Charter school in Navajo gains approval
Charter school classroom. (Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.com)
WINDOW ROCK
The second charter school on the New Mexico side of the reservation has been approved by the New Mexico Public Education Commission and is hoping to open its doors next fall, the founders announced this week.
“It’s been a lot of work,” said Prestene Garnenez, director of operations for Dzil Dit L’ooí School of Empowerment, Action and Perseverance in Navajo, N.M. (DEAP for short), “and we still have a lot of work ahead of us.”
The school’s staff and board of education — Shayla Yellowhorse, Florinda Jackson, Benita Litson, Genevieve Jackson and Janet Hoskie — will now focus on finding a building, choosing a principal and recruiting students.
There’s a lot to be done, but Garnenez and co-founder Kayla Dawn Begay, who will be in charge of curriculum for the new institution, are ecstatic to have come this far.
Highway 264,
I-40, WB @ Winslow