BIE schools face chaotic opening

Posted by Cindy Yurth | Sep 17, 2020 | CORONAVIRUS, Education |

WINDOW ROCK

Bureau of Indian Education schools opened online Wednesday after an abrupt change of course came down from the top brass. In August, the BIE issued opening guidance stating its schools should open as “brick and mortar” institutions “to the maximum extent possible” on Sept. 16.

But last Thursday, according to a press release from the Office of the Navajo Natoin President and Vice President, Assistant Interior Secretary Tara Sweeney reversed course and sent a letter stating the Navajo Nation’s 32 BIE-operated schools “will implement distance learning for the first nine weeks of instruction,” with an evaluation of the model after that.

President Jonathan Nez attributed the reversal to a discussion he had had with Sweeney and BIE Director Tony Dearman “reaffirm(ing) Navajo Nation’s stance in support of online learning, as opposed to in-person class instruction, for the first semester.” Nez also noted that parent-teacher surveys conducted by the Department of Diné Education in June overwhelmingly supported online learning.

The change caught the Diné bi Olta School Board Association, which represents the Nation’s BIE and grant school boards of education, by surprise. The association had met with Dearman Aug. 25, and addressed several questions to him to which “we’re still waiting for answers,” said DBOSBA’s executive director, Jordan Etcitty. He said he found out about the change to online learning — which DBOSBA also supports — in the online press, but couldn’t find any evidence of it on the bureau’s “Return to Learn” website.

Most of the BIE grant schools, which were urged to use the BIE plan as “guidance” but weren’t mandated to follow it, have already opened with either an online or hybrid learning model, Etcitty said.

But for the actual BIE schools, the abrupt change in course caught some administrators unprepared. Since so many families lack the technology for online learning, Etcitty said, the schools should have been stocking up on electronic tablets for the students.

But since they thought school was going to be in-person, he said, a lot of the schools earmarked their share of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act funds for hazard pay for teachers and staff. “So now they’re getting hazard pay even though they’ve been at home this whole time and the classes are going to be online,” he said. “And there’s no money left for tablets.”

Even the schools that have money are going to have a hard time finding tablets at this late date, according to Etcitty. “The schools are hearing that laptops and tablets are back-ordered until January,” he said. “The BIE has entered into its own contract with a supplier, but they’re backed up too.”

Parents have also had to change gears on the fly. The grandparent of a student at Tuba City Boarding School said she only learned about the switch to online learning Monday. “Luckily, we’ve been able to get her a laptop and we already have Wi-Fi,” she said, “but with all the students logged on, I don’t know how it’s going to be … We only found out yesterday that buses will be delivering backpacks and in some cases iPads. Quite a different experience compared to Flagstaff (public) High School, where my grandson goes to school.”

In his press release on the subject, Nez stated that a portion of the CARES Act funding will be used to supply internet services for schools. But even the best internet service won’t make up for the fact that teachers who were planning to teach in-person may not have made distance-learning lesson plans. Several BIE teachers interviewed off the record on Monday admitted they were still scrambling to get something together for Wednesday.

Etcitty also worries that enrollment in the BIE schools has declined since some parents “thought they were forcing face-to-face learning” and pulled their students out for fear of COVID. “If a school goes from 300 to 200 students, do they lose their (per-pupil) funding?” he asked. “Or will they use the numbers from last year? That’s just one of the questions we’d like for Mr. Dearman to answer.”

Perhaps most disconcerting to Etcitty is the lack of communication from the BIE. In fact, he said he’s been hearing from some school administrators that they were asked not to share the new plan with their school boards. “So much for local control!” said Etcitty, adding that the school board members are supposed to liaise with their communities on the goings-on at their schools. “So if the school board members don’t know anything, the parents and community members are going to be in the dark too,” he noted.

Etcitty said he is trying to convene a virtual meeting of education specialists from tribes across the country that have BIE schools in an effort to build a bigger megaphone when it comes to addressing the BIE. “I just want to hear who’s all having trouble with them,” he said. “Is it just Navajo they’re not talking to, or is this their way of doing things?”

Nez stated in his press release he plans to keep talking to everybody involved. “The Nez-Lizer Administration will continue to communicate on a regular basis with Asst. Sec. Sweeney, Director Dearman, Department of Diné Education, Navajo Nation Board of Education, and other stakeholders to help ensure the safety and health of Navajo students, teachers, and others during the COVID-19 pandemic,” the release states.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs public affairs office did not return an email by press time.