Arizona Republic from Phoenix, Arizona • Page 182

Schools 6 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 5, 2000 The Arizona Republic Salt River Community has school of its own that she can. Maurice: They help me understand my culture. Rito: With class work. It is not so crowded here, like at public schools. Tierra: When I am having a bad day, the counselor talks to I Principal Arturo Hernandez (left) and Assistant Principal Clay Fields know the community is committed to educating its children.

am able to learn about our culture. Marcy: It has made a big impact on my life, because now I feel like I'm more involved in the community as I learn more about my culture. I help out with the Head Start program. Since my mother helps out, I do, too. She also got me into learning traditional dances, and we travel to different places to perform.

Tierra: The teachers are much more friendly. I have been learning more about our native past, and I am learning to speak my language. Beau: It is smaller and there are less of different races. It is helping me respect my community and making me want to give back. How do you learn about your history as a Pima Indian, and do you feel it is accurate? Nikki: I learn more about my past here than I would anywhere else.

Jennifer: From my family and school, and yes, it is accurate. Gregory: I learn through my mom and the elders in my community. In school, I read a book called Pima Past. I learned more about my culture, and I'm now doing a report about it. Bryan: We learn about what was done to us in early America.

Maurice: I think books leave out a lot of stuff. At Desert Eagle, there is a lot of traditional stuff that I have learned, about my language and the roles you play as a kid and as an adult. Rito: At Westwood, over there, they just teach you American history. That's it. Here, we learn accurately in Native Studies.

Beau: From elders and in class here at Desert Eagle. I do feel it is very accurate, because all the stories match. What problems do you face, and how does Desert Eagle help you with them? Nikki: A problem that I face is prejudice. Most non-Indian stereotypes are unfair. Here, we know about each other.

We are all basically the same, so we have no need to criticize who we are. Most people do not have high expectations of Native Americans, so we have to have the confidence to exceed in schooling and anything else we wish to achieve. Jennifer: Trying to understand why our people were treated so bad. Desert Eagle shows me that By Chimenc Cailcau The Arizona Republic It's been a long journey, but middle and high school youths in the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community finally have a school to call their own. For decades, the Salt River children attended nearby public schools in Scottsdale and Mesa.

In 1974, Scottsdale, which is closest, decided to no longer accept children from the reservation. Since then, all of the community's children have been spread among seven elementary schools, five junior high schools and Westwood High School in the Mesa School District. In 1965, there were 400 Salt River students attending Mesa schools. Today, there are 750 elementary, 230 junior high, 80 high school and 60 alternative education students in the Mesa system. But since 1995, some Pima youth in seventh through 12th grades have been attending Desert Eagle School at 10005 E.

Osborn Road, a charter school formed in and run by the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community. Elementary-age children have been able to go to Salt River Elementary School, which was a Bureau of Indian Affairs facility. Recently, the community received a tribal grant from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which allows it to run the school itself. The goal of the tribe is to improve the curriculum and strengthen the programs at the two schools now under its control, hoping to attract Pima-Maricopa youth back to the community for their education. The community is considering forming a Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian School District within the next two years.

Because Desert Eagle is a charter school, it is open to anyone inside or outside the Salt River Community. Enrollment this year is 180 students. The current staff is 70 percent Native American, half of whom are residents of the community. The tribe primarily funds the school's budget. Right now, the school is a collection of portable buildings moved to the site.

There is no gymnasium or cafeteria; students eat outside in a grassy courtyard. The nearby elementary school cafeteria prepares breakfast and lunch for the Desert Eagle stu- STUDENT Gregory dina senior, football, ketball golf (a elective). Gregory's greatest ment when Me- 18, a plays new Bryan Thomas, 18, a senior, likes to skateboard, do math and play video games. Bryan was recently Homecoming King and won a Pleasant and Positive Award. Bryan will graduate this year and then attend Scottsdale Community College to become a correctional officer.

mo-was he played football for the first time in his life this year as a left tackle. He plans to go to a trade school and become a mechanic or a firefighter. lh VW REPORT CARD Desert Eagle DISTRICT: Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community. ADDRESS: 10005 E. Osborn Road, Salt River Reservation.

PHONE: (480) 850-8335. GRADES: 7-12. PRINCIPAL: Arturo Hernandez. ENROLLMENT: 180. AVERAGE CLASS SIZE: 15.

STUDENTS PER TEACHER: 8. YEAR-ROUND SCHOOL? No. AGE OF BUILDINGS: Ten years old. ACCREDITED: No. ATTENDANCE RATE: 93.6 DROPOUT RATE: 11.5.

OPEN CAMPUS: No. TEACHERS IN THEIR FIRST YEAR: 7. TEACHER'S AVERAGE EXPERIENCE (NO. OF YEARS): 7. TEACHER ATTENDANCE RATE: 95 percent.

NUMBER OF COMPUTERS: 75. STUDENTS PER COMPUTER: 2. RETENTION RATE: 1.9 percent. NUMBER OF TEACHERS: 22. TEACHERS WITH MASTER'S DEGREE: 4.

TEACHERS WITH DOCTORAL DEGREE: 1. TEACHERS WITH SPECIALIZED CERTIFICATION: 4. STUDENTS IN THE GIFTED PROGRAM: 7. STUDENTS IN LRCREMEDIAL PROGRAM: NA. STUDENTS IN ESL PROGRAM: NA.

STANFORD 9 SCORES: NA. NO. OF VIOLATIONS OF SCHOOL POLICY (1998-99) ALCOHOL: 6. TOBACCO: 0. DRUGS AND MARIJUANA: 5.

WEAPONS: 0. NUMBER OF INCIDENTS OF VIOLENCE ON CAMPUS: 60. SPECIALIZED CLASSES OFFERED: Traditional crafts and arts, including Pima basket weaving (the last basket weaver of the tribe, Alice Manual, teaches this class), beading and art projects; fine arts, instrumental music, equestrian training and horseback riding, job development and placement, Computer Learning Center, journalism, sewing, driver's education, Native Studies, New Directions and the 4th Element Class, which teaches money management, parenting and addresses the issues that arise in life as one becomes a contemporary Indian. OFFICER ON CAMPUS? Yes. SCHOOL PSYCHOLOGIST ON CAMPUS? Yes.

NUMBER OF GUIDANCE COUNSELORSSOCIAL WORKERS ON CAMPUS? 2. SCHOOL NURSE ON CAMPUS? No. SPECIAL PROGRAMSGRANTS: Native Studies, O'Odham (Pima) language, on-site child care center, Head Start, Early Childhood Development Center, counseling services, School-to-Work program, International Exchange Program, college mentors, Academy program (transitional students from juvenile detention to continue their education), Juvenile Detention Center program, Job Shadowing (with the Business Partnership program), the Scottsdale Center for the Arts has offered support for the school's art program and has provided Artists-ln-Residence, Round Up program, and students are able to receive credits for graduation by taking classes at the East Valley Institute of Technology. SPECIAL FACILITIES: Art room for cultural activities, Jostens Assessment center, Jostens Learning Lab, Native Studies Craftroom and library. EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIESCLUBS: Student Council, SRP-MIC Police Explorers, Boys footballbasketballbaseball teams, Girls volleyballbasketballsoftball, golf, SRP-MIC Fire Cadets, Smart Moves with the Scottsdale Boys Girls Club, school newspaper, teen center, student government and mural projects around campus.

AWARDS: Western American Athletic Association State Boys Basketball Championship 1997, WAAA Girls Volleyball Second Place 1997, YMCA Legislative Leadership Award 1998, WAAA Conference Champions in football in 1999 and the Detention Center Students Art Exhibit and Fair. change happens for a reason and how we can accept the change for good or bad. Bryan: I have a good relationship with my teachers. If I have a problem, I will ask Mrs. Bright, my favorite teacher, and she will gladly help me solve it the best me.

And when miss tne bus, they come pick me up. Beau: I don't have that many problems, but my friends help me with my self-esteem. What stereotypes do you encounter most often? Nikki: I think from TV and movies, people see me as someone who drinks, parties and is a low achiever. I want others to realize that wer are not like that. I feel that it makes me stronger but sad to know that prejudices still exist.

Jennifer: That we are all in gangs or criminals. People think badly of me, that I will not amount to something or become anyone important. We all need to stop tignting ana try to un derstand each other. Rito: As lazy drunks or people think that we are rich. They don't know that we don get any money, the money goes to programs.

Beau: People think that I'm a troublemaker or a thug. I've experienced this at Westwood, but not. here. It makes me feel less than them, but I just don't think about it. How are things changing in the Salt River community, and what roles do you play? Nikki: People are becoming more aware of their surrounding community, and with new technology, our community is becoming more advanced.

People, especially older people, are starting to listen to the younger generation's voices. My role is as a future leader, and us teens have to set a positive example for younger students. Jennifer: It is growing rapidly. I am a community member, a sister, student and a friend. Gregory: The community is getting larger.

There are more lights. Before, I could look to the north and the east. Now all I see is lights. Rito: More people are participating with the youth, with more programs and recreational activities. I'm in a teen group, and I am a traditional dancer.

Tierra: They are starting to have more programs for the kids native dances, group field trips, the teen center has games, movies and pool, and there are things to do with the Boys Girls Club. Beau: We are starting to be come a better community, and the casino is helping a little bit. communities, spent four days at Red Mountain for our culture camp, listened to the traditional storytellers, sent kids to Washington, D.C., for leadership conferences, visited Taliesen West and Arcosanti, and sent kids to New Mexico to learn survival in the wilderness like hunting, cooking and building shelters with only traditional Indian methods. Whom would you most like to meet? Why? Reuven Feuerstein, the Israeli psychologist. His clinic in Israel and his books have given much hope to poor or oppressed communities in terms of how to teach their children, and how to successfully address the large range of learning disabilities you find among the children of any community subjected to severe stress.

He gives us a way to understand the reason behind difficulties our kids have in school, and what it takes to remedy this kind of situation. How do you feel about the AIMS test? It leaves no way to acknowledge that student who doesn't learn geometry well but who has skills that can contribute to the community. At the tribal level, we are considering offering a vocational or basic diploma to complement the Arizona academic diploma. We have to. I have no problem honoring the large group of kids whose lives have been such that by age 18 they have college-ready reading levels, Algebra 2 and science.

But we have far too many kids whose lives have been so painful or chaotic that it will take them great effort to learn the simple social skills, basic math and vocational training to hold their own in the world. These kids need to be honored as well. And as a Native school, I wonder a bit about social studies. How many questions will AIMS ask about Indian treaties, Indian wars, leaders and heroes, and history as viewed from an Indian perspective? This is our social studies curriculum, and yet I don't know if non-Native kids are going to be made to answer as many questions about Native history as Indian kids are going to be made to answer about the march of Europeans across their continent. jft 'jfi KtJ PROFILE dents.

A large, metal storage bin functions as the school locker room, holding equipment and serving as a changing room. The library is in the principal's office, with about two dozen books. School leaders say they prefer to give books to their students when they can so they may keep them. The tribe last week approved spending $1.3 million at Desert Eagle for next school year. Funds will provide 10 new classrooms, including rooms for band, art, native crafts and a photography studio.

The tribe is using proceeds from the Scottsdale Pavilions shopping center, built on tribal land, and from Casino Arizona I and II to build infrastructure support for the 10,000 people living on the reservation. Tribal officials are planning to spend more than $200 million to modernize the services and facilities within the community. A large portion of the future budget will help replace outdated plumbing, which will enable support of necessary fire and sprinkler systems for a new $70 million school complex. The complex will include an elementary and middle school, as well as a new high school. A preschool facility was completed this year.

Officials hope that ground will be broken for the high school at Center and Chaparral roads in two years. Construction of the elementary structure is to begin in 2005. The Salt River Community's commitment to the education of its youth is evidenced by how it hired Principal Arturo Hernandez. Community leaders learned of Hernandez through a book he had written about gang violence PROFILE Nikki Harvier, 18, a senior, participates in softball and cheerleading and recently received an Attendance Award and the Positive New Student Award. Nikki plans to go to, college so that she can work with Indian children and teenagers as a counselor.

Rito Lopez, 18, a senior, is involved in basketball, deejaying and football and "is vice president of the Student Council. He received a Letterman Award for playing sports and speaks Spanish, O'O-daham and French. He plans to attend college and then open his own barber shop. Maurice Carlos, 19, a senior, enjoys science class and listening to music. Maurice's ideal job would be working hard as a scientist and providing for his own family.

Jennifer Cor-rea, 17, a senior who enjoys computers and singing, plans to go to college to become an electrical Tierra Rodriguez, 15, an eighth-grader, is an avid photographer, poet and painter. Tierra was recently published in the community newspaper. and his work with faculty in a south-central Los Angeles school. He helped transform the school from being one run by a neighborhood gang into a place where education and respect were the top priorities. Sitting in a courtyard surrounded by green, thick grass and newly planted trees, Hernandez explained why he came to work at Desert Eagle as a principal: "On my first visit (as a consultant) to Salt River, I heard a blessing at a police-sponsored youth event from the chief of police, who said, 'We pray for our youth that they grow to be wise and strong.

And we pray also for our youth who sleep behind bars tonight, because we love them I had never been to a community where the police used the word love to describe how they felt about kids in jail. I knew immediately that Salt River was a community that valued all of its children and was ready to pay the price to help them become good adults." Hernandez first worked as a consultant before being hired as principal. "I was given one year to show that the Salt River kids are capable, creative students who can flourish when educated on their own land and by their own community," Hernandez said. Assistant Principal Clay Fields said four elements of the Pima culture being taught today to Desert Eagle students: religion and history, language, art with dance and music, and life as a contemporary Indian. Few people under age 30 on the reservation still speak the O'odham language (pronounced authem).

Students in the Academy curriculum, a program helping young people who've had trouble with the law transition back into the community, now greet one another in their native language. This helps them establish for themselves the concept that "I am Indian, ana nave a language," Fields said. Desert Eagle has established a graduation requirement of two years study in the O'odham language. The computer center is working in conjunction with the language class to set up a program to converse in O'odham via the Internet with other Pima tribes. The students of Desert Eagle sat down recently to discuss their school and education.

QUESTION: How is Desert Eagle different from other schools? Nikki: Desert Eagle is an all-Indian school that focuses on our people's history. I know more of the past and my ancestors' trials and the wars they went through to save our community. We are able to learn about our culture, and I have more respect for the elders. I have met a lot of Native American friends. Jennifer: There are less students in class, so it is easier to learn.

I feel like I am special and I belong. It has given me more confidence. Gregory: Desert Eagle is a small school, but it is now making lots of improvements in sports and other school activities. The teachers here have made me feel good to be in class. It has encouraged me to get involved with the community.

Bryan: The history class is on how history happened through the native eyes and teaches us about our culture and about respect. It taught me about Indian history and language, and I actually feel like coming to school now. It is more fun here, because there are not as many people as in Mesa schools and you can make friends who are also Indians. It has made me a happier person, because I always have fun with my friends while I'm here and am able to learn some of my language and culture. Maurice: They teach us about our culture, our ways of life, about my language and the roles -I I play.

Rito: You feel more at home because you know everybody. I know more about our community. Kristina: I have good grades, because we work one-on-one. I i. Principal Arturo Hernandez Years in this position: 2 years.

Schooling: Bachelor's degree in music from California State University at Los Angeles, and master's degree in psychology from University of California at Santa Barbara. Currently a doctoral candidate in education. Other positions held: Teacher, counselor, truancy officer, a professor at University of California at Davis and founder of two schools for gang-involved youth in south-central and east Los Angeles. Accomplishments: Author of Peace in the Streets (Northwest, 1995) and Peace in the Streets: Breaking the Cycle of Gang Violence (CWLA Press, 1998). What qualities does a good principal need most? First, a clear vision accompanied by a well-defined plan to realize it.

Second, a powerful optimism and a refusal to fail. What's the last book you read? Sherman Alexie's Reservation Blues. He describes better than anyone the strange, beautiful, complicated, profound, and painful landscape that is a modern reservation. What impresses you most about kids today? That they are so much like kids have always been, and that, in spite of the change in clothing and music, they are still kids. They are so predictable in what they need and in what happens when they are deprived of essential experiences.

What's the one most important thing parents can do for their child to ensure good learning? Structure their time with interesting experiences, even if they complain in the beginning; point out explain and converse about the meaning of everyday things; share memories, spend time, teach skills, model kindness, encourage curiosity, discipline in a predictable, consistent manner without taking their antics personally. What's the best field trip you've ever participated in? This year we have taken trips to share with basket weavers from other Indian Marcy Jim, 16, a sophomore, plays basketball and volleyball and does Maricopa dancing, which her mother taught her. Marcy plans to go to college and become a police officer. Beau Burns, 16, a sophomore, is active with BMX bike riding and basketball. Beau enjoys making new friends, and his favorite class is Native Studies.

Beau says his greatest moment was going to conference finals, where they took second place, and making All-Conference in basketball..