The Baxter Elementary students opened the first of two sessions, moderated by CIRI Historian Alexandra J. McClanahan, that featured participants from the new book, Growing Up Native in Alaska. Nearly 125 principals and supervisors of the Anchorage School District attended the two three-hour presentations, which were aimed at providing equity training for school district management.

Edna Lamebull, Indian education program supervisor for the district, said the decision to feature Growing Up Native in Alaska in the training sessions grew out of a suggestion by Acting Superintendent Carol Comeau. Comeau attended a Commonwealth North lunch last summer that featured the book, she said, and urged Lamebull to find a way for the school district to focus on young Alaska Native leaders and their experiences.

Lamebull said it was decided that the government-required "equity" training for district leadership, which encourages greater understanding of such issues as those relating to gender, race or age, would be the most appropriate way to feature the book. Racial discrimination is one of the themes of the book, including discrimination both from within the Native community and from outside.

Young leaders from the book who participated in the sessions included Sharon Anderson, Dawn Dinwoodie, Jim LaBelle, Jason Metrokin, Brenda Takes Horse, Kim Olson and Carrie Irwin Brown. The panelists discussed their early experiences, focusing on how they were affected by the educational system in Alaska.

Lamebull said the reaction from those attending the sessions was "tremendous."

"We've had nothing but good comments," she said. She also said that because the first session was videotaped, it can be used for any of the principals who were unable to attend either session.

Also featured in the training was a curriculum to be used with the book, developed by Debi Bye, Cherokee, who said she was greatly affected when she read the book. Bye, who taught in rural Alaska for about 17 years, urged principals to make use of the book within the school system.

When principals expressed an interest in future presentations about the book for individual schools, Lamebull suggested a speaker's bureau might be developed so that participants from the book could be brought into the schools. Panelists who participated in the sessions agreed they would like to work with schools.

"We're hoping to get that going," Lamebull said. She also noted that the book may be used in the Anchorage School District as part of the seventh grade curriculum, which includes Alaska history.

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