Education board, committee directed to iron out differences

WINDOW ROCK, April 24, 2008

The Navajo Nation Council had some simple but overwhelming advice for the tribe's education administrators.

In fact, the council gave the Education Committee and the board of education 10 days to schedule a meeting to resolve their differences and get back to the work of implementing changes in the tribe's education department.

Both groups must submit a written report detailing the progress made in the meeting to the full council.

The directive came Tuesday when Andy Ayze, Education Committee chairman, presented a bill that would have stripped power from the education board, which was created as part of a major reform effort two years ago.

Ayze proposed shifting board powers to his committee in order to speed progress in developing the tribes' education system, stalled amid eight months of bickering by the board.

However, his fellow delegates did not go along with his bill, titled "The Board of Education Amendments Act," though they did express recognition that something needs to be done.

"There is definitely work that has to be done in this area," said Ervin Keeswood (Tsé Daa' Kaan). "But it cannot be resolved here, today, based on one legislation."

Keeswood persuaded the council to refer the bill back to the Education Committee with added the directive that the committee and the board meet within two weeks and provide written progress reports. The vote was 59-8.

"The Education Committee and the board of education need to need to meet and settle any and all differences they might have," Keeswood said. "The intent is not to do away with anything but to bring everyone together."

Although Keeswood's directive stipulated that Ayze's bill come back to the council during the summer session in July, he said the issue should be resolved in the meetings.

"We may not have to listen to this again in the full council," he said.

Throughout the council chamber, delegates seemed to agree that Ayze's bill was too much, too soon. The board of education was established in early 2006 and has suffered numerous changes in membership since. It has never filled all 11 of its seats, six appointed by the president and five publicly elected to represent each agency.

In August the board fired Tommy Lewis, the nation's first superintendent of education, just a little over a year after hiring him. Since then, the board has bickered internally over whether to formally address a complaint filed by Lewis over his termination.

During a work session April 10, tribal attorney Regina Holyan, who finalized the settlement with Lewis over his termination, told the council that the education board refused to meet with her to discuss the matter last fall.

The board's termination of Lewis with no prior warning "could seriously compromise any legal defense the Navajo Nation could assert," Holyan explained.

By January, Holyan said the Department of Justice set a deadline and notified the board if it did not reach an agreement with Lewis, the department would intervene on its behalf.

The board has maintained that Holyan and DOJ halted progress by barring the Department of Diné Education from advertising for a new superintendent. The ban was lifted in February, after Lewis' grievance was settled.

Still, some delegates were doubtful the council's prod would spur the education board to action.

"If they haven't done anything in the last two years, what's going to make the difference in the next 10 days?" said Leonard Chee (Birdsprings/Leupp/Tolani Lake), who chaired the Education Committee in 2005, when the education code was revised.

Chee said he would have liked to see the council require the board to perform the duties assigned to it by law, even if that means getting new members.

"If the board members can't do the work, individually, then they need to step aside and let someone else do it," Chee said.

Ayze said the council's action has opened up the door to get more work done.

"I think both parties got the message now," he said. "This was a wake-up call. I think we were just sitting back waiting to see who makes the first move."

Board member Katherine D. Arviso attended the first three days of the session to lobby against stripping the board of power.

"We are happy to know the council has faith in the board," Arviso said after the council gave its directive. "This is what we were asking for."

Several delegates approached Arviso after the council's vote, first to ask how she felt about the plan and deadline, then to tell her to get the board in line.

"You need to get to work," said Katherine Benally (Dennehotso). "No more fighting. Think of the kids. Roll up those sleeves and turn around our schools."

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