Jones said his students have worked their way up from writing a paragraph in their daily journal to writing one page a day, entirely in Navajo.

The class also does weather observations and grammar lessons in Navajo, Jones said.

Because there is not much course material available in Navajo, Jones said he creates most of his own worksheets and course material.

“I’m hoping the kids keep the language going,” Jones said. “I want them to keep reading and writing in Navajo alive.”

Robert Kelty, the principal at Puente de Hozho, said studies have shown that people who are bilingual are more empathetic and their brains function differently.

“I’ve always been inspired by how the district uses this funding,” Kelty said. “We truly do desegregate, and this is exactly what the desegregation law was about.”

If the bill in the Arizona Senate were to pass and the district did not secure the votes to keep desegregation funding, Kelley said the schools and services that benefit from the money would not be eliminated, but money would have to be shifted around to keep them.

“We always talk about what would happen if we lose funding, especially large amounts of funding,” Kelley said. “We would always serve our students, but I’m not sure about where we would get the money.”

The reporter can be reached at cvanek@azdailysun.com or 556-2249.

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