SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 92

47th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2005

INTRODUCED BY

John Pinto

A JOINT MEMORIAL

URGING THE NEW MEXICO CONGRESSIONAL DELEGATION TO OBTAIN SUFFICIENT FUNDS TO PROVIDE A BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS SCHOOL FACILITY FOR STUDENTS ATTENDING KINDERGARTEN THROUGH THIRD GRADE AT THE SANOSTEE DAY SCHOOL AND TO ENSURE THAT THE BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS PRIORITIZE CORRECTION OF THE UNSAFE CONDITIONS AT THE SANOSTEE DAY SCHOOL.

     WHEREAS, Sanostee is a chapter of the Navajo Nation located in San Juan county near United States route 491; and

     WHEREAS, the community of Sanostee is roughly halfway between Shiprock and Gallup; and

     WHEREAS, Sanostee has had schools for its children since 1954, when a campus of up to ninety buildings was established but later demolished due to safety concerns because the buildings were built on unstable ground; and

     WHEREAS, the day school building, built in 1966, was saved from demolition and renovated in 1984, has been used with several portable buildings to house the eighty-seven students in grades kindergarten through third grade and offices for staff members; and

     WHEREAS, the school also houses an Indian health services field clinic providing health care services for the children and the adults of the community of Sanostee; and

     WHEREAS, inspection of the Sanostee day school in 2003 indicated that all of the structural concrete beams and two concrete piers were cracked and unsafe and many of the walls of the school are cracked and replacement of the building was recommended by the bureau of Indian affairs facilities manager; and

     WHEREAS, the condition of the schools has been studied and evaluated for over two years and findings are available that describe the dire condition of the Sanostee day school and request that the school be placed at the top of the bureau of Indian affairs facilities construction list; and

     WHEREAS, the proposal for a short-term solution involves providing additional temporary buildings while construction is begun on a permanent building at a different location so that the structural problems can be avoided in the future; and

     WHEREAS, in spite of the unhealthy and unsafe conditions of the facility around them, the students at the Sanostee day school were recognized for their high achievement in 2003;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the New Mexico congressional delegation be urged to immediately identify funding that will help provide temporary school buildings for the Sanostee day school; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the New Mexico congressional delegation also be urged to identify funding for the construction of a new day school for the Navajo community of Sanostee; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the New Mexico congressional delegation be urged to ensure that the bureau of Indian affairs take immediate action to rectify the unsafe conditions at the Sanostee day school and enable the students to continue to attend school in their community by making the Sanostee day school improvements a facilities construction priority; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the members of the New Mexico congressional delegation, the director of the bureau of Indian affairs facilities management and construction office in Shiprock, New Mexico, the area director of the Navajo regional Indian health services office in Gallup, the facilities manager of the Navajo office of facilities management and construction in Window Rock, Arizona, and to the chapter officials of the Sanostee Navajo chapter.