"It's a positive sign that the Navajo language classes at Ruth N. Bond Elementary School have a waiting list, considering a growing concern about Navajo children losing important cultural values.

However, it's also a problem that needs a solution quickly so that willing students can start learning their native tongue. There are only two teachers who are certified to teach Navajo at the school and they are scrambling to keep up with the demand. Their fear is that if they don't get these students in classes quickly, the children will lose important basic first lessons, such as how to say colors, numbers and clans as well as key elements of their culture.

Between the two teachers, most students in kindergarten through third grade are served. However, officials say the only way to accommodate students on the waiting list are if another student transfers out of the school or parents pull their children out of bilingual classes.

Ruth N. Bond is the only school out of the 18 schools in the Central Consolidated School District that has this problem. Since officials have it covered in other schools, it seems like a solution at Ruth N. Bond might be within reach."

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Editorial: Navajo language teachers help preserve heritage (The Farmington Daily Times 4/9)