The Evergreen State College
Reservation-Based, Community Determined Program
Speakers’ Series for Enduring Legacies, Native Cases
Presenting: Gary Arthur and David Engle
Topic: Is Diversity a Mask or a Bridge? The Indian Mascot Debate
Date: Saturday, January 30, 2016
Time: 1:30 p.m.
Place: Evergreen Longhouse
The event is free, and everyone is welcome!
Website for the case study: http://nativecases.evergreen.edu/collection/cases/is-diversity-a-mask-or-a-bridge.html
Abstract of case study topic: For decades, the Indian Mascot issue has fostered controversy across the land. Middle schools, high schools, colleges and universities and professional athletic organizations have wrestled with the issue. Port Townsend High School in Washington State is one of the schools coming to grips with its mascot name ,“the Redskins.” The community is in conflict about retaining or retiring the mascot name. Newly appointed Superintendent David Engle is no stranger to the conflict, having seen the same issue in the Edmonds School District where his children attended school. The Port Townsend School Board is determined to create “a fair, mature and respectful process for dealing with the sensitive issue.” This three part case explores the process of attempting to move the discussion of this issue from black and white, toward a deeper understanding of all sides.
Biography for Gary Arthur, Author of the case, Is Diversity a Mask or a Bridge? The Indian Mascot Debate
The author of the case, Gary Arthur, is an instructor at Grays Harbor College (GHC) in Aberdeen, Washington. His Master’s degree is from California State University Dominguez Hills in Humanities. His duties at GHC also include the position of Coordinator and Advisor for the Reservation-Based Degree, and he is the Onsite Coordinator for the Native Cases Institute. He teaches Health in connection with the Reservation Based Program, and uses the Native Case studies in his course. He has attended the Native Cases summer institute for the last six years and has contributed three case studies entitled Should Indian Sports Mascots Be Repealed? and Is Diversity a Mask or a Bridge? The Indian Mascot Debate, plus The Aftermath of Redskins Indian Mascot Decisions: What’s Next? He believes that having students research and report out on cases is a valuable way of enriching the course of study in his online class.
Biography for David Engle, Guest Speaker:
David Engle became the Superintendent of Schools for the Port Townsend School District in 2012. He shares that Port Townsend is the most beautiful place on earth! David Engle was previously the director of operations for SNS Project Inkwell (U.S.). A longtime resident of Washington’s Puget Sound region, David returned to the Pacific Northwest after a four-year absence, during which time he served as the superintendent of schools for the North Platte Public School District in Nebraska, and where he recently completed work as an executive director at Educational Testing Service (ETS) leading a project focused on teacher and principal evaluation.
David lectured in Moscow, Russia, in the mid-’90s on appropriate uses of computer-based technologies in schools while simultaneously developing other international school-to-school partnerships, more recently in Mexico and Africa. Most recently, David served as a member of an official Nebraska state delegation to China to establish educational ties there. As an outcome of that visit, the North Platte Public School District now hosts the first secondary distance-learning Mandarin language instruction program in Nebraska.
David served as the principal of Interlake High School in the Bellevue Public School District (Washington) and led that school’s International Baccalaureate program to full diploma-granting status before his departure for Seattle in 2000. As the principal of Ballard High School in the Seattle Public School District, David developed an international partnership with Engelska Skolan Södre in Stockholm. David served as the regional coordinator for the Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program from 1999 to 2004.
From 2002 to 2004, David continued his work with the Seattle Public Schools to lead the conversion of large, comprehensive urban high schools into smaller learning communities that strove to personalize and support increased academic achievement for every high school student. In 2004, David accepted the position of principal of Squalicum High School with the Bellingham School District and was instrumental in leading the implementation of a Gates Education Foundation grant there.
In Nebraska, David was an active advocate for the extension of robust broadband access into remote rural areas of the state. His recent work with ETS focused on how to bring to market effective tools for the assessment and evaluation of principal and teacher professional performance.
David holds a BA from the University of Washington, a master’s degree in Computer Education from St. Martin’s College, and an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from Seattle Pacific University.
For more information about this presentation, please contact: Cindy Marchand-Cecil, MSW, RBCD Program Director, at marchanc@evergreen.edu.
About: The Enduring Legacies, Native Cases Initiative:
The mission of the Enduring Legacies Native Cases Initiative is to develop culturally relevant curriculum and teaching resources in the form of case studies on key issues in Indian Country. Culturally relevant curriculum is a key factor in student success and essential to prepare students for leadership roles. Key topics of our cases have been identified by Native leaders. Our partners in developing and using these cases are Northwest Indian College, Salish Kootenai College, and Grays Harbor College. Field tests at Evergreen began in Fall, 2006 in our Reservation Based/Community Determined program. We welcome you to use our extensive collection of cases and tell us how they worked for you. We are grateful for the support of many local and regional Tribes, the Lumina Foundation for Education, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the National Science Foundation. The support of our Indian Advisory Board is also deeply appreciated. They helped us identify key issues in Indian Country for our cases. For further information, contact Barbara Leigh Smith at smithb@evergreen.edu. The website for the Native cases initiative is http://nativecases.evergreen.edu/about.html.