Supporters of Native-oriented school programs ask for direct district help (fwd)

[phil cash cash]

Supporters of Native-oriented school programs ask for direct district
help
Parents, educators worry about the ephemeral nature of federal grants

http://www.juneauempire.com/stories/040504/loc_nativeschools.shtml

Monday, April 5, 2004

By ERIC FRY
JUNEAU EMPIRE

Some parents and educators would like to see two successful
Native-oriented programs have secure funding and reach more students in
the Juneau School District.

An elementary-school program that emphasizes Tlingit language and
culture and a program that steers Native high school students toward
college have proven their worth, an ad hoc group says.

"Basically, we would like to see the school district embrace these and
integrate them into their budget," said Lillian Petershoare, mother of
two children who were in the Early Scholars Program at Juneau-Douglas
High School and have gone on to college.

The elementary-school Tlingit culture and language program is housed at
Harborview Elementary downtown, but is open to children, Native and
non-Native, throughout the district. It was funded partly by a federal
grant in its first two years and by the district, which has paid the
teachers' salaries throughout the program's four-year existence.

The district now has a nearly $1.5 million, three-year federal grant to
expand the program to the fifth grade at Harborview and to prepare more
schools to add such classrooms.

Parents and educators acknowledged the district's support, but they
worry that grants can come and go.

The children in the program "learn how to be themselves, respect
themselves, respect other people," said parent Teddy Castillo. "It's
just a happier place for them to learn."

The JDHS Early Scholars Program for Natives is partly funded with
$10,000 a year from the University of Alaska Southeast. The district
pays for the salaries of teacher Paula Dybdahl and counselor Frank
Coenraad, who run the high-school portion of the program as part of
their duties.

Parents and students raise funds each year, as well. They recently
raised $26,000 to send students to Boston for an American history class
and to visit colleges. Federal education funds that go to the
Tlingit-Haida Central Council also have helped send students on trips.

The university asked the district in September to consider helping with
the cash cost, which pays for books and materials, college instructors,
a student retreat in the fall and busing to and from campus. Each year,
students take a UAS course, such as Tlingit language or Web design.

But the university, which doesn't know yet what funding it will receive
from the Legislature for next fiscal year, didn't make a specific
request during the district's recent budget process.

"We don't want the program to go away, but we certainly would like the
school district to consider supporting it," said UAS Dean of Students
Paul Kraft, who oversees the university portion of the program.

The university's stance has caused some concern among parents,
especially at a time when the district has talked about laying off
teachers if it doesn't get more state funding.

Juneau School District Superintendent Peggy Cowan said the Early
Scholars Program is part of the fabric of the high school and is
embraced by it. Course schedules are organized around it, and students
are counseled to join it, she said. The program's core comes from
district staff, who are paid from the district's budget, she pointed
out.

District administrators would have to talk to the Juneau School Board
about any request from UAS to share in the other funding, she said. So
far, the administration has proposed cuts, not additions, to the
district's general fund budget for next school year.

"Right now, in our mind, the program will exist," Coenraad said.
"Whether or not we will have the money to carry out all of its
functions - that depends on how much money there is."

Coenraad said he and Assistant Superintendent Bernie Sorenson have been
reviewing the district's current grants to see if any of those funds
could be applied to the Early Scholars Program.

"It's been eight years now," said Doloresa Cadiente, who is active in
Native government and is grandmother to two Early Scholars. "At this
point in time we should have made choices - that it be funded within
the system and it exist."

Early Scholars supporters point out that Dybdahl and Coenraad work many
unpaid hours to make the program possible, and parents and students
work to raise funds.

The Early Scholars study history for three years together under Dybdahl,
who is Native. Her classroom also serves as a kind of unofficial home
room in which Native students help each other academically and
socialize.

The students also attend classes at UAS one day a week to get a feel for
college life. They visit prospective colleges, as well.

The 29 Early Scholars in the 2001-02 school year, the last year for
which statistics have been compiled, had an average grade of 2.77
(C-plus) in their English and math classes, compared with the average
of 1.96 among the 248 Native students who aren't in the program.

The Early Scholars also did better on average than other Native students
on standardized tests. For example, the nine ninth-graders that year
averaged in the 64th percentile in a standardized reading test,
compared to the other Native students' average, in the 43rd percentile.
That means the Early Scholars did as well or better than 63 percent of
a nationwide sample of students who took the test.

The report also shows that the students who enter the Early Scholars
Program already were doing well on reading, writing and math tests in
the eighth grade. For admission, the program requires a 2.5 grade point
average in eighth grade, a teacher's recommendation, and a student
essay.

The percentage of Early Scholars who were proficient on English and math
tests did increase between grades eight and 10, especially in math,
according to the report by former district administrator Annie Calkins.

Many of the students would go on to college if Early Scholars didn't
exist, Dybdahl said. But they also grow socially in the program.

Students, parents and educators judge the program's value partly on
intangibles. Petershoare, the parent of two graduates, said the Early
Scholars Program approximates the Tlingit approach to raising children
in a supportive community.

Supporters say Early Scholars learn to feel more comfortable in school,
and become more outgoing, by taking the social studies courses
together. The students see Dybdahl, a Stanford graduate, as a role
model.

"With this group I've seen some very quiet ninth-graders blossom into
being articulate 12th-graders," Dybdahl said.

"I didn't think that I could make it through high school without having
support because of just being always picked on in middle school because
of the color of my skin," said Chellsy Milton, a senior in the program.
"I was always just sitting in the back of my class, just trying to get
through it."

Like other students, Milton said the program's students and adults have
been like a second family to her. Former students, now in college, call
Dybdahl at home late at night. Parents of graduated students still host
dinners for current students.

Dybdahl said her courses aren't easy, especially because the Early
Scholars are a mixed-grade group, which means those who are freshmen
sometimes take courses intended for upperclassmen. The same group of
students stays with her for three years as she rotates through the
three years of required social studies courses.

"I refuse to compromise my standards as an instructor," Dybdahl said.
"These kids work their tails off. Many of them work very hard to get
C's and B's in my class, but they keep coming back for the
interaction."

Ian Petershoare, an Early Scholars graduate who is a sophomore at
Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash., said the program prepared him by
giving him study skills and the ability to be comfortable in a
classroom.

"The program really meant a place where I felt secure, where I knew I
had peers who felt the same way I did about cultural significance -
just a safe place to talk," he said. "It helped me in learning how to
look for a college and in putting college attendance as a goal and in
doing well in college."

Advocates of Early Scholars would like to see it expanded into the
middle schools in some fashion. Besides encouraging stronger academics,
a middle school program would create a larger pool of qualified
applicants for the high school program, perhaps making it possible for
a group of Native students to take a block of freshmen courses
together, for example.

This is the last year of a five-year grant that exposed middle school
students, often Natives, to college and offered tutoring. The school
district will look for ways to offer those services once the grant
ends, Superintendent Cowan said.

The two Native-oriented programs, and the district's involvement, are a
success story, she said. "I don't think it's a story of abandonment."