DENVER A bill to make it easier to hire Native American language teachers got an enthusiastic response from the House Education Committee on Wednesday.
Senate Bill 57, by Rep. J. Paul Brown, R-Ignacio, allows school districts to hire native speakers of an American Indian language as assistant teachers, even if the language expert is not a certified teacher.
The House Education Committee passed in 13-0 after hearing testimony from several young American Indians from the Denver area.
Although the Four Corners has the only two Indian reservations in the state, Denver actually has the highest Native American population about 32,000.
Denver has an especially high Lakota population, in part because of a 1950s federal program to relocate Indians to urban areas. Denver Public Schools began teaching the Lakota language seven years ago, and SB 57 draws on the urban districts experience to set up a statewide framework.
Shane Deuschesne, 13, is part of a new generation of Native Americans who is trying to reclaim a language that had been lost to his family.
Back in the day when my great grandmother was alive, she had to go to a boarding school to learn English. I just think its sad that we got pulled away from our culture, he said.
Shane is studying Lakota in Denver Public Schools.
Southwest Colorados Ute tribes could use the bill to work with local school districts to hire more language teachers, said Ernest House Jr., executive secretary of the Colorado Commission on Indian Affairs.
House grew up in the Ute Mountain Ute tribe, and he said he didnt have the opportunity to study his language in local schools. The schools now have hired Navajo and Ute speakers, and the Southern Ute tribe operates its own kindergarten-to-fifth-grade school, House noted.
Under SB 57, tribal elders or others hired as language teachers would have to work with a licensed teacher. The bill also allows indigenous language classes to count toward world language credits, the same as Spanish or French.
Brown said he learned respect for native languages from his best boyhood friend and from his father, who ran a trading post and spoke Navajo.
These are proud people. A lot of them want to learn the language, Brown said.
The bill has passed the Senate already and now goes to the full House.
Reach Joe Hanel at joeh@cortezjournal.com