Longtime Navajo heritage teacher says she was fired. Her students want her back
On a cold, snowy March day, students from Monument Valley High School in Oljato, Utah, planned a walkout to protest the termination of their Navajo Heritage teacher, Dr. Victoria Yazzie, and raise other issues they believe have gone unaddressed.
Students stood outside the front of the school, bundled up in their coats, with jacket hoods covering their hair from the snow and rain that fell. They held signs that read “Reinstate Dr. Yazzie Now,""We need loving Admin,""Need Admin who care.”
A month later, students, community leaders, parents and supporters of Yazzie crowded into the San Juan County School District board meeting to address the administration and school board. Some also sent in their comments to be read aloud during the public comment period.
“So that there is no confusion on my stance, I fully support the reinstatement of MVHS Heritage Language Teacher,” wrote Otis Anthony Kinney in an email that was read aloud during the comment period of the board meeting. “In this current climate you hear about the lack of educators. Whether it's educators that are no longer coming back, or educators who have their hands tied for some reason. But you have educators who want to stay, who want to teach and that is what the MVHS Heritage Language Teacher wants to do.”
A month after a field trip she planned for her students in 2022, Yazzie received a parent complaint, one she thought sounded vague but that was eventually the catalyst for her termination. A hearing left her with more questions, but the board meeting opened up a dialogue for other community members and students to highlight issues they expressed have been ongoing and never addressed.
The firing tops a long list of concerns
At the start of 2023, Yazzie's daughter, Dayhenoa Yazzie, started a GoFundMe campaign, hoping to raise enough money to pay a lawyer to help fight the school district over her mom’s termination. On the GoFundMe page, she said Yazzie’s was fired for an "unjustifiable and unfair" situation related to an April 2022 school field trip.
A long and detailed list of some issues and concerns from a grassroots group called Tse BiiNdzisgaii and Our Future (Creating Schools Our Community Deserves), which is made up of parents, students, alumni and community members was sent to the the 25th Navajo Nation Council. Among the 25 issues:
Lack of culture competency training at MVHS led to students experiencing hostile treatment from administration, staff and facility.
The dismissal of a heritage language teacher did not align with Utah Department of Education law R277-328. Students are not receiving quality instruction in the Navajo language, nor are they prepared to apply for scholarships that require Navajo language classes.
Specialized government funding is not being spent in alignment with federal policies and the program's budget is not shared with the parents and community at large.
Lack of cultural competency training at MVHS led to students experiencing hostile treatment from administration, staff and faculty
Cultural activities and Navajo language preservation are not the priority of the administration and violate the agreement between the community of Monument Valley, Utah, and the Utah board of education in the establishment of Monument Valley High School.
“It’s a list of things happening with myself and the school district,” Yazzie told The Republic. “There are a lot of policies that they named in regards to my termination. I know they (students) did their walkout. I understand they want me to be reinstated within the school, and that’s not happening. I have a lot of kids texting, messaging me, and I try to be there for them as much as I can.”
"My mom is a single mom of three daughters," Dayhenoa wrote in the Go FundMe introduction. "She is a Diné language and culture teacher who lives in a hogan in the Arizona community of Cane Valley.
“I am scared and my family is scared,” she wrote, also indicating she is in her first year of college and she has two younger sisters.
Why was she fired?
Yazzie hadn't been teaching at Monument Valley High School for long — she was in her first year when the controversy erupted — but her experience in education runs deep. She has been an educator for over 20 years and has over six years of administration experience, and she understands managing federal funds like the Johnson O' Malley grant.
The grant program provides supplemental funds for programs to meet the special educational needs for Native American students, especially those attending public schools and schools in non-tribal communities.
At the time of her hire at Monument Valley, Yazzie was secretary for the National Johnson O’Malley Association, as well as secretary for the Navajo Nation Board of Education.
"I spent six-plus years in regards to those federal funding sources," said Yazzie. "I am well rounded with how those funding sources play out within the school system and how the funding sources are suppose to be primarily student base."
Before her termination, Yazzie was interested in how the school was spending the grant money, so she became involved by attending meetings and started writing a proposal on behalf of the students and parents requesting certain funding sources.
"It wasn't a first-time attempt, it was many several attempts of requesting funds and going though their proper channel and proper chain to get what students had requested," said Yazzie. "These were some of the issues happening in the school system."
There were other issues and observations Yazzie made before she was terminated, and she believes there's a correlation to why she eventually lost her position.
"The list is long and I kind of think all of this, in a nutshell, led to my termination," said Yazzie.
After a field trip last April, Yazzie said she was told an investigation was suggested in connection with a student left behind in the bus as the rest of the students participated in part of the trip.
Yazzie said the student’s mother had signed the parent permission slip to go on the trip, and the slip asked parents whether a child has medical needs or allergies, and the mother didn't indicate of any medical or allergy concerns. Since the student was in her class, Yazzie said she was aware the student was wearing a walking boot and using crutches, but the parent wanted him to go anyway, so she allowed him to.
The next month, Yazzie got word that the student's mother had registered a complaint that said Yazzie had made the student stay on the bus during part of the trip. Yazzie said she was never notified by the principal or vice principal, but heard about it through word of mouth from the bus driver first, and finally by the human resources director in an email.
“I did not know what was going on,” said Yazzie. “I said ‘I will meet you on this day.’ That entire time, no principal. No one said anything, the principal or vice principal, or anyone else came to me directly. I was waiting on the reasoning, what was happening in regards to the field trip.”
Eventually she met with the human resources center to get more information. The director asked Yazzie why the student was left on the bus, and told her that was the complaint with no other information.
Related: Former Navajo speaker candidate files legislation to remove the current speaker
“Them themselves did not know the child’s name, who they were talking about,” said Yazzie. “They were asking me for the name. I was like ‘if you know the child that is supposedly left on the bus, wouldn't you know the child’s name?’”
During a hearing on the matter, which did not occur until January, witnesses and exhibits were provided, but Yazzie said the district’s lawyer did not call the parent as a witness, which seemed peculiar. The parent complaint she requested as an exhibit was also not provided.
“They said they didn’t have a complaint,” Yazzie said. “It was all oral to the principal. They indicated that the principal and vice principal is more credible, and the parent is more credible. If you have a complaint, if I was a parent, I would be the first one to be the witness. I’d be the first one behind my child if something happened.”
The student was fine during the field trip, Yazzie said. The class made another stop that day to the mall as part of the trip and the student shopped for shoes and clothes along with his peers.
"He participated in the activities," said Yazzie. "He went to the mall. He ate. Came back and everyone was happy. A month after the field trip this is when the parent finally had a complaint and brought it to the principal's attention."
'I feel like my whole family is being targeted'
Dayhenoa Yazzie graduated from Monument Valley High School last year, and is currently Miss Western Navajo Nation, in her first year attending Diné College. She said they have reached out to chapter leaders, council delegates, the high school's administration and San Juan County School Board members, and she feels no one is actually listening to what they are saying.
“There is no official who is actively trying to help and support reinstate Dr. Yazzie,” said Dayhenoa, who was the only person to accompany her mom to the hearing. “It's important because once they take away the heritage and language teacher how do they view our cultural values? How do they see that our language and culture are important in our communities?”
Her younger sister is currently Miss Monument Valley High School and her youngest sister just started at the high school.
“Because my mom is being targeted in this situation I feel like my whole family is being targeted,” said Dayhenoa. “This whole process, I am greatly affected mentally and emotionally, because I have to be a part of my family and continue to help and support them.”
The weight of the issue was what led Dayhenoa to reach out to a family friend to help her start the GoFundMe. She said as it unfolded and her mom confided in her about what was happening, Dayhenoa felt powerless and wondered what she could do to help. She said her family was concerned about the fear of retaliation toward the family and community members by the district and school, so much so the family did not speak up about what was happening until recently.
“I was actually the first person to talk about it on social media,” said Dayhenoa regarding the fundraising effort. “She felt everything was against her. I felt there was nothing in the world that I could say or do that was going to change. At this time we still as a family didn’t say what we were going through just because we were scared of what the administration would do.”
The GoFundMe goal is $14,000 and has so far reached $5,370. It notes that the family tried referring the case with some help to the Navajo Nation Department of Justice and nothing came of it. Lawyers would not take the case or they did not hear back in time.
"The field trip was just an excuse to get rid of Dr. Yazzie, who is a very beloved educator of Diné culture and language and an invaluable mentor to her students, who are mainly Diné," the supporters wrote.
San Juan School District includes Monticello High School, San Juan High School, Whitehorse High School Navajo Mountain High School and Monument Valley High School.
Tse BiiNdzisgaii and Our Future (Creating Schools Our Community Deserves) wrote a letter to the Navajo Nation Council on the issues and another to SJSD board member Nelson Yellowman and SJSD superintendent Ron Nielson. Questions in the emails included issues connected to Johnson O'Malley line-item budgets, results on a survey by the district, and how the survey was accessible for parents or guardians who need Navajo translator or technology needed to partake in the survey, and when a response will be made to comments gathered at the board meeting.
The group also held chapter meetings at Oljato Chapter to ask questions of Monument Valley High School representatives.
Related: Navajo Nation wants US government to account for tribe’s water needs
In an email sent to the board and read aloud, Ophelia Holiday, a member of the Tse BiiNdzisgaii and Our Future (Creating Schools Our Community Deserves) group, referred to Utah law R277-328, which states that "educational equity” means acknowledging that all students are capable of learning and distributing resources to provide equal opportunities based upon the needs of each individual student. Equitable resources include funding, programs, policies, initiatives and support that recognize each student’s unique background and school context to guarantee that all students have access to high-quality education.
"What is the explanation to the very limited opportunities and skills available to the students of Monument Valley High School?" wrote Holiday.
"San Juan High, Monticello High, White Horse High have more active clubs than Monument Valley High. Students and parents knock on the doors of administration but they are not answered. How can students and parents be heard?" Holiday wrote. "The majority of the questions, and that's why, issues, complaints, correlate to the unbalance equity in this school district. What can be done to ensure all students in the district are given the equity they so deserve as human being and as our future leaders?"
Superintendent: 'Monitor and improve where needed'
Nielson said he couldn't comment on Yazzie's termination since it's a personnel issue, but he wanted to address the other accusations that have been made about the district and Monument Valley High School. He noted that many of the claims made have only recently come up following the personnel issue.
"We refute much that is claimed is happening at that school is actually happening at that school," Nielson told The Republic. "We do survey two or three times a year and we have a pretty good feel of where our parents are at, and we believe our stakeholders are fairly satisfied with what is happening at the school and the community with the teachers. We will continue to monitor and improve where needed."
When it comes to the Johnson O'Mailey funding not being spent correctly, which is one of may issues community members have cited as a concern, Neilson said the district is monitored by the Navajo Nation Johnson O'Mailey Office.
"We have signed documentation yearly of their audit of all our books, of all our program, and they have no concerns," said Nielson. "In fact, verbally they committed to write a letter that San Juan School District has been 100 percent compliance with JOM expectation and spending. That is another accusation that again came out of left field. We refute that it has any validity."
Regarding concerns about the lack of activities the school has available for students, Nielson explained the small size of student population governs this.
"We believe we are providing an appropriate amount of activities," he said of the 1A school. "I don't know specifically what is being claimed there, but we are not aware of any programs that they are asking for that is being denied."
The letter to the Navajo Nation Council raised the issue regarding nepotism practices when it comes to school hiring, and "sidestepping" the Navajo Preference in Employment Act.
"We would love to have a deep pool of homegrown talent that is qualified," said Nielson, who has been superintendent at SJSD for the past six years. "That would be a dream come true, but we don't have that presently. We do have to fill many positions with outside talent that is certified. It is lucky if we find them, it's a real struggle, right now we are looking for teachers we don't have."
In one of the emails read during the district board meeting last month, a former student of Whitehorse High School who took Yazzie's Navajo Government class, when she taught at that school, wrote in support of her former teacher and praised her teaching.
"She has given me the strength to embrace my Diné culture by providing us the tools to continue our education," wrote Kylie Scott. "She encouraged me to seek an education and come back to help my people. She had a positive impact for students to have confidence in where they came from. It's challenging to be a Native kid within the San Juan school district, it feels like everything is built against you. It's tough not to compare myself to the successful students at larger schools, but Dr. Yazzie made me feel like I had an equal opportunity as my peers."
Arlyssa Becenti covers Indigenous affairs for The Arizona Republic and azcentral. Send ideas and tips to arlyssa.becenti@arizonarepublic.com.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: A longtime Navajo heritage teacher was fired, but doesn't know why
