By Kellen M. Quigley | Managing Editor Jan 20, 2021
SALAMANCA — The future of Indigenous programming and policies at the Salamanca City Central School District continues to improve after recent actions by district officials.
During the Jan. 5 Board of Education meeting, Dr. Mark Beehler, deputy superintendent, presented an update on the My Brother’s Keeper Native American grant and program specific for Native American male students. The three-year grant is for $158,055 per year.
Beehler said two goals were established with the help of Title VI and the Indigenous Education Committee: create a mentor program that pairs Native American males with role models from the Seneca Nation of Indians, and create a cohesive, aligned PreK-12 curriculum aimed at promoting and strengthening cultural awareness and education.
“Both of those are goals that we as a district have been looking to put forward and they mesh exceptionally well with the program goals with My Brother’s Keeper,” he said.
Although the mentoring program has been delayed along with the actual three-year grant, which has been extended due to the delays, Beehler said the first step is to hire a mentoring program coordinator who will develop the actual program and develop the skills and initiatives to work with the mentors for the male students.
Beehler said interviews were scheduled for the week of Jan. 11 and it was anticipated to bring a name to the Jan. 19 board meeting for consideration.
The second goal is a focus on curriculum development. Beehler said it is the goal of the district to become a resource for Native American history and study for the entire state. “We’re starting in Salamanca so we can better put forth a curriculum that more accurately reflects the history and supports the culture of Native Americans, specifically Seneca,” he added.
Over the past eight months, the district has been focusing on grades 4 through 8 as a cluster and Grade 11 U.S. History, Native American Studies courses, myths and realities and professional development that goes along with those areas, Beehler said. Specifically unifying themes that can be utilized across all grade levels have also been identified.
“Traditionally we have a grade 7 longhouse project that has been done,” he explained. “Some of the content and skills included in that project has been expanded and the recommendation is that take a look at a multi-year approach as opposed to specifically one grade where a project is done.”
Beehler said they also have two course proposals for Native American studies, but there are two courses already offered in the district so those are going through a review process. A review of U.S. History is being done to identify what is not stated in the state curriculum, a proposed list of contemporary issues relative to Native Americans and professional development is being outlined for educators in each grade level.
“We have teams of teachers reviewing and revising the curriculum proposals and then we’re also going to be working on a Pre-K to 3 curriculum development, which is a pretty significant gap in what we have formally,” Beehler said.
Beehler acknowledged that much of the program has been developed in collaboration with Dr. Taylor. Once vetted through Salamanca teachers, Beehler said it will then be promoted through Western New York and then move and expand it throughout the state.
“Once the teachers review the curriculum and figure out where it fits into the existing curriculum that we have in place, they would have the opportunity to present that to the school board so that you can hear from the teachers on some particulars,” Beehler told the board members, all of whom agreed.
Board President Theresa Ray said it’s exciting that the district is a leader in this area and that they could present to other state school boards once the program is further along.
“To be able to have an opportunity to share this with educators, I think it will help them be much more confident in teaching it so that it’s not simply glossed over or omitted completely,” Beehler added.
IN OTHER BUSINESS, Superintendent Robert Breidenstein updated the board on the district’s Indigenous Policy and Procedure (IPP) process, which he said is a major component of their Impact Aid application through the US Department of Education.
Breidenstein said the district had a field audit for the IPP process and were advised to make some minor adjustments to the procedural process the district has in place. There are six policies that cannot be changed, but the procedures can be adjusted to comply with those regulatory policies:
Policy 1: Dissemination of information
Policy 2: Seeking input
Policy 3: Access and participation levels
Policy 4: Modifications to the IPP
Policy 5: Tracking and responding to comments
Policy 6: Distribution of documents to the Seneca Nation
“This is the first time that we’ve gone through this process so it is a work in progress,” Breidenstein said.
Concerning Policy 1, Breidenstein said it was discussed with the Seneca Nation and the primary mode of communication will be electronic. There is a link on the district website for all Native American services, Impact Aid and IPP documents.
“Using the premise that we want to get all information to families in a quick, easy, one-stop-shop format and mindset, the link off the district website for Native American services I think more than adequately fulfills that requirement,” he said.
For Policy 2, Breidenstein said a formal request from either a public comment at a board meeting, dialog at Indigenous Education Committee meeting or Title VI meeting or written communications will generate a formal response if it is requested for something to be done.
“I’ll get to it a bit more in terms of Policy 5 when tracking really formal comments,” he said. “It’s really designed through our IPP document for the individuals who reach out to us formally and share with us their concerns and things we need to do differently.”
Concerning Policy 3, Breidenstein said the district accesses the PowerSchool portal for student interests and if there is student interest in a club or activity. He said the district’s approach is to fund the club or activity if there is interest in it.
“Our big concern is scheduling at this point in time for the 2021-22 school year,” he said, “and taking a look at current participation levels and making sure course requests mirror both student interest and students requests and that we have pathways for students to pursue curriculum and classwork that their excited about or interested in.”
For Policy 4, Breidesntein said the district has a schedule for modifying the IPP in July and December for formal adoptions that get incorporated in the final document that gets sent to Washington, D.C. in January.
“We also hold two public forums in November and December, so that’s four bites at the IPP apple to make any modifications,” he added.
Addressing tracking and responding to community comments in Policy 5, Breidenstein said the district kept track of a running list which had four issues. They were changing “Indian” in IPP as the federal government uses it to “Indigenous” for the district, hiring more indigenous individuals for staff positions, reviewing the district application process to allow voluntary ethnicity identification and expanding Ski Club participation.
Finally for Policy 6, Breidenstein said the district submits the IPP document to the Seneca Nation President in December. This year is a little different due to the pandemic, he explained, so the district will not need sign offs but they will still send the applications to the Seneca Nation.
