{"id":110122,"date":"2015-08-17T18:12:23","date_gmt":"2015-08-18T00:12:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/new-re-1-teachers-visit-ute-tribe\/"},"modified":"2015-08-17T18:12:23","modified_gmt":"2015-08-18T00:12:23","slug":"new-re-1-teachers-visit-ute-tribe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/new-re-1-teachers-visit-ute-tribe\/","title":{"rendered":"New Re-1 teachers visit Ute tribe"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Tina
Tina King gives new teachers for Montezuma-Cortez Re-1 a tour of the Ute Mountain Ute education center in Towaoc.<\/span>Sam Green\/Cortez Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

In the Ute language, Towaoc, pronounced TOW-ay-ock, translates into English as \u201cthank you.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s according to Ute Mountain Ute Chairman Manuel Heart, who thanked each of the 33 new Montezuma-Cortez Re-1 teachers with a handshake last week. Heart was one of several tribal officials to address the teachers in the Towaoc community center during a cultural awareness tour on Thursday, Aug. 13.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you for your interest in education,\u201d Heart said. \u201cThank you for coming to a rural area. Thank you for your thoughts and vision on how to help with education.\u201d<\/p>\n

About half the teachers indicated by a show of hands that they haven\u2019t worked with Native American students. Heart said they shared a goal \u2013 educating students to make America stronger.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to work with you,\u201d Heart said.<\/p>\n

Education is a top priority for the tribe, Heart said, encouraging the teachers to be open to a partnership.<\/p>\n

\u201cTry to work with us,\u201d he said. \u201cAll we want is for our children to succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ute Mountain Ute education director Tanya Amrine, who coordinated the tour, reminded teachers that students must navigate a different culture and support system when off the reservation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe kids walk in two worlds,\u201d said Amrine.<\/p>\n

The tribe\u2019s education division offers student support, including child development, counseling and truancy. Amrine strongly encouraged the teachers to stay in touch with her office.<\/p>\n

\u201cCall us, please,\u201d Amrine pleaded, reiterating that her staff can offer support when notified. \u201cWe want your phone calls.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ute Mountain Ute councilmember Regina Lopez-Whiteskunk gave teachers her personal cell phone number, instructing them to call her for assistance.<\/p>\n

\u201cInnovation, creativity and tradition,\u201d Lopez-Whiteskunk told the teachers. \u201cThe first two should be fairly easy to figure out. The third is probably more of a challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lopez-Whiteskunk challenged teachers to let Native students explore their cultures, citing an example from her own life.<\/p>\n

After her grandfather died, she said, her Montezuma-Cortez fourth-grade teacher let her share tribal stories, songs and dances with classmates as she grieved.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy fourth-grade teacher allowed us to be who we were,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have the capacity to help us create successful students,\u201d she said. \u201cPart of that is allowing them to be who they are and allowing them to share their feelings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tribal councilmember Gary Hayes, who is retired from the Navy, echoed the remarks, mentioning the military\u2019s strength of diversity. That strength could be harnessed in the schoolhouse if children of all races were allowed to contribute, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou are leaders in grooming our future community,\u201d said Hayes.<\/p>\n

He encouraged teachers to create a welcoming environment in their classrooms, adding that school shouldn\u2019t tolerate racial prejudice.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs teachers, you need to be able to understand and respect everyone in the classroom,\u201d said Hayes.<\/p>\n

Hayes closed by thanking Re-1 officials for helping to bridge a gap between Towaoc and Cortez.<\/p>\n

\u201cI truly believe, the key component is in this room now,\u201d Hayes told the teachers. \u201cYou are pivotal. We need your support.\u201d<\/p>\n

tbaker@cortezjournal.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

Utes offer to host Re-1 meetings<\/h4>\n

Could a change of venue for a school board meeting help relations between Cortez and Towaoc?
\n If the Montezuma-Cortez Re-1 district held a monthly meeting in Towaoc, board members could expect royal treatment.
\n \u201cI would roll out the red carpet,\u201d said Ute Mountain Ute education director Tonya Amrine.
\n \u201cOne of the issues that we have here in Towaoc is a perception that everything is one-way,\u201d she said. \u201cWe have to go to Cortez.\u201d
\n She added that she\u2019d like to host more parent-teacher conferences or move the annual Indian Policies and Procedures meeting to a more convenient location for tribal members. Held in October, the meeting allows tribal leaders to raise concerns with the district.
\n \u201cIt could repair a lot of past hurts,\u201d she said.
\n Ute Mountain Ute tribal member and Colorado Commission of Indian Affairs executive director Ernest House, Jr., agreed. He commended Superintendent Alex Carter for reaching out to tribal officials, but said more attempts were needed to overcome a generational mistrust between Natives and whites.
\n \u201cWe need to shake things up a bit to strengthen the relationships,\u201d House said.
\n Asked if the district would hold a board or IPP meeting in Towaoc, Carter answered with praise for the cultural tour: \u201cWe are continually looking for ways to work closer with the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe and, indeed, with our entire Native community.\u201d
\n He added that the district and the tribe have partnered on projects to improve relationships.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hayes: \u2018We need your support\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":110123,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5794,5735],"tags":[13,216,762,547],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-110122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","category-news","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-montezuma-cortez-school-district-re-1","tag-teachers","tag-ute-mountain-ute-indian-tribe"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110122\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110122"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=110122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}