On December 8th 2014, the Marysville School District’s school board located in Marysville, WA voted unanimously to approve the mandating of the Since Time Immemorial tribal sovereignty curriculum for district schools. The Marysville School District boundaries include the Tulalip tribes.

Denny Hurtado from the Office of Native Education provides testimony to the Marysville School Board. Photo by: Tulalip News/ Brandi N. Montreuil

“This is awesome. This is a big district and to have a school board adopt it means a lot to us at the Native Office of Education, us as Indian people, and the people who created it. This is a great thing, because they are saying how important it is to start teaching about our history and our culture,” said Denny Hurtado

The Since Time Immemorial tribal sovereignty curriculum grew out of the 2005 H.B. 1495, introduced by Sen. McCoy (Tulalip), which called on school districts in Washington State to incorporate local tribal history, culture, governance and current tribal affairs into school curriculum. The State’s Office of Native Education worked tirelessly with the 29 tribes in Washington in developing the curriculum.

The Marysville School District now becomes one of the few school districts in Washington State to mandate the curriculum for its K-12 schools.

The efforts to mandate the curriculum were led by Native educators and other district staff and administrators. Efforts are also underway to work with the Tulalip tribes in developing a curriculum relevant to the history and issues pertaining to the Tulalip tribes.

The Marysville School Board with members of the curriculum committee & community members post vote to mandate the STI curriculum. Photo by: Tulalip News/ Brandi N. Montreuil