Durango School District 9-R Home

We help them find their path to success
 
Portrait of a Graduate
  • 95%
    Graduation rate at Durango High School
  • 29
    Home languages spoken by students
  • 3
    Schools awarded Governor’s Distinguished Improvement
  • 20%
    CMAS test scores rank in top 20% of all Colorado Schools
Durango High School grads

About Us

Welcome to Durango School District 9-R. We strive to create a learning environment where all students own their learning, act on their learning, and impact their community. We provide learning opportunities where students develop their critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, and communication skills. 
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Students examine seedling
Where we’re located
Durango School District map

District News

Happy summer and thank you to staff, students, and families

Summer news

Here's what you need to know as we launch into summer 2025.
graduate walks through tunnel of cheering kids

Hugs, smiles, high-fives: Walk Stars is a joyful reunion

It was the ultimate feel-good moment for everyone: Seniors from Durango Big Picture High School and Durango High School returned to their old elementary and middle schools during Durango School District's (DSD) second annual Walk Stars event.
New bell schedule

New school start and end times finalized for 2025/26

We want to give families early notice: Some of our school start and end times will shift slightly next year, and many bus routes will see some changes in pickup and drop off times due to these adjustments.
Durango School District 9-R Board of Education meeting graphic

School Board Regular Session is May 20

The Durango School District Board of Education will meet for a Regular Session on Tuesday, May 20, at 5:30 p.m. at the Impact Career Innovation Center (Durango High School, 2390 Main Ave.).
Happy retirement 2025

Staff retirements this year

Please join us in congratulating the following Durango School District (DSD) staff members on their retirement. We wish them well in their new adventures!
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graduates

Our Mission

The mission of Durango School District 9-R is to ensure each student develops the skills and attributes for lifelong learning and has the ability to compete and contribute in the global community, by guaranteeing equitable educational opportunities in a safe and healthy environment.
Strategic Plan

What people say about us

Olivia Cruz, Headshot

TEACHER

“I get to work in a supportive environment with empathetic people who love what they do, and who genuinely care about student success.”

– Olivia Cruz, High School Science Teacher
Eduardo Gonzalez headshot

PARENT

“My kids have thrived in Durango schools because of the quality of instruction. The teachers in these schools do life-changing work.”

– Eduardo Gonzalez, parent of middle school student
Michaela Richardson headshot

STUDENT

“I have so many opportunities, and I have come to love school. Now I want to inspire others, and be on the Board to be that person that others can look up to.”

– Michaela Richardson, high school student and Student Board Member
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Superintendent

Superintendent's Message

Welcome to beautiful Durango and La Plata County! Our schools – and our community – are committed to ensuring all students reach proficiency in all content areas as well as have a high level of social-emotional well-being. Our primary objective in the Durango School District is to help every student achieve their life's purpose through Portrait of a Graduate. This is our district's "north star." It inspires students to find their Ikigai. This is a Japanese concept that incorporates four essential criteria: what you love (your passion), what the world needs (your mission), what you are good at (your vocation), and what you can get paid for (your profession). East meets West with this ancient philosophy in a modern mountain town.
Meet our district leaders

Universal Calendar

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Engineer Mountain in fall

Quality of Life

Durango is a beautiful place to live and work. It is located at 6,512 feet elevation in Southwest Colorado near the Four Corners region. Families who live here enjoy a historic steam train, ski resort, rivers, vibrant downtown, bike trails, sky-high “fourteener” mountains, and four distinct seasons with an average of 266 sunny days per year. We welcome new families and new staff members, and we offer excellent benefits and competitive salaries. 
Join our team
Teacher Elfreida Begay

Land Acknowledgement

We respectfully acknowledge that Durango School District 9-R is located on lands and territories taken from the Núuchiu (Ute) people. This land is also the ancestral home of or served as a site of trade, gathering, or healing for Apache, Pueblo, Diné, and other nations. We recognize and honor these peoples and nations as traditional stewards of this land and water and respect their enduring relationship with it.
Listen to the land acknowledgement in Diné Bizaad (Navajo language), spoken by Elfreida Begay

Accessibility Statement

It is the goal of Durango School District 9-R that the information on this website be accessible to individuals with visual, hearing, or cognitive disabilities. Good faith efforts are being made to ensure that our website complies with web accessibility standards.

Most pages on our site are available in HTML format, which can be read by screen readers. Some documents are in Adobe PDF format, requiring Adobe Acrobat Reader, which can be downloaded for free from the Adobe website. Additionally, some documents are in Google Docs, and Google Forms. Most modern browsers and screen readers can access Google-based documents. More information about Google web products accessibility can be found on the Google Accessibility website.

In order to ensure that Durango School District websites are accessible to everyone in our community, including those with disabilities, we are using the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0.

If you cannot access any page(s) on our site, please email us at [email protected]. Include the location of the webpage/document, your name, email address, and phone number so we can provide the information in another format, and address the issue.