Plum Borough SD presents 'Portrait of a Graduate' visual; board moves design forward

Plum Borough School District officials on Feb. 11 unveiled a community-developed “Portrait of a Graduate” visual and competencies and the board agreed to advance the design for formal action.

District officials said the Portrait — developed by a design team of 83 internal and external stakeholders — identifies five competencies for students: communication, integrity, critical thinking, adaptability and empathy. The board voted 5-0 to move the visual forward so it can be finalized for use in district materials and embedded in the district’s comprehensive planning work.

Doctor Boyers, who led the design team, told the board the process began roughly a year earlier after a delegation returned from an AASA conference. Boyers said the work included four focused meetings with design-team members and additional community input; the group then refined competencies and age-appropriate language for K–6 and 7–12 bands. “The portrait … takes the rigorous learning and marries it together with those competencies and those soft skills to provide deep and meaningful learning opportunities for students,” Boyers said. He described the visual as a Mustang logo surrounded by the five competencies and said the design intentionally preserved script and Mustang imagery important to community identity.

Doctor Walsh and other board members emphasized that the Portrait must be a “living, breathing” part of instruction rather than a document on a shelf, and the district plans to embed the Portrait into professional development, curriculum maps and the comprehensive plan. Doctor Walsh asked that the Portrait be integrated across assessments and lesson plans, and the district has begun aligning the Portrait with the comprehensive-planning timeline the board will consider at the next action meeting.

Student representative Drew Thacker, speaking during the discussion, endorsed the shift to competency-based emphasis and said it better prepares students for future workplaces where the ability to communicate and problem-solve matters more than recall of facts. Other participants on the design team said participants’ feedback was incorporated session-to-session and that the process included students, staff, alumni, business leaders and faith and childcare representatives.

The board’s motion to move the design forward was described in the meeting as procedural (to release the final visual to the design team and prepare for formal approval at the action meeting). The district will next publish a landing webpage and begin communications to families and staff; if the board adopts the Portrait at the action meeting, staff expect to begin phased implementation and staff professional development ahead of the next school year.

Board members framed the Portrait as part of a larger set of changes the district is pursuing, including conversations about graduation credits, internships and partnerships with local businesses to provide job-shadowing opportunities.

The discussion closed with the board’s unanimous indication — “5 to move the design forward” — that the visual and next implementation steps should proceed to the formal action agenda.