Parents want principal ousted
Group claims Cottonwood school leader not cooperative

By Zsombor Peter
Staff Writer

GALLUP — For a group of parents at Cottonwood Day School, Principal Esther Frejo's recent refusal to let them use the school for a parent meeting was the last straw.

Frejo says she was only following government policy. But to some parents, it was just the latest example of her efforts to keep them out of school affairs. They're now asking the school board to get rid of her.

"We just got fed up because she's not listening to us," said LaVerne Todachine, one of the parents.

Like most schools on the Navajo Nation, Cottonwood, a school of approximately 250 K-8 students near Chinle run by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, has been struggling to live up to the standards of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. According to Rena Yazzie, the BIA's education line officer for the region, the school met its "adequate yearly progress" targets last year, but the federal government says it's fallen short for the past three. The parents behind a petition urging the school board not to renew Frejo's contract blame the principal.

"There was no collaboration between the parents and the principal in order to improve the school's academic services or involve the parents in the school's improvement plan," the petition reads.

Frejo said she was not allowed to speak with the media and declined comment.

But in her defense, Yazzie said all BIA schools are required to involve parents in their improvement plans whether through newsletters, school board meetings, or making their proposals available for public review and Cottonwood was no exception; however, she could not say what if any specific efforts Cottonwood made.

A Dec. 19 letter to the school from FACE, a national family literacy program, isn't encouraging.

"During our recent visit to your FACE program, we did not see hopeful signs of a FACE team working diligently to provide a quality program for families," the letter reads.

"Your program has had many challenges over the past six years," it continues, "but none as devastating as the lack of services to families and the ill will that your team members have individually and collectively created."

More recently, parents have been upset with Frejo for denying them use of the school to meet to, among other things, select parent committee officers and discuss "parent concerns."

The parents made their request via a memo to Frejo dated Feb. 21. In a Feb. 23 letter "to whom it may concern," Frejo rejects the request for several reasons. She faults the parents for not putting their request in writing, even though she refers to the Feb. 21 memo in her own letter. She also faults the parents for not providing a signature.

"Finally," she writes, "the use of the U.S. government facility by non-government groups and the general public is greatly discouraged because of liability (insurance) reasons ... Therefore, the use of the government facility, supplies, materials, etc., is only allowable for approved school functions coordinated by federal employees."

Yazzie defended Frejo's decision to keep the parents out of the school because they were not part of a board-approved group.

Todachine, however, said Frejo never had a problem with the parents holding meetings at the school before. This time, she ended up paying $20 out of her own pocket to rent the Chinle Chapter House instead. The meeting took place Feb. 28, a day later than parents originally planned, and Frejo and Yazzie both showed up.

It didn't do much good. Todachine and a few other parents wrote Frejo another letter March 1 asking for information about a lockdown at the school Feb. 27 and why they weren't informed. Yazzie said the lockdown actually occurred Feb. 26, triggered by an anonymous caller who threatened a "blockage" of the school. She said she did not know what he meant by that.

The Navajo Nation's Chinle police office said it had no record of a lockdown at the school last week.