{"id":553504,"date":"2018-03-29T09:19:42","date_gmt":"2018-03-29T15:19:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=553504"},"modified":"2018-03-30T14:42:47","modified_gmt":"2018-03-30T20:42:47","slug":"nm-assistant-secretary-for-indian-education-ousted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/03\/nm-assistant-secretary-for-indian-education-ousted\/","title":{"rendered":"NM assistant secretary for Indian education ousted"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_56542\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-56542\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Kids-at-Roundhouse-771x504.jpg\" alt=\"A statue outside the Roundhouse in Santa Fe.\" width=\"771\" height=\"504\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Kids-at-Roundhouse-771x504.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Kids-at-Roundhouse-336x220.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Kids-at-Roundhouse-768x502.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Kids-at-Roundhouse-1170x764.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Kids-at-Roundhouse.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Heath Haussamen \/ NMPolitics.net<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">A statue outside the Roundhouse in Santa Fe.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>The state\u2019s assistant secretary for Native American education is claiming she was unfairly forced out of the New Mexico Public Education Department earlier this month.<\/p>\n<p>In a\u00a0two-page letter\u00a0sent this week to the state\u2019s tribal elders and obtained by New Mexico In Depth, Latifah Phillips said she \u201cwas approached with a termination letter with no explanation or any known documented reasoning, and then presented with the opportunity to resign.\u201d\u00a0<em>(To read the full text of Phillips\u2019 letter, click\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.documentcloud.org\/documents\/4425649-Latifah-Phillips-March-26-Letter-to-Tribal-Leaders.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">here<\/a>.)<\/em><\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This article comes from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmindepth.com\/2018\/03\/28\/nm-assistant-secretary-for-indian-education-ousted\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">New Mexico In Depth<\/a>. Sign up for\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmindepth.us6.list-manage.com\/subscribe?u=1d2ab093d81b992e50978b363&amp;id=9294743d38\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">their newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>Phillips chose to be fired. She described her decision as \u201ca small act of protest to the unfairness of this action.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>A spokeswoman for the Public Education Department did not respond to requests for comment on Phillips\u2019 firing. Attempts to speak to Phillips about her letter were unsuccessful, too.<\/p>\n<p>The department\u2019s website still lists Phillips as the assistant secretary for Native American education. It also lists her as a member of the Tohono O\u2019odham nation.<\/p>\n<p>Phillips came to the PED with a packed r\u00e9sum\u00e9, including chief of staff for the Santa Fe Public Schools district.<\/p>\n<p>She also has taught in Texas and has earned two masters degrees in education, one from the University of Texas, Pan American, and another from Teachers College at Columbia University.<\/p>\n<p>Before coming to New Mexico, she worked at the Philadelphia School District in an administrative post.<\/p>\n<p>It is unclear what led to Phillips\u2019 termination, but it comes at a time when the education department\u2019s relationship with the state\u2019s Native American communities is deteriorating.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>A ruling is expected soon on a\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmindepth.com\/2017\/08\/04\/does-poorly-educating-students-violate-the-constitution-a-judge-will-decide\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">lawsuit that contends the state education department<\/a>\u00a0isn\u2019t meeting its constitutional obligation to provide a sufficient education for all children. The suit\u2019s plaintiffs have cited education outcomes for low-income, Native American and English language learners.<\/p>\n<p>And in December 2017 tribal leaders\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.santafenewmexican.com\/news\/education\/pueblo-leaders-decry-public-education-chief-s-manifest-destiny-comment\/article_da7cd5bf-4102-5f2f-9bf0-c5692dc49e73.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">harshly criticized<\/a>\u00a0Education Secretary Christopher Ruszkowski for listing Manifest Destiny among the nation\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.abqjournal.com\/1104504\/ped-chief-school-choice-is-quintessentially-american.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cfundamental principles of this country\u201d during a speech<\/a>\u00a0to charter schools.<\/p>\n<p>New Mexico is home to 22 federally recognized tribes and Native Americans make up roughly 10 percent of the population. Manifest Destiny is viewed by many through a lens of conquest and a resulting cascade of federal and state laws, regulations and education policies, including the forced removal of generations of indigenous youth to boarding schools.<\/p>\n<p>In her letter, Phillips cited the Manifest Destiny comments \u2014 without naming Ruszkowski \u2014 as an example of the state\u2019s failure to include indigenous cultures in the education process.<\/p>\n<p>Gov. Susana Martinez also <a href=\"http:\/\/nmindepth.com\/2018\/03\/08\/governor-vetoes-tribal-priorities-provoking-strong-words-from-native-lawmakers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">came under criticism<\/a>\u00a0earlier this month by Native American lawmakers because she vetoed funding for several Native American projects in the state\u2019s $6 billion budget.<\/p>\n<p>In the letter, Phillips cited the \u201ccountless documents resulting from federal and state commissioned studies (that) highlight the glaring failures of our systems and institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While New Mexico has come a long way \u201cin articulating an Indian education policy guiding the enactment of the Indian Education Act and defining the aspirations for our children, we have fallen short and have a very long way to go,\u201d Phillips wrote.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut I have come to a clarifying realization that what is obvious to you, the continuation of a long history of injustice and inequity, is not always easily understood by others,\u201d she continued in her letter. \u201cThis is many times the fundamental challenge of those who understand \u2014 through their lived experiences \u2014 and generate an outcry in these unfortunate situations. These types of actions create an environment where many dedicated and hardworking Tribal members become subjected to working under difficult circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The state\u2019s assistant secretary for Native American education is claiming she was unfairly forced out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":56542,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[709,107],"class_list":["post-553504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-native-americans","tag-roundhouse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=553504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/553504\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=553504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=553504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=553504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}