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Sunday, April 18, 2010

Isolation and Poverty, As Well As Cultural Issues and Language Difficulties, Shove Learning To the Back Seat at Lybrook Elementary

By Juan Carlos Rodriguez
Copyright © 2010 Albuquerque Journal
Journal Staff Writer
          In Counselor, a chapter of the Navajo Nation west of Cuba, where only 20 percent of adults have graduated from high school, many students don't even consider pursuing an education beyond eighth grade.
        They aren't expected to, some residents say.
        But Philomena Sala, an eighth-grader at Lybrook Elementary School, has her own expectations. The 13-year-old, whose favorite subject is math, is working for a life different from the ones she sees around her.
        "A lot of people on the rez didn't graduate; they don't have jobs. I don't want to be like that," Philomena said.
        Lybrook, a kindergarten to eighth-grade school in the Jemez Mountain School District, primarily serves children from Counselor. Only two of its 87 students aren't Navajo.
        The school, which has a track record of dismal test scores, recorded the lowest proficiency scores in the state last year. Just 1.5 percent of its students tested proficient in math.
        This is what the school is up against:
        • Parents who sometimes keep kids home to take care of siblings, or let them play hooky if they just don't feel like going.
        • Long, bumpy bus rides that can take as much as 1 1/2 hours — each way.
        • After-school chores that can include chopping wood and cooking for the family, leaving students little time for homework.
        • Widespread poverty.
        • Children who come from homes that may not have electricity, let alone a computer.
        • Families that speak primarily Navajo or a mix of Navajo and English, meaning students are beginning school lagging in language skills.
        "These students' daily lives are so different from students in Santa Fe or Albuquerque," Jemez Mountain School District Superintendent Adan Delgado said. "People don't understand that."
        Similar issues
        Two years ago, in an effort to turn the school around, 70 percent of the teachers and staff, plus the principal, were replaced, Delgado said.
        "The primary focus of that staff change was to change the culture of that school, because prior to that there was just a very negative, hopeless culture in the staff out at Lybrook," Delgado said.
        Principal Jacque Mangham said she volunteered to come to Lybrook from Coyote Elementary outside of Farmington when the principal's job opened up. She said that before she arrived, the school did not set high expectations for students, enforce discipline or focus on education.
        "We're here to transform this school," Mangham said.
        Proficiency rates did rise slightly last year from the year before, and discipline has improved, but Mangham said there's still a long way to go.
        The problems at Lybrook aren't unique. In fact, 19 of the state's 35 lowest-performing schools serve primarily Native American students. Many of them deal with the same issues of isolation, poverty and language difficulties.
        About 1,000 people live in the 80,000-acre Counselor area, and many lack electricity or drinking water in their homes. The spider web of dirt roads that connects the community turns to thick, sticky mud after a bit of rain or snow, making travel difficult. Delgado said it is not uncommon for the community to experience a dozen days or more when buses can't pick up the kids because of the road conditions.
        Even on good days, bus rides are an ordeal.
        Philomena usually gets up around 5:30 a.m. to catch a bus that comes at 6:30 a.m. and rides for 1 1/2 hours. She's the first one picked up and the last one dropped off, so she gets home around 6 p.m.
        The Fort Sumner district tried to make better use of students' bus time by putting lessons on MP3 players and giving them to students, but state education officials said there are no plans to try that elsewhere.
        According to information provided by the chapter, about 65 percent of Counselor-area residents never attended high school. Most live in poverty, with 75 percent having an income of less than $20,000, and 50 percent making less than $15,000. Mangham said alcoholism and drug abuse are also a problem.
        Samuel Sage, Counselor chapter president, said Lybrook is doing a good job but the community needs to do better at encouraging children to succeed in school.
        "Parents bear most of the responsibility for the situation," Sage said. "Some of them feel like the school has all the responsibility to raise the kids. It's a misunderstanding of the role of the school."
        Teachers are acutely aware of the hardships students face. One Lybrook teacher who works with seventh- and eighth-graders said she rarely assigns homework because she knows there is little chance it will be completed.
        Pam Agoyo, director of American Indian Student Services at the University of New Mexico, said many native communities mistrust the educational system. In the late 1800s and up until the mid-1900s, many native children were sent to boarding schools where their language and culture was forcibly prohibited, she said.
        "American or Western education has always been a natural enemy of Indian people," Agoyo said. "When you think about the boarding school movement and what that did to families and communities, we start at that place."
        Slow progress
        Lybrook was built with a unique sensitivity to Navajo culture: The entry is designed like a hogan, a traditional Navajo home. The front door faces the east, and the circular interior is decorated with black, white, blue and yellow designs for the four directions and mountains held sacred in the Navajo religion.
        The walls and classrooms are lined with pictures of Native Americans, quotes from Native Americans, and art reflecting Navajo and Native American culture.
        Each class gets 45 minutes or so of Navajo language education every day.
        But progress comes in fits and starts.
        This year, enrollment dropped by about 30 students, so the school is looking at a $600,000 shortfall in its $3 million budget.
        The school is applying for a $500,000 federal school improvement grant, but if the effort fails, three of the school's 10 teachers will have to be laid off, Mangham said. Getting teachers at Lybrook is hard enough because of the school's isolation, she said. Cuba, the nearest town, is 40 miles away.
        A $40,000 grant the school is using to boost parent involvement has been slashed in half. That means Darlene Chiquito, a Counselor resident and a Cuba school board member, will spend less time traveling the area to talk to parents about the school and to solicit comments on how to improve things.
        Still, Mangham and Lybrook teachers seem hopeful about the coming years. The attendance rate has improved, a new reading program has been introduced, and four students are learning pre-algebra so they'll be ready for high school next year, Mangham said.
        Roxanne Tsosie, who teaches third grade and P.E. at Lybrook, said she knows the students' struggles because she grew up in similar circumstances. She said Philomena is a "good kid" and the school needs more students like her.
        Philomena has one big advantage: a mother who is cheering her on. "I want her to go on in school and be a success," said Lenora Kaye, Philomena's mom.
       

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