PAGE 2 AVGUST 25, 1978
At W.S. Grade School
New Principal Will Break Down Walls
by Sandy Rangila
The youthful new principal
at Warm Springs Elementary is
already planning to break down
the school walls.
Michael L. Darcy, 35, will
not be dismantling the school.
The kind of walls he’ll be hacking:
away at will be those that stand
between the school and the com
munity.
Darcy feels strongly about
broad community involvement
in the school. “I’ll be seeking
more parent input because par
ents have an awful lot to offer in
the way of methods that will be
most effective,” says Darcy.
“The problem is that many
(parents) will not come forward
on their own without an invita
tion from the school. I would like
to see the school offer that invi
tation through communication,
through visitations and in other
ways that will make the parents
feel welcome,” Darcy explained.
He noted that the classroom
teacher is the key to getting
parents involved, and that this
will be an area he will work on
with the staff. “Parents need to
be kept informed as to what’s
going on,” he stressed.
“The newspaper media also
needs to be informed so all
community members can be
involved in the school,” he
added.
Darcy, who is half Tututnf—
a Rogue River band, — feels the
most important thing in working
with Indian children is develop
ing a sense of pride in selves and
heritage.
For that reason,he is looking
for innovations which will help
foster pride in heritage. For ex
ample, he cites the Northwest
Reading Lab programs, which
were partially developed here,
as something that could be used
to better advantage. “Also oral
skills could be sharpened through
OUTSIDE THE WALLS _ New grade school principal Michael Darcy expects to be visible outside his
office and help break down walls that exist between the school and the community.
the use of their own legends,”
observed Darcy.
And Darcy said that being
Indian himself makes him that
much more interested in learn
ing about the local customs and
traditions. “I can’t see myself
being able to relate to the kids if I
don’t know where they’re coming
from,” he reasons.
Darcy does not want to get
trapped “in the rut of taking part
in only school-related activities.”
He plans to attend community
functions and events, and to
share with and learn from the
people here. Darcy is most
anxious for people to know that
he plans to maintain an “open
door policy” for any parents or
group that wants to see him. “I’ll
be very happy to be available,
with or without an appointment,
to see people at any time,” he
stresses.
With his quiet warmth and
easy manner, Darcy will bring a
definite style to the principal’s
office. He intends to get out from
behind the desk and into the
classrooms and onto the play
ground. “So, when a student
comes into the office it won’t be
his first contact with me.”
The greatest challenge Dar
cy sees is that right now, stu
dents are apparently going from
an almost all-Indian school to a
junior high that is mixed.
“I would like to see more
mixed contact-at a younger
age,” says Darcy. “The outdoor
school is an attempt at that, but
it could be started much sooner
so that the pne-week outdoor
school experience is not the total
experience prior to junior high.”
Darcy will be seeking sug
gestions from the staff and com
munity on ways of getting pri
mary-aged kids from Warm
Springs and Madras involved
together more often in programs
at their level. «
“I think it will be easier
because Tony Miller, who is now
the principal at Madras Ele
mentary, agrees on the need for
getting together,” says Darcy.
Darcy appears eager for the
school year to start. “The thing
that will really be neat about
working at Warm Springs is that
here the people have made an
attempt to keep their culture.
intact,” he notes. In contrast, he
explained that the coast Indians
“lost a lot of their identifi
cation.” They had to either assi
milate or cease to exist.”
“Just recently they’ve been
trying to get some holds on their
culture,” said Darcy.
Darcy previously taught at
Coos Bay where, out of 5000
students in the district, 350 were
Indians. “The district is the
fourth largest in Indian popula
tion in Oregon,” he commented.
Darcy is still familiarizing
himself with this area, having
met and been “impressed with
some of the people from here.”
He attended the Oregon Indian
Education Association Confer
ence at Kah-Nee-Ta earlier this
year and met education leaders
from Warm Springs.
Mike Clements, chairman of
the Tribal Education Committee
is pleased with the choice. Cle
ments said Darcy was recom
mended for the job because he is
young, part Native American,
and has worked with a number of
Indian programs in the Coos Bay
area and with the Title IV pro
gram. “He has both the back
ground and experience in work
ing with Indian youth,” said
Clements.
Darrel Wright, 509-J Super
intendent, noted that Darcy has
filled in at Coos Bay for the
principal and that he has the
training and experience for the
job. Further, Wright said that he
is impressed with
Darcy’s
warmth, sense of humor, and
easy way of meeting people.
It should be a comfortable
situation for students, parents,
and community, alike,” said
Wright.
Annual Reports cont'd
employees form a border on the
bottom of each page, looking
much like a fluctuating line
graph. The shiny cover features
five tepees in a step pattern,
symbolozing the growth of the
Tribes.
“Growth is the theme of this
annual report,” the text explains
on page 10. “Growth not only in
people and products, but growth
in the intangible but everpresent
areas of cultural heritage, social
responsibility and personal well
being.”
The consensus of employees
Hatchery, cont’d
been spending a great deal of his time cleaning and flushing clogged
sprinklers lately, the result of the malfunctioning filter system in the
domestic water supply. While other methods of filtration are being
attempted, everyone looks forward to a new water system in the
works“ *
5
CDS PHOTO
for a facility to supplement the
natural salmon and steelhead
production in the Columbia and
Deschutes River systems.
The Warm Springs National
Fish Hatchery began limited
operation early this year with
full production expected by 1980.
Initially the hatchery will pro
duce 400,000 spring Chinook fin
gerlings and 140,000 steelhead
smolts annually.
The hatchery will also pro
duce recreational rainbow trout
for the Warm Springs and Uma
tilla Reservations at the rate of
154,000 (8 to 10 inches in length)
and 70,000 fingerlings a year.
Total cost of the federally
funded hatchery is $6.3 million. It
is operated by the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service and located on
55 acres of land leased from the
Confederated Tribes.
in the administration building is
that the 1977 annual report is a
considerable improvement over
the previous year’s. The 197(
report, which was not mad«
available until October of 1977
was a first effort.
“I haven’t talked with any
one who does not like it,” saic
Clements. She also said that
general manager Ken Smith was
“very impressed . . . tickled”
with the 1977 report.
The annual report was bud
geted for $10,000 and the actual
cost will probably be very close
to that, said Jim Sizemore in
accounting.
Expected to come off the
press in May, the report was
delayed by the careful assembl
ing of financial information.
Next year’s report should arrive
even earlier.
Spilyay Tymoo
J’S
.
Coyote News
1
SPILYAY TYMOO STAFF
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Sid Miller
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Sandy Rangila
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Cynthia Stowell
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Trainee
Roger Stwyer
FOUNDED IN MARCH OF 1976
Published bi-weekly by the Confederated Tribes of the
Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon. Warm Springs,
Oregon 97761. Located in the Old Administration Building.
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. Spilyay Tymoo
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