Isleta Pueblo takes full control of its school, plans to push culture and language

Posted by Navajo Times | Aug 6, 2015 | Education |

By Colleen Keane and Alysa Landry
Special to the Times

With the help of Isleta students, U.S. Secretary of Interior Sally Jewell gets ready to cut a ribbon recognizing community control of the local elementary school, while Congresswoman Michelle Grisham and Senator Martin Heinrich join in to show their support. (Special to the Times – Colleen Keane)

PUEBLO OF ISLETA

New Mexico’s Isleta Pueblo is poised to lead Indian Country in taking full control over its schools.

The Bureau of Indian Education on Aug. 1 celebrated the transferring of control of the Isleta Elementary School to the pueblo in the first such transaction enabled by President Barack Obama’s Blueprint for Reform program.

The blueprint, released in response to reports that BIE schools are plagued with poor oversight, limited staff, unsafe conditions and failing students, calls for better self-determination among tribal communities.

The Department of the Interior authorized the transfer in March after evaluating the pueblo’s application, which included a plan for accountability, financial control and academic standards. The pueblo officially assumed control of the school on July 1, and its 150 students, 11 teachers and 10 support staffers will begin a new era of tribal control when they return to school this month.

U.S. Secretary of Interior Sally Jewell greets Isleta children as she arrives at the ribbon cutting ceremony celebrating local control of the community school. (Special to the Times – Colleen Keane)

The school also will serve as an example to other tribes seeking educational self-determination, including the Navajo Nation. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell congratulated the pueblo on being the first to take advantage of the program.

The transfer of control is a “landmark transition,” Jewell said in a statement. It sets “a standard for how we hope to work with other tribal governments in the future.”