ROOSEVELT — All three of Ramalda Guzman's grown children attended West Junior High School. One daughter works for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, another is studying to become a pharmacy technician. Her son has a degree in social work.

Guzman has been involved in education for much of her professional career, but not many families on the Ute Reservation can claim a background like that.

Guzman, chairwoman of the Ute Tribe's Education Board, knows that a child's success in the classroom is dependent to a large extent on how much the importance of education is stressed in the home.

"I think a lot of it has to do with parenting," she said. "Children need to know their parents value education."

The Uintah School District Board voted in December to close West Junior High School along with nearby Todd Elementary and replace the two-decades-old buildings with a modern educational facility in Fort Duchesne that will house grades K-8.

Far more crucial than bricks and mortar will be the attitudes toward education that the American Indian students — the majority of whom are members of the Ute Tribe — bring with them into the classroom, officials say.

West Junior High, the only school in the Uintah School District with predominantly American Indian enrollment, has a lengthy history of poor test scores, discipline issues and chronic attendance problems linked to the days tribal members receive payroll and dividend checks.

For seven consecutive years the school's seventh- and eighth-graders failed to meet the standards established under the federal No Child Left Behind education mandate. Even before NCLB was in place, the school suffered from poor performance.

New goals, partnerships

To end the discouraging trend, the Ute Tribe Education Board, the tribe's governing Business Committee and Uintah School Board have pledged to work together toward a different outcome when the slate is wiped clean and the new Todd School opens in 2009.

"I think this has been a real big breakthrough," said Guzman, who serves as a non-voting adviser representing the tribe at Uintah School Board meetings. "It's all about working together and building a good relationship ... talking about what is going to work and what is not going to work, and coming to a compromise."

The tribe's next big goal is to impress upon parents, the community and leadership "the importance of education," said Guzman.

"We all need to make sure our students are attending school and know that ... education is going to enrich their lives," she said.