An educator who teaches third-graders from the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community is the first Native American to be named Arizona Education Foundation's teacher of the year. Lynette Stant teaches at Salt River Elementary, a Bureau of Indian Education school located in the community near Scottsdale.

Stant is a member of the Navajo Nation, she's the first Native American to receive the recognition in the award's 37- year history.

The teacher says she attended a small reservation school in New Mexico during her primary years.

Stant has been teaching at the Salt River school for 16 years. It has 19 teachers and about 330 students.