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About Spilyay tymoo. (Warm Springs, Or.) 1976-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 6, 1976)
PAGE 8 WARM SPRINGS, OREGON AUGUST 6, 1976 is New Facilities, New Goals Chemawa Part I Indian people. Interms of -éelf-d^twimnâÎion' we view such a facility as essential. With this program functioning we foresee a large student dependent population. The Board remains unchanged in it’s view that the Indian Health Service should plan now for a facility that will serve approx imately 2,500 Indian people and provide for the changes in population we foresee.” The same year, the Chem awa Advisory Board adopted Resolution No. 1975-1, which ended: . . the undersigned agree with the programs des cribed in the Chemawa Health Facility Planning Document dated November 1973, as re vised September 6, 1974, for the . design and construction of a replacement health facility in Conjunction with that of the new school complex.. . .” Five Year Plan By Olney Patt, Jr. The original Chemawa In dian School was established in Forest Groye, .Oregon in 1880 with a féderâï" grant of $5,000. When fire destroyed a sizeable portion bf: the school; in 1884, it was relocated to it’s present site 5 miles north of Salem, along the tracks of the South ern Pacific Railroad. Since then, it has become the oldest continously operated Indian school in America, and at least partly responsible for the edu cation of some 37,000 Indian students. Through the years, Chem awa’s buildings have been re juvenated and remodeled to comply with state health and safety standards, but, by 1975, old age had gotten the upper hand and many of the build ings were vacated arid con demned. Safety inspectors noted many cases of structural weakness - the combined work of dry rot, water seepage due to timeworn plumbing, and the constant vibration of daily train traffic through the middle of thé school grounds. In 1975, Martell, the arch itectural firm was contracted to do a building evaluation study. Their findings: “The primary concern at Chemawa is non-compliance with mini mum life "safety and health requirements; they cannot be waived. Another serious con cern is the indications of struc tural failure in critical areas in some buildings and the ques tion of structural adequacy of all of the buildings. Most of the subject buildings are 50 years old or more, some are more than 70 years old. The build ings are obsolete, dilapidated, drab and, except for two or three, they provide a depres sing atmosphere. The buildings were poorly designed and built with an almost total disregard of life safety requirements. These buildings have stood for 50 to 70 years, but as they have deteriorated, the margin of safety in the structures has become less and less. Most of the roof structures were im properly designed to begin with. They do not comply with standard engineering practice and code requirements. If the Chemawa Indian School must continue in these buildings for another 5 or 6 years, then it must be recognized that cor rective work costing from $1,000,000 to $2,000,000 should be made immediately.” In conclusion: “In general, except for the new roofs, cor rection of the deficiencies listed in this report will not improve the deteriorated con dition of the buildings nor will it relieve the accelerating maintenance problems. ’ ’ But the study was merely a formal verification of what Chemawa officials had recog nized as early as 1969: the existing facilities would have to be replaced if Chemawa Indian School was to continue operating. Justifications and Specifications By 1971, plans and specifi cations submitted by Chemawa administration and Advisory Board members - (students are also represented on the ad visory board) as well as stu dent need and population esti mates from agencies within the Northwest area - were being considered by officials of the Division of Planning, Design, and Construction (P.D.C.) at the head office in Washington, D.C., the regional office in Albuquerque, N.M, and the Portland Area Office. In a memorandum to John F. Carmody, head of P.D.C. in Washington, D.C., (dated 9-28- 72) then-superintendent of Chemawa Al Ouchi outlined the specific needs of the Northwest tribes as requested by the advisory board and tribal lead ers. It became clear that it was not the wish of Northwest tribal leaders to construct a replica of the old school; the desired capacity of the new school grew to 1,000 students: 600 high school and 400 post- high school. (Ouchi also poin ted out that, should House Bill Number 15902 be passed, a large number of Klamath In dians would become eligible to attend Chemawa. These stu dents had not been included in the population estimates.) In testimony given before the House Appropriations Com mittee on April 8, 1976, Chair person Virginia Brown of the Chemawa Advisory Board made four points in justifying the rebuilding program: 1) Chemawa was built for the Northwest Indian students and has for many years been util ized by Navajo and Alaskans to the detriment of the North west Indians. 2) While1 other schools ïrt'theTîUreau^ being ‘conStrhctéd and rebuilt, Chertià^a* was, !aliowed Iwnde- HêiioFâiëJ W4t^} preserit 'condi- ' tiorr 3P Thé public schools are unable to meet the needs of all Indian children. There is still a critical need for residential facilities such as Chemawa for Northwest Indian students and that need has not diminished. 4) That sending Indian stu dents out of the Northwest where parents have not input into the school system is not the answer. Health Facilities Also taxed for space and facilities was the Student Health Center. They were not, however, forgotten, as this let ter from Virginia Brown, to John R. Heinz, Director of Chemawa Health Services, in dicates: “Dear Mr. Heinz: It re mains the position of the Chemawa Advisory School Board that ultimately the new Chemawa School will require a capacity for 1000 students. At this point in time planning and construction are geared to a 600 student high school. With the accomplishment of this phase it is our intention to begin planning for a post-high school, vocation-technical, jun ior college phase. This will be in addition to the high school and will accommodate approx imately 400 students with de pendents. Eventually, the Board sees Chemawa as a regional training center for John R. Heinz, member of the' Chemawa'Task^ Force on Career Education reported that “Prelininary surveys of stu dents, parents, and alumuni have revealed considerable in terest in a career education approach. Older alumuni recall when Chemawa’s school day was one-half academic and one-half direct experience. Cur rent students would like to see • opportunities for application of the accademic curriculum. Parents express dissatisfaction with the school as a spin-off of the frustrations of their child ren. These frustrations go be yond the academic program but are nonetheless part of the entire school environment.” He further stated that, “To best plan for the future this school must become more consumer oriented and realign itself to meet current and projected needs of the people it serves.” During the 1975-76 school year, Chemawa was in the pro cess of updatirig it’s curriculum to meet the needs of the stu dents; it took the first-and light est step in a 5 year plan, as proposed by the task force. During the course of those five years, Chemawa will gradually shift it’s emphasis from that of a conventional high school to that of a career training center for Indians. When that shift is completed, the curriculum will contain 30 main course offer ings some of which are: Health Occupations prepara tion, business education, col lege preparation, technical trades preparation (construc tion trades, metal, wood, mechanics, graphics, electri city), forest products indus tries, alcohol- and drug abuse advisor training, food service occupations, fire fighting, law enforcement services, small business administration, range management, wildlife manage ment studies, child care ser vices, agricultural enterprises, cosmetology, recreation, build ing maintenance and repair, fine arts, tribal political stu dies (or leadership training- Indian/rights and responsibil ities), data processing, reser vation economic development, reservation human resource development, and fisheries management (aquaculture, hatchery operation, conserva tion, and stocking programs). Interim Facilities While this planning was going on, one nagging question presented itself at the end of the 75-76 school year: how to . (Continued on Page 12)
