In coming weeks, Durango School District 9-R will meet with students and residents to seek input about the district’s “Portrait of a Graduate” plan.

“Portrait of a Graduate is a compilation of specific skills and dispositions that we want our students to build from preschool through 12th grade and beyond,” said Karen Cheser, superintendent for the school district.

Cheser said the district will meet with students to determine what skills they think are necessary for a Durango student entering the workplace. Additionally, two meetings for parents and residents will be held from 5:30 to 7 p.m. April 7 at Needham Elementary School and from 5:30 to 7 p.m. April 11 at Escalante Middle School.

“It’s important for us to identify the very specific skills that pertain to our community and our students,” she said. “In order to do that, we want to get input from all of our stakeholders.”

So far the district has worked with staff members, industry representatives and community leaders to figure out what the local workforce wants to find in a graduate. At a meeting in November, it was learned that local industries want graduates entering the workforce to be curious and not afraid to fail.

“One thing was they want lifelong learners, people who will always try to learn and figure things out,” Cheser said.

The overarching goal is to identify a few competencies that are widely agreed upon by the community as skills 9-R students should have in their toolboxes as soon as they’re out of school, she said.

“It’s not just a high school thing,” she said. “Preschool through 12th grade, we’ll be working on these.”

Cheser said some of the things that will likely come up as important will include communication, collaboration and critical thinking.

“But I think we’ll probably hear some unique perspective on how to accomplish those,” she said.

Cheser said she’s surprised she hasn’t heard more about sustainability, because it seems to be something Durango residents are passionate about. She also said she’s heard empathy being an important trait for some.

“I think empathy has come up because of what we’ve been going through with the pandemic,” she said. “People have been craving that.”

Based on the talks she’s had so far, Cheser said she feels that Durango tends to value entrepreneurship quite a bit.

“Starting new businesses with creative new ideas really seems to be valued in the community,” she said.

Cheser said this is the first time the district has attempted to compile community thoughts to be used as a road map for what a graduate in Durango should look like.

“One of the things I found when I first started is that we have several creative and autonomous schools, and we want to keep that creativity, but we also want to have some unity as a district,” she said. “So it’s important for us to identify what that unity of purpose is.”

Once the district creates that defining unity, Cheser said it won’t just be a poster on the wall. Teachers will integrate ways to reinforce the identified skills in their lesson plans.

“We’re pretty serious about this,” she said. “Once we determine this, it will be in instruction. Teachers will provide numerous ways for our students to experience these competencies.”

The district is asking residents who want to participate in the upcoming meetings to sign up to attend.

njohnson@durangoherald.com