Every Child Matters!

As we near the week leading up to Orange Shirt Day (which can be honored Friday, Sept. 29th in workspaces and schools) please share the following resources with your network of educators and hopefully with your students (both American Indian and non-American Indian) to raise awareness and honor survivors (and victims) of government run, de-culturalization schools used in both Canada and the United States from 1890 to the mid-1970s.

Truth & Reconciliation Day began in Canada as a way for the country to acknowledge the harm it has done to First Nations people for over a century, which has had a lasting and harmful effect (generational trauma) for Indigenous families and communities.

During one such Truth & Reconciliation Day event a survivor of the residential school system told the story of her family buying her a new orange shirt for her first day in the school in 1973. It became her favorite shirt because of how colorful it was. She was 6 and didn’t know the students were stripped of their clothes and forced to wear the same uniforms. On the first day they took her orange shirt from her and she never saw it again. That was her lasting memory, that they had no care for her, and her feelings and she always remembered that orange shirt being discarded so callously.

As her story spread throughout social media and the internet people wanted to honor her and Orange Shirt Day was created.

As the event grew across Canada the obvious connections between Canadian residential schools and First Nations people and United States boarding schools and American Indians led to the day being acknowledged in America by Native American people to honor our survivors and victims and educate those who don’t know about these schools and their ugly history in both countries.

Residential Schools and Boarding Schools

• Government run residential schools in Canada (called boarding schools in the United States) were designed to wipe out Indigenous people’s language and culture by stopping the knowledge from being passed down to the children.
• Children as young as 5 were forced to go to these schools, at times hundreds of miles from home. (Other children attended these schools by family choice because families thought it would be better for their future to receive the white man’s education.
• Eventually there were over 130 residential schools and 400 boarding schools spread out around each country.
• It is estimated 150,000 First Nations children attended these schools in Canada and 300,000 American Indians in the United States.

Attached Resources:

• Letter about Orange Shirt Day
• Template to print stickers (need Avery 22807 sticker sheet) for students and staff to wear Friday, Sept. 29th)
• The poem “300 Sleeps” about being in a residential school and waiting night after night to be picked up to go home.
• “Every Child Matters” printable image
• Quick facts you can share in announcements or in class with students.

Online Resources:

• Teacher hub with curriculum created for educators: https://orangeshirtday.org/reconciliation-hub/for-teachers/
• Toolkit on residential school history https://education.afn.ca/afntoolkit/web-modules/plain-talk-6-residential-schools/residential-schools/

Videos:

• News story on very first event with Phyllis Webstad first mentioning the orange shirt (3 minutes)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ll1pUrK29MM
• Excellent video with Phyllis Webstad talking about her experience and what Orange Shirt Day means to Indigenous people. (7 minutes) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuW4WbekhxY
• Powerful documentary about Canadian residential schools told through those that lived it. (45 minutes) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFTHHtRy8Do

We currently have two existing vacancies: one in the category of Tribal West and one in Elementary/Secondary East.

Please contact the Office of Native Education at 360/725-6160 or email Kari Tally (kari.tally@k12.wa.us) if you have any questions. Thank you.

August 31, 2023

Dear Tribal Leaders and Education Partners:

Your assistance is requested in providing the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI) with nominations for membership on the Washington State Native American Education Advisory Committee (WSNAEAC) to the State Superintendent of Public Instruction. This committee will provide input from Native American representatives, thus enhancing the relationships between all people working in and with public schools, tribal compact schools, and Tribal leadership.

The geographical distribution of representation is as follows:

Three Tribal Representatives

Two Educational Representatives (teachers)

One Parent Representative

State Superintendent or designee shall serve as an ex-officio WSNAEAC member. The Office of Native Education Executive Director, Henry Strom, or designee shall serve as Executive Secretary.

Goals of the Committee

· Collaborate with OSPI on education issues: review, advise, exchange of consultation, and in acknowledgement of tribal sovereignty, work in partnership with OSPI to further the goals of Native American Education through collaboration on education issues.

· Make recommendations/provide guidance on Native American Education critical issues.

· Serve as advocates for programs serving the educational needs of Native students.

· Be a resource on effective practices such as consultation, “Since Time Immemorial” Tribal Sovereignty Curriculum, collaborative data analysis, etc.

A nomination form is attached for your use in making membership recommendations (if possible, please attach a current vita for persons being nominated). For nominations in the “Tribal” category, please attach a nomination letter from Tribe or Organization including a contact if additional information is needed to complete the nomination process.

More than one nomination may be submitted. All nominations will be reviewed by the OSPI Office of Native Education staff and then referred to the State Superintendent for a final selection of persons to fill vacancies. Currently, one vacancy exists in Tribal West and one vacancy exists in Elementary/Secondary East.

Please mail all completed forms/vitae to:

Kari Tally
Office of Native Education/OSPI
Old Capitol Building
Mail stop: 47200
P.O. Box 47200
Olympia WA, 98504-7200

Thank you in advance for your help. If you have any questions or if you wish to receive additional nomination forms, please contact Henry Strom (henry.strom@k12.wa.us) or Kari Tally (kari.tally@k12.wa.us) or call 360-725-6160.

Thank you for your continued partnership,

Henry (Stahobi) Strom

Executive Director

Office of Native Education (ONE)

Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI)

Since Time Immemorial Tribal Sovereignty Curriculum

http://www.k12.wa.us/IndianEd/TribalSovereignty/default.aspx

CR/kt

Email: wwnaec@gmail.com
Website: www.wwnaec.org
Location: PO Box 494 Puyallup WA 98371