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"Safe Schools/Healthy Students"
Pinon, Arizona
| Partners: | Pinon Unified School District #4 Chinle Department of Behavioral Health Services Navajo Department of Law Enforcement, Chinle, AZ | |
The Navajo Nation in northern Arizona is among the poorest and most desolate regions of the United States. Navajos on the Reservation are beset by increasing alcoholism, drug abuse, and violence, as well as the highest suicide rate in the western industrialized world. The Pinon School District consists of seven small Navajo communities with a population of about 5,000 people. A single paved road bisects the area, with many dirt roads connecting to local families. Fewer than 50% have running water; more than 80% heat with wood, coal, or kerosene; and 60 to 90% live without basic services such as running water, sewers, and telephones. Only 19% of residents over 16 are employed, and the median household income is less than 20% of the rest of the nation. Ninety-two percent of students live below the poverty level and receive free/reduced cost lunches. The student population is 99% Navajo, with little experience in dealing with the mainstream culture and pressures of life off the Reservation. Most of the 786 students live in remote sites on the Reservation and travel 2 to 3 hours a day on school buses; the remaining students live apart from their families most of the year in dormitories provided by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
The partners in this initiative are all members of the Pinon Community Alliance Project (PCAP), established one year ago to address the social, educational, and health needs of the community. Also included in the implementation of the project are the Chinle Courts, Navajo Sheriff's Office, Tribal Chapter Houses, Indian Health Services, and the Indian Housing Authority.
This initiative constitutes a comprehensive strategy to target violence and drug problems through prevention and intervention, as well as educational reform for Navajo youth and residents through culturally appropriate strategies. The initiative calls for the design and implementation of an array of services including prenatal physical and mental health services and the creation of a family resource center at the school district for drug and violence education. The initiative will also meet student mental health needs through screening and counseling; continuation of sweat lodges by a Medicine man for boys, and an elder woman for girls, to provide culturally appropriate healing ceremonies; the redesign and improvement of the school mental health referral system; the implementation of the K'ei Program offered by the Indian Health Service, which provides mental health services integrated with traditional Navajo healing; and active participation by mental health agencies in providing parent education services and intervention programs during the school-sponsored family outreach programs. Education reform will continue through staff development based on effective teaching and learning principles; the reduction of class sizes at all levels, especially the primary grades; the hiring of tutors; and a comprehensive English literacy program for grades pre-K to 12.
The initiative will utilize a "Continuous Improvement Management Systems" approach to evaluate the ongoing implementation and overall effectiveness of its comprehensive plan, programs, and strategies.
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