By Jim Wright
EVERY SCHOOL DAY Sharon Flores-Madril leaves the Pascua Yaqui Indian reservation and drives her son, Silas, 20 miles to attend Santa Rita High School on Tucson's eastside. The 40-mile round trip is "the only option" Flores-Madril says she has if her son is to attend a school with a decent learning environment.
Other Indian students from New Pascua Village attend westside Cholla High School, which is closer to the Yaqui reservation. But Flores-Madril would not have her son attend a school she believes is "out of control and overrun by gangs, drugs and violence."
Now, some help is on the way for Flores-Madril and other Native American parents.
Last week, the Native American arm of the Pima County Interfaith Council (PCIC), a community action group in the no-nonsense tradition of the late social activist Saul Alinsky, invited key community leaders to talk with nearly 100 Native American parents about their concerns regarding Tucson Unified School District.
Attending the meeting were Tucson Mayor George Miller, Pima County Supervisor Raul Grijalva, Tucson Unified School District Superintendent George Garcia and Brenda Even, chairperson of the TUSD Board of Education.
Even today, in this age of desegregation and cultural diversity, Yaqui parents are not happy with TUSD's treatment of Native American children. History has taught them to be wary.
Because Congress did not recognize the Yaquis as an official tribe until 1978, Yaqui children were able to avoid the much-hated boarding school experience forced on so many other tribes. Nevertheless, says Rebecca Tapia Ponder, a Pascua Yaqui, "The experience at the hands of Tucson Unified School District was similar." The policy of the school district was to assimilate the Indian children.
"Whole generations of Yaquis lost their language skills because the district insisted we speak only English in school. That policy did more than punish children for speaking Yaqui," says Ponder. "It told the children the language of their parents was bad. Their culture was bad. They (the school district) reinforced this message in hundreds of ways."
Last week marked the first time many of the parents had attended a meeting where the mayor and TUSD officials were present, let alone actually listening to them.
PCIC has a five-year history of pushing its grassroots-driven agenda to improve the status of children, families and community. Working under the guidance of what PCIC organizers call "the iron rule" ("Don't do anything for anyone who is not willing to do for themselves"), the group has developed a core of trained and disciplined leaders.
Ponder says, "If parents are unwilling to get involved and participate, we're not going to do it for them."
According to Ponder and Flores-Madril, massive problems with TUSD still exist. Some of the problems are hold-overs from the past era of racist-based policy. These issues are often subtle, finely woven into the fabric of everyday school life. But the end result to Yaqui children is catastrophic.
The system, says Ponder, must change. "Our children are now in these schools. Their lives are the ones that stand the chance of being ruined."
At last week's meeting, held at the Old Pascua Neighborhood Center, Ponder and Flores-Madril were on hand to add their voices to those of other Yaqui parents.
The official "guests" of PCIC were told how the organization wanted to see the drop-out rate at TUSD schools cut by 10 percent in two to three years. The strategy which shows the greatest promise, organizers say, is one linking year-round, part-time jobs for youth to schools.
One successful program doing just that, say PCIC leaders, is underway at Sunnyside High School. The jobs offered to Sunnyside students are directly connected to grade improvement and strict attendance rules.
In response to questions from parents, the TUSD and community leaders promised, among other things, to:
• Promote year-round youth employment, making parents part of the planning, development and evaluation process;
• Increase summer jobs for Native American youth;
• Work with parents, school and other government officials to build viable neighborhoods;
• Work to develop community parks at Lawrence, Mission View and Richey schools; and,
• Work to prevent funding cuts for renovations at schools with high populations of Native American students.
Says Rosario Otero, a PCIC Yaqui organizer, "We keep asking ourselves, 'What can we do for our children to be successful?' "
Currently, Native American PCIC members are trying to organize in four locations: Old Pascua, New Pascua, South Tucson and the San Xavier District on the Tohono O'Odham Reservation.
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