County's American Indian program aims to preserve past, improve future
By Michelle Hatfield/Staff writer
American Indians are not extinct. They are not a small part of America's history, a group of people who have been left to the past.
One goal of Santa Barbara County's American Indian Education Program is to educate students against these widely accepted stereotypes. The other is to support and foster students with Native American heritage, to help maintain culture, traditions and ancestry.
"It's about cultural preservation - it's about seeing it live," said Doni-Jo Munro, director of the program.
Part of the Santa Barbara County Education Office, the program is headquartered in Benjamin Foxen School in Sisquoc. It moved there three years ago because that school has the highest concentration of American Indians in the county.
Across Santa Barbara County, 1.1 percent of students - about 725 children - are of Native American descent, according to data from 2002-03. Almost 60 percent of the 75 students at Foxen School - or about 80 percent - are Native American. Many American Indian students who live inside the Santa Maria city limits transfer into the district because families know the program is at the school.
"It lets you see how other people have lived and how we're lucky to have the stuff we have right now," said Foxen School sixth-grader Valerie Gracia.
The American Indian Education Program focuses resources on Native American children, encouraging them to take pride in and carry on their culture as well as to succeed in college or the workforce. Since American Indians are such a small group, they are often overlooked and need attention before they fall through cracks, Munro said.
Because American Indians are more likely to drop out of high school, program staff members intervene with kindergarten-readiness preschool classes and after-school tutoring. They also help students apply for services like financial aid for college.
"Children involved in this program are better understanding of other Indian cultures - they respect and understand each other's cultures," Munro said.
Various American Indian groups served by the program include Cherokee, Chippewa, Kiowa, Creek, Choctaw, Yakui and Chumash. Despite its proximity to the Chumash Casino in Santa Ynez, the tribe does not fund the program, Munro pointed out.
When the program moved to Sisquoc three years ago, the school had the lowest standardized test scores in the county. It now has one of the highest, Munro said.
Many Foxen students said they would not be where they are without the extra help - without staff members watching over them, helping with homework and just making the students feel protected.
Foxen sixth-grader Chailee Nakasawa is new to the program. She's learning to dance for school visits and takes advantage of academic support.
"It helps. It makes me feel comfortable. I feel part of a family here," she said.
Munro added that American Indians tend to be "clannish," so a sense of family and belonging is particularly important to students. Sometimes, students don't get that at other schools that aren't as sensitive or haven't experienced the program's school visits.
For example, since American Indians are taught that it's disrespectful to look at people in the eye, students get in trouble when teachers expect students to look at them when they are talking, considered a sign of respect, Munro said.
"(The program) helps us know more about our culture and where we came from. I like to know who I am," said Mason Talaugon, Foxen School sixth-grader.
The federally funded program serves about 850 students on $170,000 per year with seven full- and part-time staff members.
Beyond the schools, the program also connects American Indian families with special services available to them and holds a food-share program for about 65 to 100 families each month.
Another facet of the American Indian Education Program is trips to other schools. To help correct age-old stereotypes, students in the program and American Indians from the community visit various schools and organizations to present educational programs that feature dancing, music, crafts and oral histories.
"There are lots of stereotypes, misconceptions out there. What we see on TV is not how people truly are. This is real visual," Munro said. "... We try to offer our viewpoint of history, which is different than the textbooks, in a non-threatening way."
Staff members are actually pushing to expand the program. They want to establish a permanent station in Santa Maria where they can set up their traveling displays and where kids can hang out after school and on weekends, Munro said. This way, schools can come to the program instead of the program always packing up and driving to the county's schools. Support would also be more accessible to more students.
For more information on the American Indian Education Program, call Munro at 938-0868.
* Staff writer Michelle Hatfield can be reached at 739-2216 or by e-mail at Michelle Hatfield
March 31, 2005
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