‘It’s just a circus’: Inside Page Unified schools

DÁ’DEESTŁ’IN HÓTSAA

Inside a classroom within the Page Unified School District is a combination of a three-ring circus and a zoo, said substitute teachers for the district.

The classrooms, shaped by the coronavirus pandemic, are complete with ongoing action, daring feats, disrespectful students, and students who don’t wear masks.

And in some classes, uncertified teachers, foreign teachers (under the J-1 Teacher Program) with a language barrier, over capacity (up to 50 students in one room), and online learning with Edgenuity – a K-12 online curriculum.

“These kids don’t know anything!” exclaimed Bahozhoi Kinsel-Gishie, who splits her time as a substitute teacher between three schools within PUSD. “It’s so sad because there’s nobody teaching them.

“The kids don’t really know anything because they’re not taught what’s going on,” she said.

Kinsel-Gishie, who’s a certified substitute teacher through the Arizona Department of Education, said she has subbed for dozens of classes, including auto collision, gym, algebra, and precalculus, since last year during the pandemic.

The only certified teachers within PUSD are doing their best to prepare in-person classrooms to keep students safe and engaged. District administrators however ask their substitute teachers to babysit the classrooms.

“The kids don’t really know anything because they’re not taught what’s going on,” Kinsel-Gishie said. “They don’t even know what they’re doing.”

The students in one class were given a quiz, which many students failed because they didn’t know nor studied the material.

“And it’s sad because a lot of parents don’t know what’s happening within the school,” Kinsel-Gishie said. “And just this comment with the superintendent, Mr. (Larry Edward) Wallen, he shouldn’t have said that.

“And to set up the children for failure when he already knows the Native American students are going to struggle,” she said. “And he knows that. And they (administrators) still insist on teaching the way they’re teaching.

“It’s not doing the students any good,” she said. “Parents don’t even understand what (their) students are doing in school. But it’s just a circus in there.”

Where are certified teachers?

Well, many of them have resigned from their teaching positions and moved on.

Why did they resign? Teachers, substitute teachers, and staff say it was because of Wallen’s authoritarian managing style while others say it was his restructuring plan, or just issues with him.

Wallen, the former superintendent for Piñon Unified School District, became the superintendent for Page on July 1, 2020.

But he isn’t new to the Page-Lake Powell area. He served as the principal for Page High from July 1988 to June 1993.

Wallen, a 70-year-old, is married to Lillian Parrish Wallen, a Diné originally from Tódinéeshzhee’.

Together, they have adult children in their mid-thirties. According to public records, they have three children.

Wallen explained to the media in April that the resignations were all voluntarily submitted to the district’s department and followed the district’s process.

Some certified teachers and staff are now working for the Tuba City Unified School District where one is a superintendent, and another is an English teacher.

Others have gotten jobs at other schools in Page or have moved away from the area, said Katharine John, a Bilagáana mother of youngsters who are part Diné. John is married to a Diné.

‘Brown kids’

Most students enrolled in PUSD schools are Diné. They make up most of the sports teams and have earned state championships for their respective schools.

Wallen resigned Sunday evening after allegedly making a racist remark after a board meeting last Tuesday night. The district on Tuesday morning said Wallen rescinded his resignation and intends to stay on the job.

The school board removed him from the superintendent’s seat and reassigned him.

John, who approached Wallen after the board meeting, said she had questions about the teacher resignations and shared her concerns with him about a solution.

She said knowing her children would be going to school only to be set up on Edgenuity prompted her to consider alternative options for children’s education.

Wallen responded, “Your children will be fine. It’s the brown kids in this district who will struggle.”

“When he made the statement that he did about the ‘brown’ children, it was devastating as a mother who is married to a Navajo,” John explained. “I have children who are biracial and by (Wallen’s) statement, they would be considered ‘brown.’

“So, to hear that and to hear the strategies they are implementing are … not intended to work well for the ‘brown’ children in this district,” she said. “The Navajo children in this district, it’s just devastating to know that is the plan moving forward.”

What’s next?

Because the PUSD board accepted Wallen’s resignation Tuesday night, this is an opportunity for the community.

“I hope (Wallen) realizes that there is a better candidate out there and it might take time to find them,” John said. “It might take someone here in our community – and I don’t know who, but someone to recognize that they might have what it takes.

“I feel for whoever it is because I know (they’ll) be in a very difficult position,” she added. “They’re trying to meet standards and expectations. It’s also the expectation that they help support those that are working there in the facilities whether it’s faculty members or teachers.”

Right now, certified substitute teachers can be put into a district classroom to teach from a book, said substitute teachers.

“There’s a lot of them within the schools,” Kinsel-Gishie said. “They’re trying to teach from the book and that’s happening.

PUSD teachers and staff said the student-athletes are also having issues, which parents don’t see.

The student-athletes, they say, are often disrespectful to teachers and substitute teachers.

“It’s so appalling,” another substitute teacher said. “The student-athletes are supposed to be good in the classroom and keeping their grades up. But a lot of them are horrid in the classroom.

“A lot of them are disruptive and it’s just really bad,” the teacher said. “When they go to play sports, there’s just no respect in there. These children are just horrible. They swear at each other and say things to each other, and their coaches don’t do anything about it.”

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