How To Have An Effective Indian Parent Committee For Your School District

Albuquerque Public School: Indian Parent Committee Howard Connick:IPC Chair At-large, Albuquerque, Nora Morris:Vice Chair Tohaajiilee, NM Andrew Conseen Duff:At large Member Albuquerque, NM Sheryl Baca:Teacher/ Counselor Albuquerque, NM Vacancies: Student Reps. And Others

APS-IED Mission By working together with schools, parents and communities, APS Indian Education Department will develop enhanced and supportive Indigenous educational opportunities for all Native American students by increasing knowledge of Native values through teaching language and cultural differences.

Albuquerque Public Schools 34 th largest school district in the U.S. with; 90,000 students 14,000 employees 140 schools 5,932 American Indian students representing over 115 tribes 5,341 students with complete ED 506 Indian Education Depart. 16 resource teachers (3 high school, 3 mid, 9 elementary, 1 mentor) 20 before & afterschool programs 8 Home to School Liaisons 1 Instructional Manager, 4 Office staff, & 1 Director

Key to Success- Teamwork Indian Education Department Curriculum Collaboration- Teachers, District Departments, Staff, Indian Parent Committee and the Indian Education Committee Parents- Monthly Meetings Educators- Weekly Resource Teacher Meetings

Personal and Committee Investments- Student Investments- Student Achievement Recognition events, plays, concerts, zoo night Community Investments- Pow Wows, science fairs, college prep days, job fairs, feast day and we attend local conferences on Indian Education Organizational Investments- Native American Community Academy, All Indian Pueblo Council, APS-Equity Council, Budget Committee, Government to Government, Navajo Nation Clothing Program, New Mexico- Public Education Department and the National Indian Education Association

Leadership Development of a relationship between the Local Education Agency to design and develop a comprehensive Indian Education Plan Encouragement of local community participation by being part of our education community Promotion of information dissemination to our parents about what matters most in their children’s education

Empowerment- Direct engagement of administration and educators about policy, programs, and budgets that impact our children’s education Development of our committee knowledge base to be transparent and accountable to our constituencies through; Published monthly itemized budgets Department action plans Public Forum for comments and applications

Engagement- Move your meetings to the parents (to the children’s home schools) Public posting of meeting dates, time, and location Pre- Prepare for your meetings Send out minutes, pertinent documents and decision papers by Ask lots of questions Report out the discussions and decisions

Strategic Goals and Objectives of APS Indian Parent Committee Goal 1. Support increase of graduation rate of APS Native American students through increased communication with the greater community through: The annual parent conference, Attendance of family appreciation activities, Web site content, Mixed media, Parent contact with IPC, and Special parent recognition at regularly scheduled parent meetings Measurable Objective 1: Communication with the greater community will increase by 10% for School Year and by 5% for each consecutive year to 2014.

Strategic Goals and Objectives of APS Indian Parent Committee 2. To support increase of daily attendance of Native Americans students in APS by dissemination of information about resources that are available to parents through: Literature, Pamphlets, Presentation to parent committee during a regularly scheduled meeting, Teacher/student presentations and raffles at each meeting. Measurable Objective: Parental involvement will increase by 10% for School Year 2010 to 2011 and by 5% for each consecutive year to 2014.

The Highest Honor Is Being A Responsible Indian Parent And Becoming Engaged In Your Child’s Education ~Thank You ~ Albuquerque Public School-Indian Education Department, Teachers, and Parents