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

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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

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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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