Nambé Community School (Nambe, N.M.)

It was through the efforts and financial assistance of Mr. and Mrs. Cyrus McCormick that the Nambe community school project was undertaken. In 1937, realizing that Nambe's school was not meeting the community's needs, the McCormick's brought together Dr. Loyd Tireman of the University of New Mexico's College of Education and Mr. Joseph Granito, Santa Fe County Superintendent of Schools to discuss the possibility of developing a community school. The McCormicks offered to subsidize the school for 5 years so there would be no additional tax burden. Backed by the majority of the community, the project went forward.

In cooperation with the parents, the Nambe community school would design and implement a program that would make the best use of all available resources. Foremost, the school would determine and address the most important needs of the community: health, infant mortality, social relationships, land management, craft work, recreation, command of the English language. Secondly, the school would utilize the community's resources: fields, arroyos, homes, shops, and the expertise of community members. Proficiency in the three R's was an expectation. The school would liaison to county, state and federal agencies in pursuit of additional funding and resources. The curriculum would be kept flexible so that it could meet and address community needs as they arose.

Staff would have to be "open-minded, familiar and sympathetic with the problems of Spanish-speaking children." Staff would need to be familiar with rural areas, share the vision of the project, and be part of the community. Project administrators included Joseph Granito (county superintendent), Meriamne Geyer (county supervisor), Loyd S. Tireman (director), Mary Watson (principal). Cooperating agencies included the Community of Nambe, Santa Fe County Board of Education, General Education Board, University of New Mexico, State Public Health Service, State Vocational Departments, County Health Service, County Agricultural Agent, County Home Demonstration Agent, National Youth Administration, Works Progress Administration, Soil Conservation Service, Forest Service, Children's Bureau Department of Labor.

The project ended in 1942, five years after its inception. This experiment in education provided a window to the potentials and controversies that community sensitive and well funded education could have in rural New Mexico.

Sources: Tireman, L. S. " La Comunidad: Report of the Nambe Community School, 1937-1942. University of New Mexico Press, 1943; Tireman, L. S. Nambe: A Community School, 1939; Apodaca, Rita C. The Nambe Community School (1937-1942): A Study of a Community-Relevant Curriculum. PhD. Diss., University of New Mexico, 1986; Bachelor, David L. Educational Reform in New Mexico: Tireman, San Jose, and Nambe. University of New Mexico Press, 1991; Tireman, L.S. A Community School in a Spanish-Speaking Village. University of New Mexico Press, 1948.

From the guide to the Nambe Community School Teachers' Diaries, 1935-1942, (University Libraries, Center for Southwest Research.)