Aurora Public Schools doesn’t want people to see it as the same school system it was more a decade ago — so it has spent thousands of dollars and roughly a year rebranding in an effort to change perceptions of the state’s fifth largest district.

The district unveiled a new logo, tagline and mission statement on Tuesday. The rebrand cost $200,000 and was a one-time expense covered by the general fund. The new look replaces a logo adopted in 2007 and is the district’s first concerted effort at branding, Patti Moon, the district’s chief communications officer, said.

Moon helped lead the rebranding initiative alongside the communications teams, district staff and a contracted branding firm Mission Minded. Moon said the district wanted to rebrand to emphasize gains it has made in some state performance ratings, and to highlight district values.

“We have made some really dramatic improvements,” Moon said.

Aurora Public Schools is on an improvement plan, meeting 49.1% of the state’s performance metrics as of 2019, although the district’s ratings have increased each year since 2016, when its performance rating was 40.4%.

It is one of 49 districts in Colorado with an “Improvement” rating. About 60% of districts have achieved the higher rating of “Accredited” and 11% are rated with distinction.

Moon said there is progress to celebrate. In 2010, the district’s dropout rate stood at 6.9%. In 2021, that fell to 1.6%, Moon said. The district’s fouryear graduation rate in 2010 was 45.5%, but for last year’s graduating class the rate climbed to 76.2%.

“I think some people still think that Aurora Public Schools is that school district that has that graduation rate below 50%, and that’s just not true anymore,” Moon said.

Aurora Public Schools is the state’s fifth largest, comprising more than 60 schools and enrolling about 38,000 students. It serves students who hail from more than 130 countries and speak more than 160 languages.

The new logo is a circle of six letter “A’s” meant to symbolize many individuals coming together, as well as “the inspiration and strength we all gain when we advocate alongside our students and families,” according to a release announcing the rebrand.

The district’s new tagline is “Power Your Potential,” derived from the district’s goal of supporting students’ aspirations. The tagline also draws on themes of the new mission statement: “At Aurora Public Schools, we believe that learning opportunities should be as varied and diverse as the world our students live in. Every day, we work with our community to break down barriers so that students can engage to their fullest potential and shape their own paths forward. When we advocate alongside students and their families, the future belongs to everyone.”

Moon said developing the new branding involved “diving into everything, from what are the character traits that define us, and who do we aspire to be.”

The district spent the past year interviewing students, staff and community members while also analyzing other districts’ branding. At one point the district conducted a two-day session with a group of 23 district staff who helped craft the new brand.

Themes emerged as the district sought community input, Moon said.

“Even though we are a large district, people said over and over what makes Aurora Public Schools so unique is we have a strong sense of community,” Moon said.

More than 4,500 people responded to a survey in May to help choose between two logos and taglines. Those results favored the logo and tagline revealed on Tuesday, Moon said, over the alternative tagline, “Shape Your Story.”

The district began rolling the rebrand out to the community at a backto-school event on Saturday and fully launched the new look on Tuesday, the first day of school. Superintendent Rico Munn said in a statement that the rebranding should help the district attract new students and families in the coming years.

“We are a truly resilient school district that has made noteworthy improvements,” Munn said. “With our new brand identity, we seek to better engage our students, staff and families in collectively telling our story.”