Tonawanda Seneca ties enrich Akron schools
The tribal heritage, culture and language of the Tonawanda Seneca Nation is an integral part of the Akron Central School District curriculum.
With 175 American Indian students, accounting for 8.5 percent of its enrollment, the district includes Indian studies in the course work of all children, from elementary through high school, according to Sue Kovic, director of curriculum and instruction.
Akron was the first school district in the state to contract with an Indian tribe to educate its children, Kovic said. The Tonawanda Senecas in nearby Basom have a renewable 10-year contract with the district.
With Superintendent Robin B. Zymroz, as chairwoman, the Native American Committee meets monthly to review programming and monitor student academic achievement.
Kovic said Zymroz “is enormously supportive of the Native American program and was instrumental in expanding it into the middle school this year.”
Others on the committee are Janine Huff, American Indian culture specialist; Scott Logan, Seneca language teacher’s assistant; Antoinette Abrams, American Indian liaison in the elementary school; and Jodie Patterson, American Indian counselor. All are American Indians.
For about 20 lessons over five consecutive weeks, Huff meets with kindergartners through fifth-graders. Her topics include native clans and clan symbols, native legends, government, clan research, how to build a longhouse and researching American Indians across the United States.
In a new program this year, she teaches American Indian governance and sovereignty issues in grades six through eight social studies classes, Kovic added.
As part of her counseling job, Patterson monitors the academic progress of American Indian students in all their course work. They also can come to her office for extra help and a study hall.
In another new program this year, she and Logan also teach the Seneca language to 10 seventh-graders and 13 eighth-graders on site.
This augments the teaching of Seneca to ninth-through 12th-grade students in a long-distance learning program conducted by instructors from the Gowanda School District. Students from Silver Creek School District also participate. A Regents exam in the Seneca language is also administered.
In government classes in grades nine through 12, Akron also brings in guest speakers from the Tonawanda Nation to discuss the tribal governing system.
As part of new teacher orientation each fall, a program supervised by Kovic, the district includes a trip to the Tonawanda Seneca Reservation and meetings with tribal officials.
Kovic said that the Seneca programming “enriches Akron and adds another dimension to our district.” Noting that American children in general lack a global perspective, she said the programming “offers a great opportunity” to alter misperceptions about American Indians.
For the American Indian students, the programming instills “a sense of belonging and a pride in being Seneca,” Logan said, adding that he believes it also aids in overcoming racism.
“Acceptance helps the kids ease in to the school environment. . . . It’s less of a culture shock,” he said.
The district also reaches out to the community. This month, as part of the federally designated National American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month, it offered special events — mostly last week.
