Gallup-Mckinley Board Goes two ways on charters

At their last meeting, the Gallup-Mckinley Country school board heard two different proposals from groups looking to develop charter school partnerships within the district. 

The results could not have been more different.

The first group to speak with the board was DEAP School of Empowerment, Action, and Perseverance. The charter project and its founder, Kayla Begay, who I've written about previously, are opening a school which aims at the restoration and perpetuation of Navajo Culture. The curriculum is focused on Agricultural Science, Diné Culture, Personal Wellness, and Community Action and Service.

Despite DEAP’s charter being granted through the NMPED (Gallup-Mckinley schools declined to authorize DEAP in 2014) Ms. Begay’s proposal was to share under-utilized facilities with the district in Navajo, NM. In an earlier conversation, she explained that DEAP would have ideally chartered through the district. “Chartering through a district would be the best way, to be mutually beneficial. Why don’t we co-exist?” Begay said. “There are some unused or underused facilities in GMCS but I think it ultimately comes down to the district being willing to collaborate.”

As it turned out, the board expressed that it was unwilling to collaborate or offer facilities in a sharing arrangement, despite facility availabilities in the perennially under-enrolled Navajo Middle and High schools. Because the Navajo schools are already under-enrolled, they said, assisting a charter would be tantamount to encouraging school closure or consolidation of GMCS schools. “I think that GMCS does see us as a threat,” Begay said. “They are saying ‘If the charter school takes all the students, then we will have to close the GMCS schools.’ But we [The Navajo Community] have been asking for this school for so long, and they are not doing anything about it.”

Another charter, however, non-threatening to the district and its enrollment, received the enthusiastic support of the board.

The second charter, the Gallup Indigenous Education Initiative (GISI), shared their plan for creating an indigenous-ed charter within the much-larger student population of Gallup. Without the threat of losing schools or significant ADM money to the charter, the board enthusiastically welcomed the proposal and voiced initial support for the GISI as they move forward. Superintendent Frank Chiapetti, referring to the proposed culturally responsive school, went so far as to say “I think we could see a niche in Gallup for this sort of school.”

I find the district’s support of school choice a huge step forward for GMCS — especially choice that includes more relevance for Native American students. But this is a case of false virtue if they are only willing to back schools that serve their organizational continuity, not the needs of students. Maybe it's asking too much for the district to look beyond their immediate self-interest and into new options, but for a school district that's already bleeding students like Navajo's, some more creative adaptation may be needed to satisfy community desires to keep their students from going elsewhere.

Please read more about DEAPschool opening in Navajo, NM and the GISI charter in Gallup, NM,