HEHS takes no action on BIE school boards

WINDOW ROCK

The council’s Health, Education and Human Services Committee once more failed to reach a consensus on whether or not to recommend reducing the number of BIE school boards on the reservation, with one delegate complaining he is getting threats from the communities he represents over the proposed legislation.

Under federal law, the boards for the 66 BIE and grant schools on the reservation must be scrutinized for possible reapportionment every four years. The committee has until Feb. 26 to decide on a strategy, and filing for school board positions begins March 3.

HEHS met in December with the Navajo Nation Board of Education and failed to act on the issue.

Once a recommendation is made, it will be turned over to the Navajo people to vote on in a referendum.

The Department of Diné Education, during a series of public hearings starting Jan. 11, proposed four options to reconfigure the school boards, most of which involve reducing them.

During the Feb. 10 HEHS meeting, Committee Chair Jonathan Hale (Oaksprings/St. Michaels) recused himself from the issue because he is related to people who currently work at DODE.

Hale delegated Vice Chair Norman Begay (Alamo/Ramah/Tohajiilee), who said he is receiving threats from the satellite communities he represents if he changes the school board.

“I’m getting a lot of heat, threats on this legislation,” Begay said. “No one wants to tackle this.”

The options include:

Plan A, which would be to stick with the 2012 Apportionment Plan and have 275 board members;

Plan B, which is similar to Plan A but minus one or two school board members;

Plan C, which would include five agency-wide school boards with a total 31 members; and Plan D which would include 10 regional school boards with 62-70 members.

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