SACATON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL DISTRICT № 18

District Newsletter

• A Monthly Publication for Parents & Families of Students in the Sacaton School District •

March (Kwi l’ivakidak Mashath) 2017

GOVERNING BOARD President, Mrs. Elaine Moyah + Clerk, Ms. Jane Johnson + Member, Ms. Judy Antone + Member, Mrs. Laurie Thomas

District Superintendent: Dr. Douglas E. Price Website: www.sacatonschools.org

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❖ “Superintendent’s Corner” ❖

Dear Community Members and Patrons: Contest winners Welcome to the month of March. First of all, I would like to extend our congratulations to the four Sacaton Elementary School District students, grades four through eight, for being named as contestant winners in the Mul-Cha-Tha Fair and Rodeo Art Contest this year. Sacaton Middle School had the top three place finishers in the 6th-8th Grade Division. Adrian Valenzuela (8th grader) took top honors in this division while Azaria Enos (6th grader) took second place and Cyndi Lopez (6th grader) placed third. Francis Histia (4th grader) earned a second place in the 4th-5th Grade Division. Congratulations to these fine young artists. The winners’ artwork will be on display in the Governance Center lobby from February 27th through March 8th. Additionally, the District is looking forward to participating in the Mul-Cha-Tha Parade this year on March 11th. The float will be a reflection of this year’s theme, Celebrating 55 Years of Culture, Strength, and Unity. More exciting news The Arizona Coyotes Foundation has announced that it will be donating $5,000 to Sacaton Elementary School District STEM and Science programs this year. The donation will be made at the Coyotes home hockey game on Saturday, March 18th. The Coyotes have invited STEM and science students from Sacaton Middle School to attend the game. They will be providing a tour bus to pick up the students before the game and take them to the contest where they will be on hand to accept the $5,000 check from the Coyotes Foundation, according to Manuel Hernandez, Community Liaison for Gila River Gaming Enterprises, Inc. Gila River Indian Community Governor Stephen Roe Lewis and Lt. Governor Monica Antone have accepted an invitation to be at the presentation of the large check. Minnesota Vikings family night

The Minnesota Vikings will have several team representatives in the school district on Thursday, March 30th for the

final Family Night of the year. Parents and Community members are invited to attend the presentation that will begin with a traditional O’odham dinner being served in the Sacaton Elementary School Cafeteria starting at 5:00 pm. The

program will commence with a traditional cultural presentation at 6:00 pm in the Gymnasium followed by the Vikings presentation. Once again, we are looking forward to hosting the Vikings organization. In the past, the Vikings have brought players, the Director of Player Development and other organizational representatives to speak with the Community. It should be a fun evening! Reminder This is just a brief reminder that there will be no school March 13th through March 17th. The school district will not be in session since this is the Spring Break. Educationally yours,

Dr. Douglas Price

Superintendent More News on Back ➙ ➙ ➙ ➙

☀ “A Moment in Time in O’odham History” ☀

In this month’s “A Moment in Time in O’odham History” column, we will resume our focus on the intolerable and devastating time-period in O’odham history commonly known as “The Starvation Period”. While the drought ended in 1904, the Pima continued to suffer. They were now dependent on federal assistance. They had cut tens of thousands of cords of mesquite wood, one of their most sacred and precious resources. A dying river and declining water table was destroying one of the few resources the Pima retained. The drought, followed by a series of floods, not only changed the course of the Gila River but also deepened its channel, rendering the Pima irrigation system obsolete and unusable, even if water had been available. The Pima economy, once strong and vibrant, had been destroyed. Discouraged and lacking water, the Pima could neither feed themselves nor compete with the local economy. The result of the loss of their water was the Pima were completely displaced from their traditional economy and were no longer self-sufficient. There was no hope they would join the growing economy of central Arizona and, without them … “Many of our people have not enough to eat and to wear and don’t know what to do for a living” noted Chief Antonio Azul and several sub-chiefs in a letter to Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Mr. William Jones. Some “of the older Indians who were once self-supporting are now drawing rations,” sixty-eight year old Juan Jose added, “while some of the Pimas are living on what little they can make by selling wood.” In April 1902, Congress formally acknowledged a measure of culpability for the condition of the Pima. The federal government must “provide for these Indians who have supported themselves by means of irrigation and cultivating the land from time immemorial,” a Senate Committee stressed, “in as much as the action of the Government in disposing of lands to settlers higher up the river has deprived them of the means of subsistence.” The following year, Azul appealed directly to President Roosevelt. In recent years, the aged chief told Roosevelt, “our water supply during low water has been taken from us by whites, and there has been much suffering for the necessaries of life.” Furthermore, Azul lamented, the Pima had experienced an agricultural loss “of over $100,000.” Roosevelt assembled a committee to examine the complaints of the Pima, concluding “the conditions of these people has (sic) been one of grinding poverty and that there has been extreme and wide-spread suffering among them.” While they had protection and restoration of their water, their very existence was in doubt. Only a modern irrigation system to replace the one that had been destroyed and abandoned due to water loss could restore any sense of hope.

✯✯✯ GALILEO Super-Stars ✯✯✯

During the first semester of this school year, 86% of Sacaton Middle School students earned GALILEO All-Star status in

at least one area. During the same time period, 82% of Sacaton Elementary School students earned GALILEO All-Star

status in at least one area.

The following students earned GALILEO Super-Star status by exceeding expected growth from August to December

2016 on both the GALILEO English Language Arts and Math assessments.

2nd Grade: Shane Enos, Alaya Smallcanyon, Adrianna Salazar, Phillip Miller, Shari Lopez, and Antonio Smiley 3rd Grade: Clover Lewis, Allaya Antone, Brandy Pablo, and Nasemily Kisto 4th Grade: Corine Banuelos, Annalaeya Hoover, Michelle Burnette, Francis Histia, Lillia Martinez, Melvin Natani, Michael Antone, Lorenzo Miller, Arnesto Enos, Elijah Ethelbah, Yasmin Marin, Leticia Rodriguez, Tristan Rocha, Joriah Johns, Sienna Burciaga, Estevan George, Alijah Apkaw 5th Grade: Kayden Terrazas, Elihue Coops, Kristin Ramirez, Maya Randall, Nahnette Franco, Mateo Antone, Vermillia Paul, Cedeno Jackson, Ciprianna Miles, Brocc Pasquale, Dora Escalante, Melissa Rodriguez, Anthony McKnight, Savanna Jones, Juan Canales, Aryel Preston-Quiyo, Fabian Norris, Michael Antone, Ricky Lewis, Elijah Miguel, and Qualiynne Francisco 6th Grade: Ray Smiley, Hayden Terrazas, DeAndre Kyyitan, Teeya Martinez, Damien Pahona, Elizabeth Paul, Alexzonder Setoyant, Azaria Enos, Arturo Gomez, Dorian Jackson, Shane Jose, Elliana Justin, Cyndi Lopez, Merra Soke, and Steven Valenzuela 7th Grade: Permelia Kelley, Summer Ramirez, Nikki Randall, Alicea Apkaw, Sapphire Lyons, Simone Natani, Jerilyn Rhodes, Damien Stewart, Pandolyn Thomas, Siah Valencia, Shaun Lewis, and Tera Rivers 8th Grade: Ethan June, Trenton Moffett, Quincy Randall, Henry Williams, Jaquar Alewine, Darrius Ameelyenah, Elena Lopez, Weston Morgan-Peña, Victor Saucedo, and Adrian Valenzuela

❖ Minnesota Vikings to Present at Family Night ❖

The Minnesota Vikings football team, a partner with the Sacaton School District, will be presenting at the final Family Night of this school year on Thursday, March 30th in the Sacaton Elementary School Gymnasium. The evening will begin with a traditional O’odham Dinner in the Cafeteria at 5:00 pm followed by an O’odham cultural

presentation at 6:00. The Vikings program will commence immediately thereafter. At press time it was not known which star player or players may be attending that evening, but please watch for fliers that will be sent home with all students approximately one week prior to the event that will note this along with the topics to be discussed.

❖ Families Make a Difference ❖

Numerous studies confirm that when working together, families, schools and communities can successfully make a difference to improve student learning. Families can and do have a positive influence on how well their children do in school. The longer families stay meaningfully involved in their children’s education, the more likely their children will be successful in school. There is a positive and convincing relationship between family involvement and benefits for students. Here are some key findings in support of this statement.

♦ Students whose families are involved in their learning earn better grades, enroll in higher-level programs, have higher graduation rates, and are more likely to enroll in postsecondary education

♦ When families take an active interest in what their children are learning, students display more positive attitudes toward school and behave better in and out of school

♦ Children do best if parents can play a variety of roles in their learning - helping at home, volunteering at school, planning their children’s future, and taking part in key decisions

So, in the overall findings, it can be said that school, family and community connections linked to student learning are most effective at improving student achievement, and, the most effective programs and interventions are those that engage families in supporting their children’s learning at home

❖ Arizona’s College and Career Ready Standards Revised ❖

This past December, the Arizona State Board of Education voted to adopt revisions to its Common Core-based K-12 math and reading learning standards. The revisions to the state’s learning standards, or, Arizona College and Career Ready Standards as they are called, brought about some changes, most notably the requirement for all students to learn cursive handwriting by fifth grade. Many educators stated that the new standards will help raise the bar for academic success for Arizona students. They say the revisions will give them a better road map of what students are supposed to be learning once the changes go into effect in the fall of 2018. Arizona’s learning standards serve as a check list for teachers and parents on what skills their students need to learn at each grade level in order to graduate high-school ready for college or a postsecondary career. In addition to the cursive handwriting standard, here are some other key revisions that were made.

❖ The addition of a “foundational writing skills strand” for grades K-3. Under that progression, Kindergarten students must learn how to spell 20 of the most frequently used words and third-graders must spell 500 of the most frequently used words. In terms of math, Kindergarteners will still need to know how to count from 1 to 100 by the time they enter first grade

❖ Currently, first grade reading standards state that students should know how to ask and answer questions about key details in a text. Starting in 2018, the standard will be expanded to include the “who, what, when, why and how about key details in a text”

❖ Learning about time and money in the early grades NOTE: Third-graders still need to read at a certain proficiency level before being promoted to fourth grade These revisions will be reflected on the state’s standardized test, AzMERIT, beginning in 2018. If you would like to review the revisions, please visit the state government website, k12standards.az.gov (https://k12standards.az.gov/)

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