Toppenish educator provides link to history

TOPPENISH, Wash. -- It was hard for Toppenish teachers to understand why a funeral could keep Yakama Nation students away from school for a week.

Or why some tribal students would suddenly need time off to gather traditional foods in the mountains.

But that was before Patsy Whitefoot became the school district's director of Indian education more than five years ago.

A member of the Yakama Nation, she's constantly working on grants to improve Native American studies and pay for public school programs, such as traditional Yakama language and cultural classes.

When she's not doing that, she's reaching out to the community in an effort to combat underage drinking.

School officials call her a bridge into an often underserved Native American population. Although Toppenish is on the Yakama reservation, only about 15 percent of students in its school district are Native American.

"Patsy has been a force for us," said Superintendent Steve Myers.

Tribal youths need to continue learning about their culture in order to keep their identity, but getting a formal education is also important, Whitefoot said.

Her concerns, however, go beyond Native American students.

She just really doesn't see color," said the district's federal and special education director Jeanette Ozuna. "In her (seeking) grants ... she's not just looking at the Native American communities -- she's looking at the community as a whole."

Her efforts have not gone unnoticed.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has presented her with its 2009 Minority Health Community Trailblazer Award for her work in securing grants to keep drug and alcohol awareness programs going on the Yakama reservation, where alcoholism rates are higher than other locations.

Whitefoot was also recently named president of the National Indian Education Association, the nation's largest and oldest Indian education association, and for the past 15 years she's chaired the education committee of the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, which represents 52 tribes.

While a bill requiring American Indian history to be taught in public schools on or near reservations was making its way through the state House in 2005, Toppenish schools already had such programs in place -- efforts attributed to Whitefoot.

"I think she's been a little workhorse for the Toppenish School District for Indian Education," said Simon Sampson, tribal member and chairman of the district's Indian Education Parent Committee. "Overall, she does a real good job out there in Indian Country for our children."

Whitefoot, who holds a masters degree in education from Fort Wright College in Spokane, began as a volunteer at the Mount Adams School District's Head Start program more than 30 years ago before teaching basic adult education for the tribe.

She served a four-year term on the Yakama Tribal Council and has worked for the Toppenish School District the past five years.

Her upbringing came at a time when many Native Americans were skeptical of formal education, which largely ignored their beliefs.

She was raised in Medicine Valley -- a swath of sageland tilting toward the Cascades just west of White Swan -- by her grandmother, who attended Fort Simcoe boarding school in the early 1900s, when tribal culture was discouraged.

Whitefoot herself lived for a short time at a Christian mission in White Swan when her grandmother was ill.

Again, there wasn't much emphasis put on her culture, she recalled.

"I think people (there) thought they had good intentions, but didn't realize that it was destructive as well," she said. "I think that was the tragedy of it all."

But Whitefoot says the experience didn't sever her traditional ties. While growing up, she often gathered sacred foods for ceremonies held at the longhouse, a traditional church.

She recalls cleaning and canning salmon, huckleberries and other natural foods for the winter.

She also helped her grandparents bale hay and brand their cattle and horses.

"And that was a wonderful time because you were always with family," she said.

She said they mostly lived off the land, and the labor it involved forged a deep understanding of responsibility.

She's learned to meld disciplines from both her traditional teachings and formal education, an understanding that allows her to reach out to more students and help teachers understand that sometimes time away from school is needed for tribal members to practice their culture.

During traditional funerals, for example, the family of the deceased is to stay with the body for three days. And it can take time to gather the sacred foods before ceremonies begin and overnight services are held.

"I would like for young people to value the life experience of their elders, their ancestors, and help revitalize those traditions of food gathering," she said. "You're always preparing yourself for the future."

* Phil Ferolito can be reached at 577-7749 or pferolito@yakimaherald.com.