National Indian Education Conference 2023 - NIEA has been a great experience for us this year. On Tuesday, Larry and I joined in the conversation with the US Department of Health and Human Services about their department offering services to districts like ours that do not have the capacity to execute any new projects if there is insufficient funding related to staffing and facilities. They took a lot of notes and hopefully they understood the plight of small, rural, Federally Impacted Schools like MASD.
NIEA has been Colorful, Festive, and Inspirational – There have been many sessions about language and culture preservation. I went to specific sessions on dual-immersion, second language learning, college going rates and choices of Native students, and recruitment/retention of Native teachers and administrators.
MASD Literacy Night - The annual “District Literacy Night” was well attended. Teachers held activities throughout the hallways and the cafeteria engaging students and families with many different literacy activities. SFE (Southwest Foodservice Excellence) provided a delicious Cheese Zombie and Tomato Soup; YUM!
The teacher leadership team already has some ideas for next year's Literacy Night event. The administrative team also took the opportunity to sign families up for our Satchel Pulse Survey system and also had our draft IPP’s and surveys available as well.
Exploratory Classes at Mt. Adams Middle School - One of the new Middle School exploratory classes is “Yearbook” led by Ms. Beseman. The team wanted a whole school photo for the first ever K-8 yearbook. The lead for the project was Noemi Martinez Huerta. She began the project by emailing me, asking permission and sharing details. She demonstrated excellent emailing skills, organization skills, and creativity skills as you can tell by our wonderful picture. Thank you Noemi!!
The Parenting Program is Getting Started and there is still time to join - Strengthening Families hosted by Dr. Julie Schillreff and Mrs. Alicia Gutierrez began this week and will continue for the next six weeks. This is a seven-week parenting class in partnership with Systems of Care and the Yakama Nation. This class elps parents set boundaries, respect elders, and encourages students and families to adhere to the Nine-Virtues that are highlighted on our website. Click here Nine Virtues of the Yakama Nation presented by Elder Levina Wilkins.