Union official impressed by BIA schools

ALBUQUERQUE—Ed McElroy, secretary-treasurer of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), visited several work sites and schools operated by the Bureau of Indian Affairs in the Albuquerque and Navajo Areas last week and was surprised by what he discovered.

“The schools were in much better condition than I expected — both from a facilities and an academic point of view,” McElroy said.

McElroy, a former social studies and English teacher in Warwick, Rhode Island, served as president of the Rhode Island Federation of Teachers from 1971 until he was elected to his present position with the American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO, in l992. McElroy is visiting the schools and jobsites to determine how the million-member American Federation of Teachers could assist the Indian Educators Federation (IEF).

McElroy said he was particularly impressed with the educational program at Wingate High School, which is based on a model developed by Johns Hopkins University, the Ninth Grade Success Academy. The program helps new freshmen students adjust to the rigors of high school and prepare for college. It provides students in the upper grades with options to enroll in career academies that meet unique and specialized interests of a wide-range of career opportunities.

“It is a complicated program,” McElroy stated, “but a lot better than the old high school model where one size had to fit all.”

McElroy said he was also impressed by enthusiasm that the staff showed for the computer-based Accelerated Reader program available through the Wingate’s library/media center. The program uses technology to motivate students to read and monitor their progress as they improve their skills.

McElroy spent some time touring the dormitories and noted that the facilities were exceptionally clean and that the staff was exceptionally “student orientated.”

Mc Elroy was also delighted with the classes he visited in Crystal Boarding School. When the children sang a Navajo song in his honor, McElroy said he said he was “taken” by the way the school was struggling to hold on to language and culture and incorporating Navajo values into the school program.

At Many Farms High School, McElroy expressed dismay at the fact that the students had to attend classes in trailers for the past 15 years while waiting for a new school to be built.

“With a strong union lobbying Congress, we should be able to reduce the time waiting for new schools and facilities,” Mc Elroy said.

“Al Shanker had a simple standard for evaluating schools,” McElroy said with a reference to the late president of the American Federation of Teachers. “Shanker would simply ask the teachers if they were teaching in a school in which they would send their own children.”

“ I wouldn’t mind sending my children to the BIA schools I visited,” McElroy said.

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