A New Chapter for Cherokee Language Education

Osiyo,

Language, at its core, is a code that all cultures use like a time capsule to pass their history, values and identity to future generations. One of the most important responsibilities for Cherokee Nation leaders is ensuring our language survives and thrives.

The Council of the Cherokee Nation's recent approval of legislation proposed by the Hoskin-Warner administration is a historic step forward, as it establishes full tribal oversight of the Cherokee Immersion School. Beginning this summer, the immersion school will transition away from its status as an Oklahoma public charter school and enter a new era as a fully independent Cherokee Nation educational institution.

For many years, the charter-school model helped us build and sustain a language-immersion program that became the most successful of its kind anywhere in the country. We are grateful for the partnership we have had with the state of Oklahoma and the education leaders who supported that work. But as our language programs have grown, so too has our capacity to govern them ourselves.

This transition is not about problems or dissatisfaction with our state partners. We have had our share of issues with the state, but this area is not one of them. It is about recognizing that Cherokee Nation is now prepared to exercise greater self-governance over one of our greatest responsibilities: teaching the Cherokee language to the next generation.

Since passage of the Durbin Feeling Language Preservation Act in 2019, Cherokee Nation has invested more than $175 million in language preservation and revitalization. Those investments include the Durbin Feeling Language Center; expansion of the Cherokee Language Master/Apprentice Program; services for our elders who are fluent Cherokee speakers; technology programs; growing satellite campuses in Greasy and Kenwood; and the construction of a new $30 million Cherokee Immersion Middle School that will open this fall in Tahlequah.

Today, our immersion school is stronger than ever and serves children from infancy through middle school. Students spend their days learning in Cherokee, building fluency while mastering the academic skills needed to succeed in higher education. These students represent an investment in the future of our language and our tribe.

The new law allows us to remain accountable and academically strong. It establishes a five person Cherokee Nation Immersion Education Advisory Board, which will be filled by experts in both language and education, and it requires accreditation through a qualified third-party accrediting body.

We have replaced outside control with Cherokee control, and we will maintain the highest standards and oversight. Self-governance and exercising our sovereign rights is our responsibility when we have the capacity. As the Cherokee Nation has strengthened institutions and expertise, we have assumed responsibility for healthcare, housing, justice systems, economic development, and education with great success. Language immersion education should be no different.

Our ancestors fought to preserve the Cherokee language through some of the most difficult chapters in our history. They carried it through removal, allotment, boarding schools, and generations of policies designed to erase our Cherokee culture. Because of their determination, we still have a language worth saving.

Now it is our turn. By exercising greater sovereignty over our schools, we are creating more opportunities for Cherokee children to learn, speak, and live out their language every day. It is a declaration that the future of Cherokee language education belongs in Cherokee hands.

Wado,

Chuck Hoskin Jr.
Principal Chief