SACRAMENTO—Legislation encouraging school districts to collaborate with local tribes to increase knowledge about California Native Americans in their communities and help prevent incidents such as the one involving a Riverside mathematics teacher who last October mocked and insulted Indian culture will be introduced in coming days announced Assemblymember James C. Ramos (D-Highland).

“We are fine tuning language in the bill and will introduce it soon,” reported Ramos, the first California Native American elected to the Legislature. He said the new bill will be a first step toward increasing

Assemblymember James C. Ramos (D-Highland) today issued the following statement following a special board meeting of the Riverside Unified School District aimed at eliminating cultural bias and insensitivity towards Native Americans. The hearing was called after a classroom incident involving a teacher mimicking a Native American dance while wearing a faux Native American headdress to teach math concepts.

"I wish to thank the Riverside Unified School District Board of Education and its administration for committing during today’s board meeting to address insensitivities demonstrated by the

SACRAMENTO—Educators and tribal members shared practices that further the success of Native American students and gaps in resources that hinder adequate support for these pupils during a joint informational hearing on Wednesday. It was less than a week after a video went viral of a white high school teacher wearing a fake Indian headdress hopped around her classroom while teaching math concepts.

The Assembly Education Committee and Select Committee on Native American Affairs, which scheduled the hearing months earlier, took note of the teacher’s actions.

Assemblymember James C. Ramos (D-Highland

SACRAMENTO—Governor Gavin Newsom today signed six wide-ranging tribal bills introduced by Assemblymember James Ramos (D-Highland). They aid tribal foster youth, create a new monument to Sacramento-area tribes on state Capitol grounds, bolster students’ right to wear tribal regalia at graduation ceremonies, allow a paid holiday for state court personnel on California Native American Day and streamline access to emergency response vehicles on tribal lands. Newsom signed the legislative package on California Native American Day.

In a news release issued by the governor upon signing the Ramos

SACRAMENTO— Assemblymember James C. Ramos (D-Highland), chair of the California Native American Select Committee and California Native American Legislative Caucus, joined other lawmakers in voicing concerns about a classroom incident at John W. North High School in the Riverside Unified School District. The incident went viral on Wednesday.

A news account described the incident as a mathematics teacher dancing before her students in a “faux Native American headdress” while chanting “SohCahToa” to help students remember trigonometry ratios.

Ramos is the first California Native American ever