Education reform elevates status of Navajo-controlled education (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

here is the URL...
http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096411394

On Aug 12, 2005, at 11:25 AM, phil cash cash wrote:

> Education reform elevates status of Navajo-controlled education
> © Indian Country Today August 12, 2005. All Rights Reserved
> Posted: August 12, 2005
> by: Brenda Norrell / Indian Country Today
>
> <1096411394_large.jpg>
> Photo courtesy George Hardeen -- Flanked by members of the Navajo 
> Education Committee, Dine' Education Director Leland Leonard and 
> Navajo Nation Council Speaker Lawrence T. Morgan, Navajo President Joe 
> Shirley Jr. signed the act in the historic Navajo Nation Council 
> Chambers.
>
> WINDOW ROCK, Ariz. - While state lawmakers in the Southwest have 
> succeeded in passing English-only legislation, the Navajo Nation 
> Council passed the Dine' Sovereignty in Education Act to encourage 
> Dine' language and culture in schools on the Navajo Nation.
>
> Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr. said the Navajo education reform was 
> long overdue and the new legislation, Title 10 amendments, is a step 
> toward greater sovereignty and independence.
>
> ''We can never forget who we are,'' Shirley said after passage of the 
> bill. ''We are a sovereign nation and we need to conduct ourselves as 
> such. These changes now head us in that direction, getting back to 
> standing on our own two feet and being a true sovereign.''
>
> Navajo Nation Council spokesman Karen Francis said the council voted 
> 59 in favor of and 19 opposed to the legislation. Because it amends 
> portions of Title 2 as well as Title 10, the legislation required a 
> two-thirds vote of the council, or 59 votes, to pass.
>
> The law creates an 11-member Navajo Board of Education and elevates 
> the Division of Dine' Education to a Department of Dine' Education. 
> Additionally, it calls for the hiring of a Navajo Superintendent of 
> Schools, develops Navajo-specific standards for education and creates 
> a database of information regarding Navajo student academic 
> achievement.
>
> The act will implement the teaching of Navajo language and culture in 
> schools on the Navajo Nation on a voluntary basis.
>
> Further, the Navajo Council's Education Committee said the amendments 
> reorganize the Division of Dine' Education to operate more like a 
> state department, which would be run by a superintendent with a Navajo 
> Nation-wide board of education.
>
> Shirley said the legislation would improve the education of Navajo 
> children by requiring the implementation of standards that challenge 
> and promote academic achievement, and increase accountability of 
> school districts.
>
> ''As a government, we have a duty to provide the best quality 
> education to our children,'' Shirley said, adding that education is 
> the top priority of his tribal administration.
>
> Leland Leonard, executive director of the Division of Dine' Education, 
> said the new law will benefit students by improving accountability of 
> schools.
>
> ''This is an exercise in sovereignty in Navajo law,'' Leonard said. 
> ''We're looking out for Navajo children, and it is long overdue, as 
> the president said. In education, we can achieve sovereignty, we can 
> achieve self-sufficiency. It should remain a number one priority.''
>
> Shirley said it is hoped the law will infuse education on Navajo land 
> with Navajo language and culture.
>
> ''It gives me great honor and pleasure to sign this today,'' Shirley 
> told members of the Navajo Nation Council as they began their last day 
> of the council's summer session.
>
> ''These changes are long overdue and will benefit our Navajo students, 
> schools and parents and strengthen our Navajo culture.''
>
> Shirley said academic achievement tests show that Navajo children have 
> not performed up to country-wide standards. This has resulted in a 
> huge academic achievement gap between Navajo and non-Navajo students, 
> he said.
>
> Francis said Wallace Charley, vice chairman of the council's education 
> committee, was a powerful advocate for the changes in the education 
> law.
>
> ''This is to make our laws stronger,'' Charley said. ''The Navajo 
> Nation can no longer accept the current state of our tribal education, 
> nor should we be a defensive player regarding the educational services 
> provided to our schools and students.''
>
> The goal of the Education Committee, she said, was to amend the 
> education laws of the Navajo Nation since they had not been revisited 
> since 1984. The education law was last revised during the 
> administration of Navajo President Peterson Zah.
>
> The committee and the division worked together to develop legislation 
> to strengthen the laws, with input from school board members, 
> administrators, teachers, parents and students through work sessions 
> and public hearings.
>
> Education Committee Chairman Leonard Chee, Birdsprings/Leupp/Tolani 
> Lake, and Vice Chairman Wallace Charley, Shiprock, brought the 
> proposed Education Code amendments to the council during the winter 
> session on Jan. 26. Then, the council passed the act during its summer 
> session in July.
>
> Francis said the Education Committee and the Division of Dine' 
> Education took the extra time to educate the public on the amendments 
> through presentations, informational booths and radio panel 
> discussions.
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