They came together last fall to protect their cultural heritage and their children's chance of success in Seattle Public Schools. Seven months later, parents of a new Native American education coalition say, the district has ignored their input and appeals, and is letting the Huchoosedah Indian Education Program disintegrate before their eyes.
Huchoosedah is a K-12 culture and academics program that assists Native American students. The program is funded this year by $230,000 in federal Title 7 Indian education funding, but for the 2010-11 school year, the parents say, the program's new manager has not only botched the count of native students on which Title 7 funding is based, but blown a deadline to apply for the money.
As a result, the Indian education program's two teachers and a teaching assistant have received notice that they will lose their jobs at the end of the school year on June 22.
To make up for the error, the district has said it will provide what the program would have gotten in Title 7 funding