The Colorado Charter School Institute’s board of directors unanimously approved an application for a charter school on the Ute Mountain Ute reservation Tuesday afternoon.
The board will work with the team behind the new school, the Kwiyagat (Bear) Community Academy, to finalize a contract between the two entities.
“The whole team is really excited,” Tina King-Washington, education director for the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, said in a phone interview with The Journal after the vote.
King-Washington said there is more work to do, but it will be “more exciting” now that the school has been approved.
“We can get ready for the kids,” she said.
Richard Fulton, retired dean of the Fort Lewis College School of Education and former charter school principal, is helping the tribe with the charter school application process.
“This is a significant step forward,” Fulton said in a phone interview. The conditions for approval of the contract and the milestones the Colorado Charter School Institute requires serve as a “clear indicator of what else we need to do,” he said.
The approval of the application comes soon after the tribe heightened COVID-19 restrictions because of an increase in the number of cases on the reservation. Under pandemic restrictions, most tribal students are unable to travel to Cortez schools.
“We are excited to continue on this journey with them,” Terry Crow Lewis, CSI executive director, said during the meeting.
The institute authorizes charter schools in Colorado, but Kwiyagat Community Academy is the first to be authorized on a reservation in the state.
The application process has been different because it is the first time CSI will enter into a contract with a sovereign nation. Board members wanted to ensure the charter school would be held to the laws and financial transparency standards of public schools in Colorado.
“There was a lot of learning on both sides,” Lewis said, but an authorization from CSI ensures high academic and operational standards at the school.
Kwiyagat Community Academy focuses on Ute and Nuchiu language, and would hire Native teachers to instruct Ute Mountain Ute elementary students. The school is also an opportunity for families, elders and other community members to pass on knowledge of their culture to a new generation.
The core values of the school, such as healthy minds and bodies, were developed through surveys of the community.
“They are offering an educational option that does not exist in the region,” Janet Dinnen, chief of staff at CSI, said during the board meeting Tuesday.
The school has received at least 14 letters from parents planning on enrolling their children when it opens – about half the desired number of students for the first year.
The Kwiyagat Community Academy aims to open in fall 2021 with a kindergarten and a first grade class. The school will add a new grade each year until it has the K-5 grade levels.
The school will rely on grants for adequate furniture, technology and other supplies, but it has received interest from organizations willing to provide support, Fulton said.
The team applied to a RISE grant, open to all public schools, from the Gates Family Foundation.
The NACA-Inspired Schools Network is also partnering with the academy to provide access to resources and grant opportunities, as well as create a safety plan for the students.
“Our connections with NACA help us leverage people and potential funding,” Fulton said.
For CSI board member Antonio Parés, the support from NACA, provides “a lot of reassurances” for the quality of the academics.
“What they want to do culturally and linguistically rings clear throughout the application,” Parés said.
The academy will partner with the San Juan Boards of Cooperative Educational Services to provide services for students that are available at other public schools.
King-Washington is organizing a drive-by celebration event on the reservation in November to congratulate the team on their hard work.
ehayes@the-journal.com