Author: Kim Kalliber

By Kalvin Valdillez; photos courtesy of Ray Sheldon, Jr.

It has been one full term. Four long years since Tulalip tribal member Ray Sheldon Jr. first ran for a position on the Marysville School District (MSD) school board in 2017. Although he wasn’t elected on his first go-round, Ray’s desire to hold that position and make a positive impact for his community has never faltered. 

With Tulalip students and families in mind, Ray has decided to run once again for a seat on the board. If elected, he would represent District One, which is largely comprised of the Tulalip Reservation. He intends to be a strong voice advocating for the needs of tribal students and families who live within District One’s boundaries.  

“There are five board members and four of those positions are open this year,” said Ray. “I live at Hermosa; I’ve been here for a long time and I would really love to have the position. I graduated from MP. I started at Tulalip elementary, went to Liberty, Pinewood, and Marysville Middle school and Pilchuck; in ’75 they fused the two schools together. So, I’ve been around.”

He continued, “I am a Tulalip planning commissioner and a Snohomish County planning commissioner and I belong to a few committees here in town, with the tribal education committee and as the bond levy chair for the past few years. I will work as hard as I do with my two planning commissions. Sometimes I think that by being on both planning commissions, people are starting to see how we feel as a tribe. And the people in the school district need to understand how we feel out here.”

It has been reported that throughout MSD’s twenty-two schools, they serve nearly 12,000 students. And according to the district’s Indian Education webpage, more than 10% of those students are enrolled tribal members either with Tulalip or other federally recognized tribes throughout the nation. 

As a tribal member who went through the Marysville School District during his academic career, Ray believes that he has valuable input that will ultimately be in the best interest of those Indigenous students, who otherwise might be overlooked when the school board makes major decisions. In fact, that is one of the reasons why he chose to throw his name in the hat once more, because many tribal families feel unheard, as though their needs and desires are not being factored-in and met throughout the entire district. 

Ray echoed many sentiments that tribal parents often voice and have voiced for well over a decade. The main concern is that there is practically no relationship between tribal families and the current MSD District One representative, Chris Nation, who has held the position for the past three terms. 

Although Nation is not running for re-election, Ray fears that much of the same would continue should his opponent, Connor Krebbs, get into the position come election time. Ray notes that Connor is relatively new to the area and has lived in Marysville for the past couple of years after moving from Texas. Whereas Ray has lived in District One nearly his entire lifetime, and has excellent and established relationships with both the communities of Marysville and Tulalip. 

Prior to Nation, Tulalip tribal elder Don ‘Penoke’ Hatch served in that position for a total of 16 years, or four terms. During his tenure, Penoke would often reach out to families within District One, visiting students and families at their homes or at local gatherings to get their input and perspective on several issues happening within MSD at the time. He would then take that information and any concerns to the next board meeting, before any votes were cast and any big decisions were made. Unfortunately, this practice did not continue after Penoke retired from the board. Ray is looking to repair that broken relationship between school district and tribal families, and is backed by Penoke himself who serves as Ray’s original inspiration and the reason he wishes to be an elected MSD board member.

“Don and I were talking when he was on the board,” Ray shared. “One time at breakfast, he told me I was supposed to take over. I’m about 15 years late, but I’m ready to do this work.”

Penoke stated, “Ray is a strong person who utilizes his voice. I feel he would be a tremendous person in there.  He’s coached sports and knows a lot of people in Marysville. Ray has been to many school board meetings and committee meetings in the last several years. There’s nobody that’s running for the board now, who has been there as much as he has in the last few years.”

Continuing, Penoke expressed, “Each school board member counts for 20% of the big decisions like boundaries, school names, mascots, school colors. So, when we have something big coming up, he would have a vote in that. If they dump the Tomahawk, he would be one of the ones helping make the decision of what the mascot will be. We got to make sure we have a voice.”

Ray wishes to see the Tulalip culture, language and history taught at each school, noting that Lushootseed is currently only offered at select schools such as Heritage and MPHS. There are a lot of tribal students who attend other schools like Getchell High School, who he believes should be afforded the option to learn more about their local tribe. 

He is not only passionate about tribal youth within the school district, but advocates for representation for all students including those living with special needs. He was sure to comment on the lack of representation for Hispanic students and those youth involved with the BLM movement, and stated he will work to make sure those students are supported. Ray has also urged the school district to hire more teaching staff and faculty members of color and was pleased to report that he now sees more people of different ethnicities when visiting the schools and the district office. 

 “There’s been a lot of changing in the past year, that I’ve harped on, that’s happening. And those things are slowly happening because they are getting tired of me saying the same thing over and over again at the board meetings,” said Ray. “We also need to change how the behavioral system is handled because we have a lot of tribal kids in those situations. We have a lot of kids with special needs who need to be taken care of. We need to work on better policy to help keep the schools and students stay safe, which we haven’t done in a while.”

As Ray mentioned previously, he is the current chairperson for the bond levy that would increase property taxes in Marysville in order to raise funds to repair or rebuild a number of outdated schools within the district. 

He stated, “There’s a lot of schools, four of them, that really need to be changed. The floors are rotting out at Cedarcrest, Liberty and Cascade. And we all know how old the high school is now, that’s where Totem Middle School is. Even the Quil needs changes because they have the portables, our kids are going to classes that are separate from the schools. If we can’t keep the schools up, if we don’t approve this for the schools, no one will want to live here. They’re going to want to go to Lake Stevens, Arlington and Lakewood where the schools are newer and they will gladly pay the tax.”

Over the last few weeks, Ray has been campaigning with Vanessa Edwards who is up for re-election in District Four. He wants every eligible voter to also support her on election day. Her opposition, Wade Reinhardt, has some radical views and has shared some controversial statements while on the campaign trail, most notably his opposition to teach Critical Race Theory curriculum in schools. 

“Vanessa is in District Four,” he explained. “She’s been supportive of tribal students for quite a while. Last Friday, in Wade’s statement against Vanessa, he said he will not support any curriculum that places value on any race, color, gender, or national origin above another. That’s why we need your support.  That’s why it’s important to get her in there because he can really throw a wrench into everything. If you live off the reservation, you don’t have to vote just for your district, you can vote for everybody. You can vote for everyone on the ballot.”

Ballots will be mailed on Friday October 15, to begin the eighteen-day voting period. Online and mail registrations must be received by October 25, eight days prior to this year’s Election Day of November 2. The deadline for in-person voter registration is also November 2. Ballots must be placed in an official drop box by 8:00 p.m. on Election Day in order for your vote to count. 

“I praise Ray and I’m hoping and praying he gets in there,” shared Penoke. “If we don’t go out and vote for one of our tribal members, then we’re not going to be able to get the things we need for our children and parents. We have to go out and start campaigning for him. Ray needs help passing pamphlets out from our young people. And if you see a sign that is down, help put it back. We need a lot of help from our people out here. We need to take care of our schools and take care of our kids.”

Ray added, “It’s really important that if we, as a community, are upset with how the district is being run, it’s time. It’s time that we all stand up and say, this is the guy, we’re going to put him in there. We can make a change for our students now. This is exciting and enjoyable for me and I’m really hoping to get in. But if it doesn’t happen, I’ll still be here. I’ll be fighting for our students for a long time.” 

For more information and to follow Ray’s campaign, please be sure to join his Facebook group, Ray Sheldon Jr. for MSD 25 District 1. 

By Kalvin Valdillez, Tulalip News

Following a downpour of rain on a Thursday afternoon, approximately twenty young adults met at the gravel lot overlooking Mission Beach. Everybody in attendance wore orange shirts, designed by Tulalip artist Marysa Sylvester, with a hummingbird and a flower in traditional formline. The message on the t-shirt read Every Child Matters. Circling up, the group shared a prayer together, thanking the Creator for temporarily pausing the wind and precipitation, so that they could perform important work on a day of recognition, a day of remembrance and a day of healing.  

“When you guys are running, your ancestors are with you,” said Tulalip Youth and Family Enrichment Manager, Josh Fryberg. “It’s something bigger than us, it’s sending strength the best way that we can to the other side. We are running for our kids. Running for our ancestors. Running for our future generations.”

Kicking-off a moving ceremony hosted by the Tulalip Education Division on Residential Boarding School Awareness Day, the collective of Tulalip youth laced up their sneakers and held their banners high, as they set out on a 1.7 mile run through the reservation from Mission Beach to the Tulalip Dinning Hall. 

The descendants of boarding school survivors, the runners ran with purpose, delivering a message to the world that we as Native Americans and First Nations people are still here despite the government’s attempt to erase our identity, traditions and culture. 

Upon arrival to the former Tulalip boarding school, the youth prepared for an evening of healing and good medicine through traditional song and dance as the community gathered to honor the residential school survivors and in memory of the thousands of young children who did not survive the horrific boarding school era. 

By Micheal Rios, Tulalip News

September 30 was Canada’s first-ever National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. A recently created holiday to honor the victims and survivors of our First Nations relatives who experienced forced assimilation at residential schools. Truth and reconciliation have been trending topics for months now, as bodies of Indigenous children being found by the hundreds in unmarked graves at previous residential school sites continues to make global headlines.

It started with the remains of 215 children being discovered on the former grounds of Canada’s largest residential school. That was in May. Since then, thousands of unmarked gravesites have been found at similar sites across Canada. A rising tally of these graves – more than 6,500 so far – has triggered a national reckoning over Canada’s residential school legacy.

Here in the United States, Native Americans know all too well the paralleled legacy of forced assimilation, stolen children, and untold horrors occurring for generations at federally sanctioned, church operated boarding schools. 

As historian and Hibulb Cultural Center collaborator Carolyn Marr explained in her Between Two Worlds exhibit, the underlying goal of Indian education from the 1880s through the early twentieth century was to assimilate the Indians into the melting pot of America. The twenty-five, off-reservation boarding schools operating in the United States sought to “bring the Indian to civilization and keep him there,” immersing children in white ways far from the influences of traditional Indian life. 

Reservation boarding schools like Tulalip’s, in operation from 1905-1932, aimed to strip Native children of their language, family, ceremonies and culture.

Doing his part to bring attention to National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, while honoring the past, present and future of a thriving Tulalip, elder Harold “Juju” Joseph created a gigantic medicine wheel out of thousands of hand-made prayer sticks. With the assistance of his family, they set individual prayer sticks one by one until they had created the 100ft wide medicine wheel. In the center, the sticks formed the number 6509 in recognition of each Indigenous body uncovered thus far at Canadian residential school sites. 

“My goal was to hold a ceremony in our traditional ways, free of any politics, to honor the kids who were taken from their families, their land, their tribes and never made it home,” explained Juju. “What better symbolizes our connection to each other than the medicine wheel? It’s a symbol used by our people all across the United States and Canada to represent the natural cycles of life and are connection to [Mother Earth]. It means as much now as it did before colonization. Within this circle everyone, no matter your age or background, can come together in ceremony and offer prayer.”

An intimate gather of close to 40 Tulalip tribal members and Native relatives within the local school district joined Juju within the circle. Everyone was encouraged to share their thoughts and feelings with the group. Youth culture bearers Image Enick and Tarynn Fryberg shared a song composed by Antone George in honor of those lost at the residential schools.

Following their song offering, Tarynn said, “I drum today for my ancestors who weren’t allowed to drum when they were alive. I encourage all our young ones to pick up the drum because our ancestors couldn’t. Every time we drum, we honor them. They couldn’t practice their traditions, but we can today. Our ancestors are watching us and they are happy to see us in the circle honoring those who never made it back home.”

In Harriette Shelton Dover’s autobiography Tulalip From My Heart, she goes into great detail of her experience at the Tulalip Boarding School. She describes being just nine-years-old and getting whipped for speaking her own language. It was against regulations for any of the students to speak their Native language. She wrote that anytime a child was overheard speaking in their traditional tongue they’d be strapped; a beating with a horse and buggy harness. The school’s matron would strap the girls from the back of their necks all the way to their ankles for daring to speak their own language. It is of little wonder then as to why Lushootseed reached the brink of extinction after multiple generations of Tulalip students were assimilated to English in such a barbaric way. 

But 100 years after Harriette and countless others of innocent Indigenous children had their language beaten out of them, proud Lushootseed speaker and educator Natosha Gobin led those within the medicine wheel with a prayer, in their traditional language. Her words washed over those in the circle and brought tears of happiness to some as they reflected on Lushootseed’s revival. 

“To speak Lushootseed is to give back voices to our ancestors, the ones who survived and the ones who never made it home,” expressed Natosha. With her fellow language warriors, they’re helping to decolonize the education system by teaching the next generation Lushootseed at TELA, Quil Ceda Elementary, Totem Middle, Heritage and Marysville Pilchuck. “It’s about being able to honor our ancestors by passing on their stories in their language. It’s about empowering our community to honor language, culture and traditions because it all goes hand in hand. Like this medicine wheel we are standing in, we can see how we’re all connected through these sacred teachings. By knowing our teachings and embracing culture and the language we regain the identity that the Boarding School Era attempted to take from our people.” 

Language. Ceremony. Culture. These central tenants to Native American identity thrived inside the medicine wheel as the gathering did their best to honor the 6,509. On National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, we know the loss of life claimed by colonization via boarding school assimilation can never be reconciled. The truth is, the best way to honor those who never made it home is to live for them.