SWAG - Sparking the Heart in Schools and an Indigenous District
First Presenter's Institution
Central Consolidated School District
First Presenter's Brief Biography
Hola and Ya’at’eh’,shi eh' Bellamie DeHerrera-Presley yi'ni'she’, Nakai Dine’e nishli’, Nashgale dine’e doo kath’li’chiee’e bash’shi’sh cheen. Hello! I am happy to serve Central Consolidated Schools as the Coordinator of Federal Programs overseeing many of the grant funded programs including Title I, Title II, Title IV, Go-Bond, Fine Arts Elementary Education, and the current ESSERS and CCSD SWAG-SEL Initiatives. In short, I write many of our federal grants for the district and support Curriculum and Instruction efforts. I come to you from Bloomfield, NM where I have resided for the past 25+ years with my husband and two daughters. Along my post high school educational journey, I obtained my Bachelor's degree in Educational Psychology from the University of New Mexico and had the pleasure of teaching Kindergarten, 4th and 6th grades in public schools for over 14 years. I also received a Masters in Business Administration as well as a Masters in Educational Leadership from Grand Canyon University in which I have served in public school and higher education leadership and administrative roles for over 16 years. I continue to maintain a license in teaching K-8 as well as an administrators license 3-B, a NM Business Official License and a NM Chief Procurement Officer Certification. In my free time, I enjoy riding horses and competing in ladies breakaway roping and team roping with my family. My roots in agriculture, horses and competition have provided me the opportunity to meet many different people across the beautiful state of New Mexico and neighboring states of the four corners; Arizona, Utah and Colorado.
Second Presenter's Institution
Central Consolidated School District
Second Presenter’s Email Address
hubbc@centralschools.org
Second Presenter's Brief Biography
With 15+ years experience working with families and students in the community of San Juan County, I have served as teacher, early interventionist and school support coach. I have background working with students in early literacy as well as supporting families with resources for their struggling students through Tier II intervention models. In my current role at CCSD, I focus on supporting teachers, administrators and students with building positive social behaviors and PBIS/SEL instructional resources to build the capacity of teachers and students in SEL framework.
Third Presenter's Institution
Viola Denetclaw-Benally
Third Presenter’s Email Address
denev@centralschools.org
Third Presenter's Brief Biography
Having over 25+ years experience in public education, I have had the priviledge of serving both Colorado and New Mexico schools in the four corners area. My specialty is working with students who require further support in RTI as well as early literacy. In my current role at CCSD, I am able to focus support on teachers and administrators who are building their SEL programs and developing a positive climate and culture at their school site.
Fourth Presenter's Institution
Central Consolidated School District
Fourth Presenter’s Email Address
begabe@centralschools.org
Fourth Presenter's Brief Biography
My name is Dr. Berlinda Begay. I am the Bilingual Multicultural Education Coordinator for the district. I have been with the district for 7 years but in education for 20 plus years. My career history, background, and passion is in Navajo Bilingual education, bilingual multicultural education, Indigenous language revitalization, and advocacy in those areas.
Document Type
Event
Primary Strand
Social-Emotional Learning
Relevance to Primary Strand
CCSD is in year 3 of 5 developing their Social and Emotional Learning program. The program begin in 2018 when we received devastating news that our Power Plants would be shut down. This closure caused families to be broken and many families to be displaced having parents looking for employment in an area that the primary income was the plants. With grandparents raising grandchildren and single family homes, our district noticed a trend of decreasing moral, absenteeism, higher rates of referrals for behavioral issues relating to anxiety and depression and unfortunately, a rise in suicides and suicidal ideation. We had to do something, thus an extensive analysis of research as well as data supported the development of our SWAG program; a Social and Emotional Learning with Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports Program.
Alignment with School Improvement Plan Topics
Climate and Culture
Brief Program Description
The CCSD SWAG - Safety, Wellness, Achievement and Grit program incorporates all of the NMPED components of the MLSS (Multi-layered Systems of Support) including Casel's SEL model with CLRI, Martinez/Yazzie ruling, Navajo, Hispanic and Filipino philosophy. This indigenous student focus has shown results in a model positive climate change, not only at the school level, but in a community that was challenged.
Summary
The Central Consolidated School District is in the heart of the beautiful Four Corners region of San Juan County in the northwest corner of New Mexico. It borders Colorado to the north, Arizona to the west, and Utah to the northwest.
The District, which serves approximately 6,000 students in 15 schools, plus early childhood preschools, covers nearly 3,000 square miles of undeveloped and rigorous conditions. Our student demographics includes 93% Native American (Navajo/Dine), 4% Caucasian, 2% Hispanic, >1% Asian, and >1% Black. In 2018, our community suffered a great challenge with the closing of the existing powerplants and mines, which served as the main economy and employment for our families. This left our community with broken homes as parents had no choice but to leave their generational lands in search of work and their children in single parent homes or with grandparents to raise their grandchildren. Then in 2020, the world-wide Covid Pandemic hit the Navajo Nation reservation hard, and our children once again faced loss of parents and family members who served as their main SEL support. Our district had no choice but to dive deeper into the supports needed for our students to return to school safely bringing their emotional traumas with them.
During our presentation, participants will better understand the unique needs of indigenous students in rural community schools, through the lens of the work from our Northwestern New Mexico district and how to build a SEL program that incorporates Western philosophies with traditional beliefs and practices that are rooted in a community. Through the demonstration of the CCSD SEL Matrix, participants will take home a model that “weaves” CASELs framework, CLRI, positive behavioral instructional supports, interventions and Indigenious beliefs with stragetegies that strengthen pro-social behaviors in the classroom. In small rural communities, these practicies not only support positive school cultures, but also work towards building a community that has struggled with poverty and the challenges of grief and anxiety post Covid.
Evidence
Our proposal is evidence that the SWAG program is making a huge difference in the climate and culture change of CCSD. To date we have had (0) suicides and less then 5 suicide ideations noted. Absenteeism has decreased, student engagement has increased, collaboration amongst district programs has strengthened and overall students are showing an increase in achievement and grit, solving problems and attending to task. Our Native American students are thriving in a once challenged community and the community in general has noticed a change in positive climate as a result of the students and families receiving SEL strategies, specifically and most seen in self awareness and self management.
The data reflected shows pre and post information in elementary and middle schools.
2018 - Elementary School
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1EOYb0l_g6PsrTY--AQ3w-IxIKM5pCW54/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=114816562605714687919&rtpof=true&sd=true
Post Covid - 2020-2022
Middle School Data:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/19-gGh-UDCZUY3hux7X2ApEzvbzPciBKE/view?usp=share_link
Learning Objective 1
Participants will be able to learn strategies for developing an Indigenous based SEL program.
Learning Objective 2
Participants will be able to take home hands on resources for structuring and implementing a SEL program utilizing student voice and community stakeholder buy in.
Learning Objective 3
Participants will be able to better understand the collaboration efforts of working with internal programs to maximize funds and resources.
Learning Objective 4
Participants will be able to learn strategies for leveraging Federal Title grants to benefit a SEL program.
Recommended Citation
DeHerrera-Presley, Bellamie, "SWAG - Sparking the Heart in Schools and an Indigenous District" (2023). Southeast Conference on School Climate. 101.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/secsc/2023/2023/101
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
SWAG - Sparking the Heart in Schools and an Indigenous District
The Central Consolidated School District is in the heart of the beautiful Four Corners region of San Juan County in the northwest corner of New Mexico. It borders Colorado to the north, Arizona to the west, and Utah to the northwest.
The District, which serves approximately 6,000 students in 15 schools, plus early childhood preschools, covers nearly 3,000 square miles of undeveloped and rigorous conditions. Our student demographics includes 93% Native American (Navajo/Dine), 4% Caucasian, 2% Hispanic, >1% Asian, and >1% Black. In 2018, our community suffered a great challenge with the closing of the existing powerplants and mines, which served as the main economy and employment for our families. This left our community with broken homes as parents had no choice but to leave their generational lands in search of work and their children in single parent homes or with grandparents to raise their grandchildren. Then in 2020, the world-wide Covid Pandemic hit the Navajo Nation reservation hard, and our children once again faced loss of parents and family members who served as their main SEL support. Our district had no choice but to dive deeper into the supports needed for our students to return to school safely bringing their emotional traumas with them.
During our presentation, participants will better understand the unique needs of indigenous students in rural community schools, through the lens of the work from our Northwestern New Mexico district and how to build a SEL program that incorporates Western philosophies with traditional beliefs and practices that are rooted in a community. Through the demonstration of the CCSD SEL Matrix, participants will take home a model that “weaves” CASELs framework, CLRI, positive behavioral instructional supports, interventions and Indigenious beliefs with stragetegies that strengthen pro-social behaviors in the classroom. In small rural communities, these practicies not only support positive school cultures, but also work towards building a community that has struggled with poverty and the challenges of grief and anxiety post Covid.
