State Board of Education approves first Native American charter school in Oklahoma City

OKLAHOMA CITY (KOKH) — The Oklahoma State Board of Education voted Thursday to approve a Native American charter school in Oklahoma City.

"I’m mostly just excited to finally roll up our sleeves as a community and a team and start the hard work of actually implementing this school," said Phil Gover, the founder of Sovereign Community School.

He's been working for nearly two years to turn this dream into a reality. Gover and other supporters of the school believe today's approval is the first step to helping create better outcomes for the next generation of Native Americans.

"Even as other communities in this city have made huge gains – in things like graduation and drop rates – our native kids are still struggling here," Gover said.

The 6-12th grade charter school will teach Native American history and incorporate a native perspective in all areas of curriculum.

"There’s a large percentage of people in this state who are native or can trace their lineage back to native roots, so to not focus on that is a disservice to us a state and certainly to those living in the state," said Chelsey Branham, a supporter of the school who is Chickasaw and Cherokee. "I am oftentimes very upset and discouraged by the way we teach our children in the regular classroom. We’re not really teaching historically accurate things. We’re not fully going into native culture, when that’s such a big piece of Oklahoma and who we are."

At the board meeting, some people expressed concern the school would promote segregation. Supporters believe Sovereign Community School will especially benefit indigenous students but say it's a school for all kids, regardless of race or ethnicity.

"Native American people in Oklahoma don’t look just like me," said Gover. "Native American people in Oklahoma are white, black and Hispanic. So the idea that by opening a Native American school we’re segregating kids from other races, kind of misunderstands what it is to be indigenous in this country."

Sovereign Community School's application had been previously rejected twice by Oklahoma City Public Schools due to financial concerns, but Gover is confident the budget will be in place to open for the 2019-2020 school year. You can find more information about the school through its Facebook page.