The Ignacio School District has launched a new parental committee aimed at guiding the district staff in operating Native American programming. The Native American Parental Advisory Committee, or NAPAC, is a collaborative group of Native American parents, students, and district representatives who work together to support the educational experience of Native American students attending the Ignacio School District.
NAPAC launched in November of last year and completed its third meeting this month on Monday, Jan. 13, the committee meets every second Monday of every month aiming to help the district understand how it can best meet the needs of all Native American students. The committee also guides the school district on how it should utilize Title VI funds, federal funding specifically for Native American students.
Cori Stevens is the Director of Curriculum and Assessment with the Ignacio School District and serves as NAPAC’s Title VI Director moving forward. Her responsibilities include understanding the guidelines for the Title VI grant and ensuring the committee is following the rules of the grant.
“We have a good group of people; we have about 15 people who regularly attend our meetings,” Stevens said. “We have bylaws in place, and although bylaws say we can only have 10 voting members our meetings are still open to public, and all are welcome to attend.”
“Dr. Joe Claunch and the Southern Ute Education Department have been big advocates for getting this committee started and I think that NAPAC will strengthen the collaboration between the School District and the Southern Ute Education Department even more,” Stevens said. “In our last meeting we elected our officers, so now we have our chairperson who is Byron Frost, a vice chairperson who is Kristean Velasquez, and a secretary who is Amy Barry – our next step will be establishing a vision and some goals for that group, but a big part of it will be how can we make our curriculum and activities more culturally inclusive.”
Faustino Trejo is the Native/Southwest Studies teacher for the Ignacio School District and serves as NAPAC’s Title XI Liaison advocating for resources and services, promoting cultural activities within the schools and supporting academic success of all native students. He is Diné from Chinle, Ariz., born for the Bitter Water People and his father’s family is from the Mexican People.
“I’m glad that Kristean is coming from the Southern Ute community, and we have Mr. Byron Frost who is taking charge of a lot, and Cori Stevens really cares about doing things the right way and making sure I’m in the loop with everything. Everyone I have met in my year being here has been super cooperative,” Trejo said. “They all want to get this done, every time we have met, we’ve always had a positive outlook on what the future looks like.”
“I want to be able to impact every single Native kid in this school, be a positive reinforcer of good academic behaviors–I want them to know that there is a Native person here who is brought up in the same background as them,” Trejo said. “We would like to have more parents join so we can gain more input and really pressure the district to do more for our students, the district is willing to listen, and I would love to have more people and have more voices heard through NAPAC.”
Trejo is grateful for the attendance so far, including the regular attendance of Tribal leaders from the Southern Ute Tribal Council. “Having Marge there, the Barry family there, it’s the greatest extension of Tribal sovereignty to have someone that’s on the Council at every single meeting–for me that is a tremendous honor to have her presence in the room.” Trejo said. “Where I am from our Tribal Council is almost completely detached from our education curriculum because the state takes care of it–I have never seen a Tribal Council member at a school board meeting, so it speaks volumes to have [Marge Barry] there with us.”
It is required that 51% of the committee must be parents of Native American students attending the Ignacio School District with a 506 Form on file, which is equivalent to six out of ten members, and this requirement has been met. Now NAPAC is looking for the remaining four members to fill the positions. At this point those remaining positions are open to anyone who is interested in joining, including community members.
The next NAPAC meeting is scheduled for Monday, Feb. 10 from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. at the Ignacio School District Administration Building, located at 455 Becker St, just behind Ignacio High School. The meeting will take place in the boardroom with a light dinner prepared by students in the school’s culinary classes, there is also childcare provided by students who are in the education program.
“I am really excited about this opportunity and so far, it’s going really well,” Stevens said. “We have representation of different organizations and community members, our vice chairperson Kristean serves on the SUIMA Board, so we have lots of good connections and moving forward I believe this group will really make a big difference in providing activities for our Native American students.”