August 2015 Meeting Minutes

American Indian Education Oversight Committee Meeting
August 17, 2015

Present

Committee Members Present: Irma Amaro (Chair), Rachel McBride (Vice Chair), Kathleen Marshall, André Cramblit (Parliamentarian), Amber Machamer

Excused Absence: Laura Lee George, Rodney Lindsay, Russell “Butch” Murphy, Deborah DeForge

California Department of Education (CDE) Staff Present: Tom Torlakson, Gordon Jackson, Barbara Pomerantz, Judy Delgado, Chavela Delp

Guests: Coleen Bruno, Rose Owens-West, Connie Reitman

Meeting convened at 10:25 a.m.

Irma Amaro—In looking at the agenda, Items 1 and Item 2 will remain the same. We will have lunch after Item 2. Item 3 will be at 1:00 p.m. and Item 4 will be at 2:00 p.m. Can I have a motion to approve the agenda with the times noted?

Kathleen Marshall—Made a motion to approve the agenda with the times noted. Rachel McBride seconded. All in favor.

Irma Amaro—The agenda is approved.

Item 1—California Indian Curriculum Summit

Presented by Rose Borunda, Education Subcommittee, California Indian Conference Planning Committee

Rose Borunda—Reported on putting together a pilot curriculum based on what has been seen in Amador County and bring that information forth. We are rolling out pilot curriculum in Sutter Creek and El Dorado Hills and we have met other people that have put curriculum together so how do we bridge the gap in getting what we have already and getting it into public schools. 

Mimi Coughlin—In the existing history social science framework for California kindergarten through grade twelve Public Schools, there are opportunities at every grade level to discuss Native Americans. The Common Core Curriculum expands what we can do because it’s friendlier to interdisciplinary planning which is an opportunity to do more with reading and writing projects related to Native Americans and California Indians as well as integrating science and natural history and so forth.

Matt Franklin—Our children are losing our history, so through this curriculum Native American stories can be told in the classroom. What is not taught in today’s curriculum is California tribe story telling.

Beverly Ortiz—I’m concerned about how the history and cultures are presented and the grade level based curriculum around cultures. In looking at the content of the curriculum, there are ways that it can use what has already been approved but there are some things that are missing, for instance, in the list of cultural things that third graders are supposed to learn about, there is nothing about games and toys.

Rose Borunda—We would like every teacher to have regional and statewide information. So the first part of the conference we have the deconstruction starting with Dr. Laura More. In the second part we will be looking at specific topics and how the teachers can get that information.

Kathleen Marshall—I would like to applaud you on all your work. I am from the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians and I am a teacher for language and culture. I work in some of the private schools and we are now going into some of the public schools. We are creating curriculum based on the Common Core Standards and it’s a lot of hard work. But I think there are a lot of people out there doing this. We just need to all come together so that we can give the curriculum to the teachers in public schools.

Rachel McBride—Chico State had a Nor Cal Pre Grant which was focused on Native American teachers and working with them because they were going to be in the classrooms. We provided a professional development day for them and worked with those credentialed candidates on how to incorporate culture into their curriculum and how to match it with the Common Core Standards.

André Cramblit—Indian Tribal and Educational Personnel Program has their own curriculum center at Humboldt State University and also Del Norte Unified School District, and they are developing a lot of curriculum through the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) lawsuit.

Irma Amaro—There is all this work being done at the county level. The next step is working with the teachers that are being credentialed and giving them the curriculum from the very beginning. The teachers need to understand the Native culture.

Amber Machamer—Is the idea that this Conference is where teachers can go and receive professional development credits?

Mimi Coughlin—It is up to each district how professional development credits are earned. We can provide a program for them or even a certificate that we can sign, that they could take with them. We could even do a larger course that would be the equivalent of three units but that would be developing a semester long course. If we could get the word out, it is something that teachers would want to attend.

Rose Borunda—We have this flyer available electronically to share with you so that you are able to share with your communities. This is just a start. We could follow-up with regional trainings.

Irma Amaro—On getting this information out, are you looking at doing regional presentations?

Rose Borunda—It is a possibility.

Rachel McBride—We have had curriculum come through the American Indian Education Oversight Committee (AIEOC) before, and at one point we were talking about developing cultural standards. Is that something that is going to come back around? Does the CDE have links that go to different curriculum?

Judy Delgado—That was something that the AIEOC was going to work on for this year. And yes, we have added links and I think we can add more links to different resources.

Mimi Coughlin—The Professional Development piece of this is really important because there is curriculum out there. It’s just getting the teachers to use it in their classroom. It is much more a person-to-person kind of project. If we can get some support from any parties to leverage the professional development money that has been released to the local districts around these issues and tie it in with the implementation of the Common Core.

Rachel McBride—One way that we were successful in doing that is through the Local Control Accountability Plan (LCAP) because every district or school has their own LCAP. There are certain guidelines when developing the LCAP, but they have to have the community input and it might be a way to get those professional development dollars.

Amber Machamer—You would be setting up a template that we could then paste in content and then we would be able to make a great program that we could take to our local educators.

Item 3—Subject: California Department of Education Updates

Presented by State Superintendent of Public Instruction (SSPI) Tom Torlakson

Tom Torlakson—Good morning. It’s good to be here. I appreciate the work that you are doing. I look forward to working with you, to make sure that the accurate history is taught in our schools and taught in the new state frameworks.

• We have the new standards coming forward on curriculum in social studies.

• We’ve been meeting with some tribal leaders and Indian Education Specialists to develop curriculum that is rich and deep in each area.

• CDE will link units on Native Americans that you will click on a web site and have easy access to some very strong visuals.

• The Sycuan Tribe has put together a documentary of their people’s history that can be used with all the tribes.

• The Blueprint for Great Schools 2.0 will be designed to close the achievement gap and work hard to see our students graduate and go on to good careers and good colleges.

• Currently, Niki Sandoval, Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians, is sitting on the State Board of Education.

• James Ramos and Joely Proudfit are helping to head up a project that looks at localized curriculum that is easily accessible to our students.

• As a Regent at the University of California system and a California State University Trustee, I’m going to be working with the higher education community on how they can help contribute to a better understanding and a better training of our teachers so that they will know how to portray this history accurately and have the right emphasis and not on the missions but on the people.

• It is a top priority for CDE to prepare our teachers for the new approach to learning and the computer adaptive assessments and testing. This year 3.2 million students were able to connect to the internet for the assessments. Out of the entire state only 900 students had to take it with paper and pencil.

• We still have a huge challenge with connecting to remote parts of California.

Item 2—Region IX Equity Assistance Center, Update

Presented by Rose Owens-West, Director, Region IX Equity Assistance Center, WestEd

Provided a document that has a list of the federally funded programs that are dedicated for American Indian and Alaska Native students. This information can also be found on the U.S. Department of Education's Web site.

Reported on a conference call webinar with Bill Mendoza, Executive Director, White House Initiative on American Indian and Alaska Native Education. Four key issues were presented:

• Bullying
• School discipline
• Stereotypes
• Harmful imagery and symbolism

Reported on the Native Student Environment Initiative (NSEI) which was created from listening sessions from across seven states regarding Native student environment issues. The NSEI will be producing a report and a Toolkit, which will provide resource, strategy, and technical assistance information. We have over 2,400 race based mascots still operating in high schools and colleges across the country. These tend to create an unhealthy and hostile environment for American Indian and Alaskan Natives students.

Final four guiding questions:

• What do we need to do to address stereo types that contribute to bullying and harmful imagery and symbolism. What are the suggestions that you have about how to combat those things?

• Meeting the needs of the American Indian/Alaska Native students how would you have efforts to be inclusive of those students? If you have strategies to combat those efforts, how would you include students in those efforts?

• What are current efforts that might be going on here in California or even historic efforts that office should be aware of and possible revive effectively?

• What are some of the challenges or untapped opportunities that you have identified in addressing improving the environment for Alaska Native students?

Item 3—California Department of Education Updates

Presented by Gordon Jackson, Division Director, CDE

Updated on AIEC funding, keeping in mind the demographics of California. Shared a document of the American Indian Education Centers (AIEC) funding and the student population involved in the AIEC programs, and requested input from the AIEOC. There is a column of unspent funds for fiscal year (FY) 2013–14 adding up to about $220,000. There is a Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for FY 2015–16, that will go to the AIECs for a total of $41,000. There is additional funding due to two AIECs that are no longer receiving this funding. There are three options, the geographics play a role in the decision making:

• A proportionate split

• An equal split

• Bring up the minimum allocation of all AIECs to $133,333 and add two new AIECs at $133,333, one in the Sacramento area and one in areas where there once was an AIEC.

Rachel McBride—Asked if Gordon Jackson received the last Advisory that the AIEOC sent to the State Superintendent of Public Instruction (SSPI).

Gordon Jackson—Yes.

Irma Amaro—That Advisory was for the funds from the Ahmium Learning Center that closed. The Advisory recommended to split the funds equally to be fair to everybody for possible expansions to existing AIECs. Not open a Request for Applications (RFA) until the next funding cycle.

Rachel McBride—The discussion was for the Ahmium Learning Center funding and now there is another AIEC’s funding available, but the concept would remain the same. Split the funding equally and not open an RFA until the next funding cycle.

Gordon Jackson—Asked what the response from the communities that no longer have any services and the response from those communities having to wait for three years. The CDE is taking this into consideration because the CDE does not want any areas to go without services.

Rachel McBride—I do not know the areas well enough to know if there are other resources available to them. A lot of the existing AIECs would use the funds to expand their services. Is there a neighboring AIEC that the CDE can talk to, to let them know what is happening, and ask if there is any way they can provide services to another area? Maybe some existing AIECs will expand their driving radius to an hour and a half to provide services to those students.

Judy Delgado—It would be difficult for an existing AIEC to expand their services to locations that have large unserved native students. It might be possible to go to some areas, there are some AIECs that have been traditionally funded that are no longer funded (Viejas, Los Angeles, Fresno, and South Bay) all that have high native populations so it would be difficult for an existing AIEC to expand their services to those regions that we were traditionally serving.

André Cramblit—Asked which AIEC was closed and why they are no longer receiving any funding.

Gordon Jackson—The AIEC that is no longer receiving funding is the Capitol Area Indian Resource Center. Details are still in process, therefore, cannot be discussed. The CDE will take your recommendations into consideration when making a decision. However, the CDE is very concerned that there are areas that are not receiving any services.

Kathleen Marshall—Asked if the CDE has anybody in mind to bring on as a new AIEC. It would be a concern to bring a new AIEC to take on such a project.

Gordon Jackson—No.

Irma Amaro—Asked if the CDE is looking for new AIECs, does that mean that the AIECs that were not funded in this last cycle could apply for the funding or is the RFA only going out in areas where the AIECs closed.

Gordon Jackson—The CDE is only in the thinking process so no areas have been targeted. There have been no meetings. The CDE is wondering if this is the most appropriate thing to do.

Rachel McBride—Asked if current AIECs are going to be able to apply for a new grant to expand rural/mountain areas. We want services to all of our native students throughout the state. There has never been a process, base funding, or targeted areas.

Gordon Jackson—The CDE will add that question to the list when making a decision. The CDE will look into what is timely and appropriate.

André Cramblit—Asked if there is an RFA released, will it only be released to the areas where the AIECs closed or to the entire state.

Gordon Jackson—The CDE’s interest is to provide services in the areas that don’t have any services.

Item 6—Committee Business

Irma Amaro—Asked for a motion to approved the May 22, 2015, meeting minutes.

André Cramblit—Moved to approve the May 22, 2015, meeting minutes. Amber Machamer seconded. All in favor.

Irma Amaro—Next meetings are scheduled for November 6, 2015, and February 26, 2016.

Item 5—Public Comment

Connie Reitman—Requests that the CDE provide technical assistance to the AIECs. Has concerns with AIECs being closing down. Asked the AIEOC to review the information on why AIECs are being closed. Asked what is happening with the AIEC funding when a Center is shut down and asked to be proactive in this process. She asked that a special committee with tribal representation be created to create a more constructed proactive process to ensure the continuance of the AIEC services. Requested to see a report on what is happening with the funding from the closed AIECs.

André Cramblit—Made a motion to request a copy of the AIEC Document Checklist to be provided to the AIEOC. Amber Machamer seconds. All in favor.

Item 4—American Civil Liberties Union

Presented by Hannah Benton, Staff Attorney, National Center for Youth Law

Anna Salem—Margaret Keating School in Klamath was closed causing the students to be bussed to schools in Crescent City. The ACLU filed a lawsuit for discriminatory impact on Native American students. There has been a settlement which includes requiring the schools in Crescent City to provide the same afterschool programing that were available at the Margaret Keating School, in coordination with the Yurok Tribe Education Director. The ACLU filed another lawsuit based on the discriminatory treatment of Native American youth for being disproportionately impacted by suspension rates. Del Norte Unified School District suspension rates were very high in 2009 with over 6,000 suspensions. There has been a settlement which includes requirements for professional development, cultural competency training, student development, positive behavior, intervention and supports, a restorative justice program, data collections, and a curriculum component for six different grade levels. The settlements were extended for an additional three years.

Jim McQuillen—Gave an update on history and cultural curriculum drawn from local tribes in the Del Norte County area, and some of the lessons learned; Yurok and Taloa language implementation; and re-implementing the American Indian Report Card (local data collection). Would like to have Humboldt State University complete the data collection and analysis of the Native students in Del Norte County.

André Cramblit—Commented on the benefits of the local American Indian Education Advisory Council.

Rachel McBride—Asked if Native people will be employed by the school district, and is the school district receptive to this idea?

Jim McQuillen—In the settlement there was language for the school districts to take a look at hiring Native people, however, Proposition 207 gets in the way of hiring preferences. Currently there are 250 certificated teachers in Del Norte, and fewer than 10 that are American Indian. The Humboldt/Del Norte area has 1250 certificated teachers, with only 30 certificated American Indian teachers according to Data Quest. There are discussions of having a high school program again with the Future Teachers of America type of program for American Indian students.

André Cramblit—Is Humboldt supporting the American Indian Education programs? Is this something that you can ask of this AIEOC, that we recommend that the SSPI respond to this issue?

Jim McQuillen—Not likely they should. We have seen reductions in some of the support programs that support the American Indian students on campus. This is something that we would like to ask the SSPI to support to try to track more of the American Indian students to the teaching profession and to support them at the community college and university levels.

André Cramblit—Made a motion to make a recommendation to the SSPI to improve budgets for support programs to support American Indian programs for teacher credentialing. Amber Machamer seconded. All in favor.

Irma Amaro—Motion is approved.

Michael Harris—Gave an update on the Lolita School District lawsuit for physical harassment, discriminatory treatment, and inadequate education services, that kept Native American students perpetually marginalized. The next lawsuit is with the Eureka City School District for racial discrimination, gender discrimination, discrimination against students with disabilities particularly students of color with disabilities, and desperate racial disparities and discipline. This case was settled with the teachers receiving special training to help them learn how to teach student who are African American and Native American, and to teach about cultural contributions of both of these groups, and how to teach the curriculum in a way that will make all students feel included. Students with disabilities will now be evaluated and get accommodations for their needs. There will be a focus on reducing the racial disparities and discipline, and there will be data tracking. The last lawsuit was filed by Californian Indian Legal Services (CILS), ACLU, and the Office for Civil Rights against the Fall River Joint Unified School District for subjecting Native American students to a racially hostile education environment by engaging in and allowing pervasive racial harassment, disproportionally and unfair disciplining of Native American students, and disproportionately pushing out Native American students into the alternative school call the “red” school.

André Cramblit—Asked if there are other possible lawsuits for graduation adornments and mascots being looked at.

Anna Salem—CILS has partnered with the ACLU and the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) for the past several years to advocate for Native American student rights to wear traditional regalia particularly eagle feathers during their high school graduation ceremonies. In every instance where CILS, ACLU, and NARF have advocated for this right, the school district has been willing to make the appropriate accommodations. These cases are quite challenging though because they arise with very little time for resolution and leave families and schools scrambling. The CILS and ACLU have been working together on a legislative fix to proactively address this. Every time that anyone files a lawsuit around these issues the districts usually comply. But it’s very stressful on the family, the school, and the advocates, so we are trying to be a little more proactive to create a clear legislative fix that reiterates law stating that Native American students can wear regalia of their tribes in their graduation ceremonies. Encourage communities to be proactive and start working with your districts now instead of waiting till June.

Jim McQuillen—The Mascot issue continues to create a hostile school environment. There should be a more comprehensible effort throughout the state to band Mascots.

Irma Amaro—Future agenda items that you would like to see.

Rachel McBride—If we are on the AIEOC and we are also an AIEC Director, can we talk about things discussed at the AIEOC meetings or would that be considered to be serial meetings?  And it does include subcommittee (any committee) meetings. 

Judy Delgado–We will ask our Legal Office for a response.

Irma Amaro—Asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Kathleen Marshall moved to adjourn the meeting. Rachel McBride seconded. All in favor.

The meeting adjourned at 3:27 p.m.