Durango School District 9-R is drafting updated guidelines for the 2021/22 academic school year regarding mitigation efforts around COVID-19, and your input is important to us. As we shared last spring, 9-R is returning to offering in-person learning models for all students. The district has a strong online academic offering through Connections Academy to serve families seeking remote learning opportunities.

As part of the 4A Bond, Miller Middle School will be replaced. We are seeking community input on the redesign.

As part of the Sustainability Promises by the District, 9-R is looking to create a Sustainability Committee composed of staff, students, parents and local experts.

We are committed to sharing our student achievement data with transparency. We recognize the incredible effort put forth by our staff this year and are grateful for their perseverance and flexibility. Yet, our end-of-year assessment data tells us that our students need intentional and unified support to ensure that the impacts of the pandemic are not long-lasting and far-reaching in our students' literacy and math skills. We are working with great urgency to turn around our historical trend of under-serving portions of our community and to minimize the impact of disrupted learning COVID-19 has had on all of our learners.

Congratulations 9-R families, students and staff… we made it! This was a year for the books and certainly created many new memories. While it wasn’t a typical school year for any of us, learning to live with masks, quarantines, and ever-changing school schedules it was still an amazing school year and we have so much to celebrate and be grateful for.

District leaders have recently received recommendations from three work groups: The Culture and Equity Design Team, the Significant Disproportionality Work Group, and the Native American Parental Advisory Committee. Their recommendations will guide the district in strategic planning to continue addressing concerns of inequity within our system.

Thank you to all of those who were able to join our Zoom Meet & Greet with incoming Superintendent, Dr. Karen Cheser. Thank you also for all the great questions! If you were unable to join the Zoom live, please click Read More to view the recording.

The district is building conversations within leadership and throughout the district about cultural proficiency in an effort to find common, grounding frameworks across the district regarding diversity, equity and inclusion within the district and school communities. The common book read of Opening Doors is about getting centered on the topic so that we can find common ground.

Durango School District 9-R and the 9-R Board of Education have prioritized a focus on diversity, equity and inclusion. The community of Durango is very supportive of our schools and our education system, and there are many thought leaders and partners to assist us in taking the bold steps necessary to achieve positive educational outcomes for all children.

Please take a few moments to provide feedback to the 9-R District Accountability Advisory Committee in their annual survey. Please complete the survey by April 23, 2021.