Our History

Established in 1975 as a Bureau of Indian Affairs school, San Simon Elementary School forged new paths while reimagining an educational program to serve children of the Tohono O’odham (the desert people) Nation. San Simon Elementary became the apotheosis of Tohono O’odham youths’ 11,000 years of existence in the Sonora Desert Region. The descendants of the Native scientists, inventors, farmers, and engineers whose scientific discoveries made the best of our land inherited an educational legacy in San Simon Elementary School.

School Building

Before moving to our current location in Sells, AZ, the original school buildings were smaller, serving students from separate villages in Duval and Pisenemo. Limited by size, location, access, and facilities, the educational program was not effectively meeting our community’s needs. San Simon Elementary embodied an inherent mission to protect the Tohono O’odham Nation’s most precious resource – our children. More specifically, the mission was to protect the education of our children.

Our current campus started with three buildings – an administration building with a cafeteria and a stage and two buildings with four classrooms each. Shifting into a day school program, students were bused to school in the morning and bused home at the end of every school day. In the Tohono O’odham Nation’s spirit of innovation, non-traditional classrooms were built without walls, allowing teachers and students to observe the learning processes for other grade levels.

Innovative Learning Environment

San Simon Elementary experimented early with open classrooms throughout our learning spaces to help students progress faster. Advanced students could easily integrate into higher grade levels, and students who needed more classroom instruction could participate with those at lower grade levels. While this innovative, student-centric teaching strategy fostered a cooperative learning environment, ultimately, it proved impractical. Walls were eventually built to separate the traditional K - 8 grade classrooms.

By 1977, our campus had doubled, adding a library, two more classroom buildings with four rooms each, and a gymnasium. San Simon Elementary students were fully immersed in a learning environment with their Tohono O’odham language, culture, and tradition. From the beginning, San Simon hired Tohono O’odham staff members to impart and sustain the culture and tradition and provide translation for students within the classroom.

Many Tohono O’odham staff members have been at San Simon Elementary since its beginning, helping translate when O’odham was many of our students’ first and only language. Ervin Francisco, one of our earliest teachers, recalls a time when more students were fluent in the Tohono O’odham language, which was spoken throughout the halls and classrooms at San Simon Elementary.

Virginia Montana (Ms. Virgie) is another educator who has been instrumental in San Simon Elementary’s efforts to preserve the Tohono O’odham language and culture. For decades, Ms. Virgie has taught San Simon Elementary’s Native language and culture classes. All students rotate into her class twice weekly for language and culture classes, including traditional dance.

In the evenings, Ms. Virgie has also sponsored traditional dance classes. These traditional dances are important because they carry the stories of the Tohono O’odham people, their existence, and their lifestyle. Between 25 and 40 students become traditional dancers and have been invited to perform for various entities in the Tohono O’odham Nation and throughout Arizona.

Through the Generations

In 2003, during Principal Rogers’ arrival at San Simon Elementary, 20-30% of students were traditional Tohono O’odham speakers who had to learn English. Those Tohono O’odham-fluent students became parents to generations of English-speaking students. Their grasp on the Native language has continued to slip with each passing generation. San Simon students, teachers, staff, and community members have worked hard to ensure that the Tohono O’odham language and culture do not disappear.

San Simon Elementary students have maintained proficiency in Arizona’s standard academic program. Our dedicated faculty and staff adhere to teaching grade-level state standards and participate in state standards testing as part of the Every Child Succeeds program. Students participate in a holistic learning environment where they benefit from academic and extracurricular activities. During afterschool programs such as tutoring, STEM projects, athletics, traditional dance, arts and crafts, etc.

Our goal has always been to use every opportunity to promote literacy during the normal school day. We used book fairs to build our classroom libraries, improving student access to diverse reading materials. Students also expanded their educational horizons within our learning environment’s different venues. Daily “specials” include physical education, culture classes, library classes, and classroom instruction supplementing a well-rounded curriculum.

Outside the Community

San Simon Elementary School students have represented the Tohono O’odham Nation throughout Arizona. Our tribal dancing students have been invited to perform for the Legislative Counsel and have participated in cultural exchanges with Hopi, Navajo, and Pueblo Land dancers. Once a year in New Mexico, our dancers perform at The Gathering of Nations.

San Simon Elementary School's rural location has historically made traveling to Phoenix or Tucson for activities difficult. Still, teachers have been encouraged to incorporate field trips for both academic and entertainment purposes. We partnered with higher education programs like Arizona State University or the University of Arizona, the police dept., and the Healthy O'odham Promotion Program, which encourages healthy living - diet, exercise, anti-bullying and sugar diabetes among the Tohono O’odham Nation.