Since Time Immemorial

Abby Bekele

In 2015, Washington State mandated the implementation of the tribal sovereignty curriculum known as Since Time Immemorial (STI). It wasn’t until 2019 that (STI) was actually put into practice by Seattle Public Schools (SPS) and $300,000 dollars were put towards three years of professional development regarding implementing tribal history which would be required for all educators. Until that point, the 2015 legislation had gone altogether unfunded. 

According to the Tribal History and Culture Extended Core Instructional Materials Adoption Board Action Report Update (BAU) from spring 2024, STI successes include: 

However, the BAU also highlights the many shortcomings of the implementation in SPS which Brown attributed to the “district’s lack of prioritization” and “breakdown in communication,” between the district, school principals, and teachers. According to the BAU, these issues include:

Educator and principal awareness and accountability, COVID and COVID-related challenges, prioritization of other curriculum adoptions, and many more.

These deficiencies trickle down from the district into the classrooms, as exemplified below. Despite only 15% of teachers indicating unawareness of STI and its requirements, the graphic indicates very little compliance with the STI curriculum. 

Educator and principal awareness and accountability, COVID and COVID-related challenges, prioritization of other curriculum adoptions, and many more.

These deficiencies trickle down from the district into the classrooms, as exemplified below. Despite only 15% of teachers indicating unawareness of STI and its requirements, the graphic indicates very little compliance with the STI curriculum.

Further, Brown said that for the first time this year, breakout sessions were held for teachers to learn more about the Tribal Sovereignty and History program. 

“This workshop was optional and only 13 principles showed up,” Brown said. “We rely too much on teachers to do the heavy lifting. In addition to all of their responsibilities in school, this falls on their shoulders as well.” 

It is vital that school and district leaders play a prime role in the fulfillment of STI and its component parts. 

As said by the BAU, most school leaders indicated an awareness of STI and the curriculum requirements which come with the program. Nevertheless, not many school leaders reported having completed the required training for STI. It is likely that this lack of prioritization is due to a paucity of district promotion in conjunction with insufficient state legislation enforcing STI.

“There are many plans developed for teachers so that they can teach about Native history. So, the next step is communicating that these resources are there,” Brown said.

In the interest of maximizing the effectiveness of STI, it is clear that the district must work to improve clear communication of the expectations that come along with STI. Further, these requirements must be enforced, or they will continue to be treated as optional. 

“If we’re going to address these issues, we are shedding light on the negative parts of American history and the negative actions of our ancestors. It’s so much easier to just be like, ‘we’re in this great country, and I have this great lineage’,” History teacher Robin Dowdy said. 

“It does feel like there’s very few solutions, right? Like we haven’t figured out how we’re going to address it, so it feels like we’ve got all these negatives and not a lot of ‘and this is what we’re going to do about it’.”

As Dowdy said, some will argue that this work is not worth the discomfort that comes with learning about these issues. In order to minimize the discomfort of delving into the unadulterated and decolonized history of the United States and the dark realities that will be encountered, SPS will be responsible for weaving a nuanced perspective into the standard curriculum for young students.

“It is important to find and understand history and your place in it,”  Violet Vargas said, one of the previous leaders of the multi-cultural club at BHS. “The past was awful, but we are not the past, we are the future.”