CCSD board sets up meetings to resolve school issue
By Erny Zah
Navajo Times
KIRTLAND, N.M., June 17, 2010
The board said they are going to schedule a meeting with the Navajo Nation Board of Education for early next week, release a press release to clarify any confusion regarding the status of the lease and schedule a meeting with the New Mexico Public School Authority regarding the next step for the vacated school.
The board decided on the plan amidst criticism from Shiprock residents and Navajo officials calling for eviction of the school district because the lease for the land had expired and the board opted to close the longstanding school.
According to BIA documents, a 25-year lease agreement between the Navajo Nation and CCSD ended on Aug. 19, 2009. The lease included nearly 47 acres of land, which includes the district's Shiprock administrative offices and Nataani Nez Elementary.
"I don't know how we didn't see this," CCSD Superintendent Gregg Epperson said about the expired lease during a school board planning meeting last week.
At any rate, the closure of a school that made Adequate Yearly Progress last year, an expired lease and disgruntled community members has only fueled a new battle in an ongoing fight for control of education between CCSD board members and community members.
CCSD Finance Director Byron Manning said that in his recent research, expired leases have gone as long as seven years before renewal. In addition, some leases have yet to receive full approval like Naschitti Elementary School.
Manning, who has worked for the district for nine years, said the district submitted paperwork to lease the school in 2005 and still hasn't received any confirmation of it.
However, unhappy community members have used the lease status as a bargaining chip to reopen Nataani Nez. About six people protested the closing before during CCSD's opening ceremony for the Heritage Center, which also sits on the expired lease land.
Last week, the Navajo board of education passed a resolution asking for leaders to take action to prevent the closure and demolition of the school.
The resolution states that Nataani Nez has made AYP for two years in a row. However, according to the New Mexico Public Education Department, the school only made AYP in the 2008-09 school year, and this year's AYP results have yet to be released.
Furthermore, Matthew Tso, legal analyst for the Department of Diné Education, said local chapters have passed resolutions asking the Navajo Nation to "explore taking possession of the Nataani Nez Elementary" because the expired lease "gives the Navajo Nation the legal means to obtain possession of the school and facilities."
The resolution is similar to one passed by the Navajo board of education on June 7.
Another reason community members are calling for Navajo leaders to intervene is the potential demolition of the school.
According to a letter from the New Mexico Public School Facilities to Epperson, in order for the district to receive construction funds, Nataani Nez must be demolished.
However in the sentence immediately following, the letter states "there may be exceptions to this rule."
Epperson said that is the reason they want to meet with NMPSF to clarify exactly what the exceptions could be.
"We have received an offer from (Navajo Superintendent Andrew) Tah to meet in Window Rock regarding this issue. We're definitely accepting his offer," Epperson said at Tuesday's board meeting after the board came out of executive session.
Tah couldn't be reached for comment by press time.
Because Nataani Nez made AYP last year, some parents can't understand why the district is awarding the success with closure.
"We still opposed to the school closing," said Donovan Begay, 41, of Shiprock, who attended Tuesday's board meeting and protested on U.S. Highway 64 on June 10 before the planning meeting.
CCSD Finance Director Byron Manning, who informally met with disgruntled parents Tuesday night for nearly two and half hours after the CCSD board meeting, said AYP measurements includes special education students and English as a second language students as well as regular students. Therefore AYP isn't the sole determining factor on the success of a school.
He said the school was closed because of budgetary constraints and that it would cost about $20 million to renovate the 45-year-old building.
In addition, with declining student enrollment, a trend the district expects to continue for the next few years, schools in Shiprock were becoming more vacant.
"Nobody's happy when you're closing a school," Manning said to the parents.
He added that Mesa Elementary School, one of three other elementary schools in Shiprock, was only using nine of 32 classrooms last school year and is expected to use 17 classrooms this coming year.
Alan Maxwell, 49, has a son who was attending Nataani Nez and said he is concerned about the quality of education his child will receive at the other schools.
"The bottom line is the quality of education," he said. "I want him to have the best education available."
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