Original Research by School Decision on 917 Dash
917 DASH is a special education school within Intermediate School District 917, an intermediate district that provides specialized services to nine member districts across the region. It serves students from pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade, but its enrollment is very small, with most students in twelfth grade and just a handful spread across other grade levels. The school’s designation as a special education school signals that it is designed for students with disabilities who require a more intensive or individualized setting than their home district can provide. In this sense, 917 DASH does not operate as a typical neighborhood school; it is a placement option for families whose children’s needs are met through a dedicated special education program.
The student body is roughly evenly split between Black and White students, with smaller shares of Asian and Hispanic students. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. Because of the school’s small size and specialized population, most of the typical metrics parents might look for are either suppressed or simply unavailable. State assessment results for math, reading, and science are reported as suppressed across all tested grades, a standard practice when very few students take the tests and privacy protections apply. No graduation rate is present in the data, which may reflect the same suppression rules or the fact that the school’s mission is not measured by a traditional four-year graduation count. Parents considering the school should expect that they will need to seek academic and outcome information directly from the school or the district, as the public data does not provide a clear picture of proficiency or completion.
The school is located in Rosemount, a city about fifteen miles south of the Twin Cities that describes itself as combining small-town atmosphere with metropolitan access. Rosemount is growing rapidly and has a mix of heavy industry, agricultural research, and expanding residential neighborhoods. The northeastern part of the city is dominated by large industrial employers such as an oil refinery, while the western side is a dynamic residential area with newer homes and an older commercial center. The built environment is auto-oriented, with four major highways running through the city, though a historic downtown area and parks serve as gathering points. Housing values in the area are moderately above the state and national medians, and rents are also at an elevated level, reflecting the region’s growth and proximity to the metro area.
Intermediate School District 917 is itself a special-purpose district that provides special education, career and technical education, and alternative learning programs to nine member school districts. Web research did not surface any recent changes at the district level that would be of direct note to a parent of a student at 917 DASH. Because the district’s structure is administrative and service-oriented rather than a traditional K-12 system serving a single community, the school functions as a regional resource rather than a neighborhood school tied to a specific attendance area.
For a family exploring 917 DASH, the key takeaway is that this is a small, specialized special education school that serves a specific student population. The available public data offers very little about academic performance or student outcomes—not because the school is hiding anything, but because suppression rules and the school’s nature make standard metrics uninformative at this scale. A parent would want to investigate directly with the school’s staff what the program looks like day to day, what transition supports are in place for older students, and how the school measures progress for its students. The setting is a fast-growing suburban city with ample industrial employment and a strong housing market, but the school’s program is the central factor in whether it fits a particular child’s needs.
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