assault

Robbinsdale's school board and superintendent apologized to families this week, after days of silence after fights, the discovery of two guns and an alleged sexual assault at district schools.

"The School Board and Interim Superintendent sincerely apologize for not making a statement to our stakeholders regarding the alleged sexual assault, weapons, fights and other harmful incidents that have occurred," read the letter, which offered support at schools for anyone who needed help processing the incidents.

The letter, first reported by KARE 11, offered no details on the incidents.

In a second letter to families Wednesday, board Chair Helen Bassett said families of students who were affected by the incidents were informed, as were school staff and the school board, but those messages did not go out district-wide.

"If something happens at one school, for example, we inform the families impacted at that school," Bassett said in the letter. "We do not inform the families at an elementary school miles away."

She said almost all the incidents happened at a middle or high school.

New Hope police said two students were arrested with handguns at Cooper High School after fights last week, but did not answer questions about the sexual assault. Chief Tim Hoyt referred questions to the Hennepin County Attorney's Office.

Though police responded to all the incidents, Hoyt said there are no longer officers stationed at Cooper High.

Hoyt said New Hope police stopped providing school resource officers this year, after legislation that restricted the use of force against students. Officers returned to several schools across Minnesota after guidance from county attorneys and the state Attorney General's Office, but some, including New Hope, have held back.

The district's communication after serious incidents has come under scrutiny before.

Last year, after two boys allegedly posted a video online of themselves with a gun at Sandburg Middle School, Golden Valley Police Chief Virgil Green said it took school officials almost a week to report the incident to police. The two boys were later charged, and the school board adopted a policy requiring school administrators to report to police if students bring firearms to school.

Hoyt said there was no delay in communication from the school district to police this year.

Leadership in the Robbinsdale school district has been in flux this year, with Superintendent David Engstrom's resignation in September. Assistant Superintendent Marti Voight assumed the role of interim superintendent as the board searches for a permanent replacement.