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In 1971, Hotevilla Day School (later Hotevilla-Bacavi Community School) was run by the Bureau of Indian Affairs ( BIA). The principal of the school was Vernon Masayesva, a Hopi who grew up at Hotevilla. He was determined to make the school a part of the community. Vernon established an advisory board of elders from Hotevilla who helped provide direction for the school. At that time, Hotevilla Day School, as well as most of the other BIA schools on Hopi, was staffed primarily with White teachers.
Most of the teachers stayed on the school compounds and aloof from the Hopi villages. There were a few Hopi teachers scattered throughout the reservation, but they were the exception at that time. Vernon was determined to bring the village and the school together. He opened the school gym to allow village members to play evening basketball, but subsequently got a reprimand from the BIA for doing so and for wasting electricity. He invited village members to school activities and encouraged teachers to make home visits in the villages to relay student progress and activities. When home visits were recommended at another Hopi school, the response from one teacher was “I will not do home visits or go into homes in the village. I do not feel safe. Some of those people have guns in their homes.”
Vernon encouraged the White teachers at Hotevilla Day School to observe and participate in any village activities to which they were invited, and he encouraged the Hopi staff of the school to invite the teachers whenever possible. As a result, many teachers observed katsina dances and social dances, observed and helped with weddings and baby namings, and sometimes helped with butchering, planting, harvesting, corn roasts, and gathering wood or coal for fuel. At the school parents were invited to come to lunch with the students. Each day one class would have family-style lunch in their classroom and invite two sets of parents to come to the meal. Students would serve their parents. The wisdom and knowledge of the parents was respected. One class put up a timeline of Hotevilla history in the hall and encouraged the parents to add events from their memory. That same class put up family trees in the hallway and encouraged parents to help complete the trees. Before the end of the project, all the students and their families fit on just three family trees.
I was fortunate to teach at Hotevilla Day School during the time Vernon was trying to integrate school life with village life. In the beginning, things were lonely and there was indeed a feeling of not belonging. I had a great awareness that I was part of “them” and definitely not a welcome part of the local culture. Most White teachers of that time had similar awareness, so they kept to themselves and to other White teachers on the school compound. Most, then, left Hopi after only one or a few years. My ex-wife was not comfortable at Hopi and left after two years.
A factor within schools that has had a major impact on the culture is competition. Competition is a relatively recent phenomenon on Hopi. For example, prior to the late-1980s, the only competitive sport native to Hopi was cross country running. Hopi have excelled in this sport since Louis Tewanima medaled in the 1912 Olympics. Hopi High cross-country runners were state of Arizona champions 27 years in a row. However, it must be noted: in Hopi high school, even though individuals were great runners, the success of the team remained important. Students helped and encouraged each other.
This was also true with basketball. Men and boys, sometimes girls, would play basketball whenever they could–usually at the school gym or outside basketball court. The game was played for fun and score was often not even kept. I remember going to the Hotevilla gym and asking the score for an ongoing game. Nobody knew.
Things started changing when the Hopi Junior-Senior High School (HJSHS) opened in 1987. The opening of the school brought a perceived need for a football team and much more competitive sport attitudes. (Football was not played on Hopi prior to this time.) The