Tacoma Public Schools

18 Mar

Puyallup Tribe partners with TPS to provide Native families with food

food, hunger, Indian Education, Puyallup Tribe of Indians, Tacoma Public Schools

By Lisa Pemberton, Puyallup Tribal News Editor Food distribution events have been held in recent months for Native American Families enrolled in the Indian Education Program at Tacoma Public Schools. The program distributed food for Thanksgiving (including turkey) and Christmas (including ham) as well as groceries for January, February and March. “These events are made possible due to the generous support by the Puyallup Tribe of Indians and the Puyallup Tribal Council,” said David A. Syth (Crow Nation), TPS Indian Education Coordinator. “These are trying times and myself as well as our Native families, raise our hands to the Puyallup…

24 Feb

Lushootseed name under consideration for Jason Lee Middle School in Tacoma

Jason Lee Middle School, lushootseed, Puyallup Tribe of Indians, Tacoma Public Schools

By Puyallup Tribal News Staff A name change of Tacoma Public Schools’ oldest school, Jason Lee Middle School, is part of the community’s efforts to honor local history and acknowledge the past. Since last summer, many Tacoma community members have expressed concerns with Lee’s past with the creation Indian boarding schools, which caused generational trauma among many Indigenous people. Lee arrived in the area as a missionary in the 1830s and quickly started to assimilate local Indigenous people by stripping them of their customs, culture, and language as well as cutting their hair short to fit into the white culture.…