The Council Chair of a Native American tribe was concerned. As he looked at his people, he saw the language dying and the culture disappearing. The former was being replaced by English, the latter by US popular culture. Only the tribal elders maintained both and the gulf between them and the children was growing wider by the day.
The Council Chair contacted me as I had set up and was at the time the head of a successful and innovative language-immersion school in the city bordering the reservation. After taking an audit of where the tribe was, and where he wanted it to be, I advised him that the tribe should run its own schools, thereby transmitting both language and culture. The program should begin with a full-immersion preschool, leading into a dual-language elementary program.
I also advised him that the tribe should initially invest in quality non-tribal educational leaders, and give them a mandate to train teachers through "on the job" approaches. These leaders should have a 3 - 5 year target to train and place their own replacements, also using tribal members.
Alongside this, in conjunction with the local community college, the tribe should set up teacher preparation programs for tribal members as well as programs which would capture and transmit their culture. I also made other recommendations which would address both his short-term and long-term concerns and lead to program sustainability.
The Council Chair was enthusiastic about the ideas, but was unable to persuade the Council to invest the necessary funds at the time. He also lost his seat in tribal elections. However, four years later he was re-elected, a "Superintendent of Education" was hired and the tribe is taking over the facilities of a former school near their tribal boundary.
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