Our teachers deserve to be celebrated

Durango School District 9-R is fortunate to have one of the highest quality staffs I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with. I am still of the belief that we as a society must re...

Charter school would help young students, district

Many of you are aware that a local community group has been in the process of developing an elementary charter application that was officially received by Durango School District 9-R on Oct....

National debate about testing misses key point

These are clearly interesting times in public education. Our systems continue to be the focus of national debate, most recently centered on testing and standards. Are we testing...

School Vault a critical tool for student learning

Recently, School Vault, a tool to support teacher and student academic success developed by Durango and Bayfield school districts, has been mentioned in articles and editorials. ...

New assessments aim to promote real learning

Anyone watching the debate on both the state and national level knows there are a lot of discussions happening around the issue of assessment in public education. There is no doub...

In case of crisis, school district is prepared

One of the most important responsibilities we have as a school district is the safety and security of our students. We recognize the trust parents give us in sending their child...

With funds cut, district adjusts to ‘new normal’

Durango School District 9-R is amid a massive restructuring to adjust to reduced funding from the state. This change comes after attempts to seek new investments from voters thro...

District to back all students as revenue falls

As many of you know, public education has received a significant decrease in funding since 2010. In Durango, we’ve lost $4.5 million dollars in revenue. This has led to modest cu...

To improve our schools, we need to hear from you

How are we doing? As a public school district, it is our job to serve the citizenry of Durango in ensuring that students are prepared to be contributing members of our community u...

District raising bar to improve student learning

The work of transforming our educational systems is certainly not easy. Our teachers, support staff members and administrators are working hard to adjust our practices and embrace...

State making strides toward better schooling

As a public school superintendent, it is challenging to deal with the many perspectives and attitudes that exist around public K-12 education. Unfortunately, some see the K-12 s...

District wants to engage you about finances

As many of you know, school finances have been quite challenging during the last five years. While the voters approved a mill-levy override in 2010, the district suffered massive...