‘This is a call to action’

Humboldt County educators and tribal leaders are reevaluating how our education system serves its students, specifically Indigenous students. Following a report from the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California and the Northern California Indian Development Council revealing the vast disparities in education outcomes for Indigenous students, local leaders are looking to “fundamentally rethink the educational system.”

More than 200 people joined a virtual roundtable on Thursday evening to discuss the findings of the ACLU report and to explore new ways to engage Indigenous students in the classroom.

“This is a call to action,” said Rain Archambeau, Humboldt State University professor and Indigenous education advocate for the NCIDC.

“We all have a responsibility to change this and not be complicit. Lawsuits are not the answer, they’re adversarial and they’re exhausting. I think this community has the resources to change these outcomes.”

The ACLU report, “Failing Grade: The Status of Native American Education in Humboldt County,” exposes a system that fails Indigenous students by not providing the skills they need to succeed in school or the workforce.

“The ACLU looked back over publicly available data as reported by schools and districts to state and federal governments on numerous metrics going back four years,” explained Tedde Simon, Indigenous Justice Project Manager for ACLU Norcal. “The report compiles data from across Humboldt County and compares that to outcomes at the district, county and state level for Indigenous students as compared to non-indigenous students.”

Simon said the data revealed three overarching findings:

• Indigenous students are leaving Humboldt County schools unprepared For the workforce or higher education.

• Indigenous students experience school push-out at dramatically higher rates than their peers.

• School-based mental health professionals and supports are sorely lackIng In schools throughout Humboldt County.

“The college and career readiness metric measures how prepared students are for college, higher education or a career after high school graduation,” Simon said. “The state average shows 44% of California students meet the metric. However, in 2018-19, the Klamath-trinity Joint Unified School District only 3% of indigenous students met this metric. In Northern Humboldt Unified it was 17% and in Eureka City Schools it was 21%.”

Simon said the graduation rates for Native American students “are not terrible” but the data suggests Humboldt County schools are “just pushing kids through and pushing them out without a lot of regard for their future success.”

Another issue is the representation of Indigenous people in the school curriculum, said Dr. Cutcha Risling Baldy, HSU Native American Studies Department Chair.

Baldy attended Humboldt County schools as a child and like most fourth graders across the state, she learned about the California missions system. For decades, the unit on California missions culminates with a project where students construct miniature structures out of old cereal boxes and toothpicks to resemble the adobe missions of the 18th and 19th centuries.

“My parents and my family said, ‘ You’re not doing that,'” Baldy explained. “Instead, my mother and my grandmother actually came to my fourth grade classroom and did a presentation about Hupa people. They brought in many things from our culture, I remember they made me dress up in our regalia, they shared with people who we are today, they talked about Hupa history and had the kids eat acorns and salmon.”

Baldy said she was embarrassed at the time, and just wanted to do the project like the other kids. Fast forward to her high school reunion when Baldy was approached by a former classmate who remembered when her mother and grandmother came to their classroom. He told her that day had changed his life.

“He was a non-native kid who got to hear about native people from native people and that changed everything for him,” Baldy explained. “There are ways to intervene on a curriculum that is designed to disempower native youth. Knowing that, what does it mean to create a curriculum that empowers native youth?”

Dr. Virgil Moorehead, executive director of Two Feathers Native American Family Services called for local educators to “fundamentally rethink the educational system.”

“This is about human development,” Moorehead explained. “How do we look at solutions, reduce suspension rates and promote wellness? How do we get kids to want to come to school? How do we get families involved? We can’t just mandate people, it doesn’t work. We have to organize and create that demand or they won’t come.”

During the Q& A portion of the discussion, Humboldt County Assistant Superintendent of Schools Colby Smart asked about the correlation between chronic absenteeism and exclusionary practices.

“What it comes down to is if you have practices and policies in place that unfairly exclude Native American students they’re not going to feel like they’re welcome,” said Linnea Nelson, Education Equity Staff Attorney at the ACLU of Northern California. “It’s going to make it less likely for them to want to go to school.”

Archambeau echoed Nelson’s statement. “From my own experience working with students locally, they get very discouraged if an incident occurs that is hostile or any discussion related to Columbus, Thanksgiving or the Gold Rush. It’s very triggering and makes students not want to go to school anymore,” she said. “That’s something that could be addressed by teachers, by changing the narrative and discuss it from an Indigenous perspective.”

Another virtual community roundtable is scheduled for Jan. 21, 2021 at 5 p.m.

Zoom link: http://humboldtstate.zoom.us/j/8213 8334496? pwd=de1yz21g K1C0U0GWD01HWVZIR2 00Zz09. Meeting ID: 821 3833 4496.

Passcode ZRMB+5.