The 2002 Annual Report of
Essential
(Continued from page 9)
Other goals include increasing stu
dent utilization of non-tribal higher
education and vocational education
funding sources resulting in serving
more students with available tribal
funds and maintaining education fa
cilities to provide a safe, healthy and
productive environment for children,
employees and the community.
The biggest challenges facing the
Essential Education Branch in the
next few years, according to Director
Quaid is the ability to continue de
livery of quality education services
with little cost to families and indi
viduals. Quaid said the reduction of tribal
budget appropriations and the com
petition to receive state and federal
grants will be a challenge. She went
on to say that the influence of the
information and technology age on
educational systems demands con
stant program design, policy develop
ment and funding allocation in a time
when funds and time are short.
"The cost of demand for essential
services from a growing population
of children, students and families will
require elimination or reduction of
some services," Quaid pointed out.
She said that a problem with less
funding is the gradual loss of key ex
perienced personnel in the education
system to Organizations with higher
pay and less diverse job responsibili
ties. Lack of funding limits the abil
ity of the branch to attract and retain
enthusiastic employees due to low
pay, noncompetitive benefits and an
nual downsizing threats.
A major success for the branch is
the Family Resource Center. The cen
ter, housed in the old Health and
Wellness Clinic, opened in 2001. The
center was created to provide a place
to deliver child, family, and educa
tional information and resources in a
friendly, informal environment. The
center focuses its efforts on parent
education, prevention and interven
tion, and women's health. The goal
of the center is to provide learning
through workshops, hands on activi
ties, informal presentations, classes,
and sharing among community mem
bers. The center is home to the Early
Head Start program which is a home
visitor program targeting new parents
and infants under three years old. The
program encourages developing of
positive relationships between infants
Letter from the Chief Operations Officer
(Continued from page 8)
The concept of a community li
brary, community health education
resources and other support services
are ample evidence that indeed the
strengths of the facility are the in
tended services the community will
receive.
Completion of the Sunnyside ex
pansion housing subdivision in 2001
allowed the tribes to add another
housing subdivision, and recognize a
small but significant gain in its efforts
to resolve housing issues on the res
ervation. The completion of the
Warm Springs community wastewa
ter treatment facility in that same year
provided the tribes the capacity to
respond to growing population de
mands. Year 2000 capital projects, such as
the Simnasho wastewater facility and
automation of the Warm Springs
community water treatment facility,
and 2001 projects are examples of ef
forts whose objectives were to im
prove community infrastructure and
provide the Confederated Tribes the
capability to address increasing de
mands well into the second decade of
the 21st Century.
Obviously, large undertakings
such as these required the collabora
tive efforts with the Tribal Construc
tion Enterprise, Bureau of Indian
Affairs and Indian Health Services.
The retirement of long-time tribal
employee Satish Puree as the project
engineer in early 2001 has had wide
ranging impacts to the overall tribal
efforts in the capital projects arena.
the Confederated Tribes of
education
and parents; parents and parents; and
parents and the service provider.
Community partners providing
high school credit recovery are the
Central Oregon Intergovernmental
Council and Madras High School. A
classroom in the Family Resource
Center provides the opportunity to
earn high school credit towards a high
school diploma. Students are enrolled
in the high school can earn up to six
credits outside the Madras High
School. The classroom provides a
morning and afternoon session for up
to twelve students per session.
The Family Resource Center will
eventually be the home of the first
public library in Warm Springs.
Grant writing and partnerships are
being developed to meet a June 1"
opening.
The library hopes to become the
literacy and information center with
community Internet access and pub
lic access to an abundance of reading
and research material. Community
Replacing the talent he brought to the
tribes has proven to be a challenge.
Mold, specifically a variety com
monly referred to as black mold, was
discovered in two tribal buildings and
will continue to demand tribal re
sources be allocated towards preven
tion, abatement and monitoring ef
forts for all tribal buildings in the
coming years.
Training of carpentry apprentices,
initiated some years ago by tribal
member Marcia Soliz, bore fruits as
two apprentices neared the comple
tion of their four-year apprenticeship
program. This exemplary program
was just one of the innovative pro
grams designed and nurtured by Ms.
Soliz in the years she served as the
director of the Workforce Develop
ment Department. It is through these
types of initiatives the capacity of the
tribes and its members will be en
hanced, so that we might meet many
of the challenges confronting the res
ervation at some point in our future.
The Language Program continued
to strive in its efforts to ensure tribal
languages are not lost.
The language teachers were
brought to full-time employees, after
years of being part time employees.
The basis for the change was to allow
the program to meet the growing de
mand to teach more classes at the
Warm Springs Elementary School
and in the community. In the com
ing years the program will be seeking
additional tribal members to enhance
its staff numbers as the need contin
ues to grow.
wW l i " m
Ate i W"tJ
'li pihM a? V'K
Warm Springs
continued...
Despite the recession and
economic downturn,
progress is being made on
the school.
volunteers will be recruited to con
tribute to the success of this project.
Where are we with the new Warm
Springs Elementary School? The
School Project is in the Architect and
Engineering selection phase.
The process includes preparation
of the bid documents, posting the bid,
responding to questions from poten
tial firms, providing a bid conference
and site tour, selecting finalists, inter
viewing finalists, visiting school
projects the finalists designed, check
ing references, and finally requesting
the best and final offer from two fi
nalists. The final selection will be made
in early April. The selection com-
While it remains critical
to invest in our youth, we
should not ignore the fact
that children do not live
alone in this world and
indeed need family and
community support and
direction to reach their full
potential.
Another glowing accomplishment
was the collaborative effort of the
Language Program staff, Governmen
tal Affairs Department and the Tribal
Council, which resulted in the pas
sage of SB 690 - The Language Bill
by the Oregon State Legislature. Ef
forts directed by Adult & Commu
nity Education Director Wendell Jim
have led to the 2020 Partnership with
Washington State University and a
published comprehensive planning
document for food systems educa
tion, including traditional first foods.
Emphasizing the priority of retention
of tribal traditions and culture, the
Tribal Council approved the Tradi
tional Leave Personnel Policy.
Tribal land acquisitions of the
Wagner Ranch and Clowcrs property,
in tribal ceded land, utilizing
Bonneville Power Administration
funds, continue to position the Tribes
to effectively assert our treaty rights
in our usual and accustomed places.
Once again the tribes, through the
work of the Natural Resources, are
mittee met frequently and reported
monthly to the Tribal Council. Af
ter the Architectural Firm is selected
a contract will be negotiated and the
programming phase will begin.
The programming phase will in
clude gathering input from children,
school staff, and the community re
garding the design features necessary
for a highly functional, efficient, and
safe school.
The ideas and recommendations
will be considered based on cost ef
fectiveness, conduciveness to learning,
and alignment with school construc
tion building codes, and related el
ementary school standards. In the
meantime, a legal document is in draft
form that will detail the financial
obligations of the Tribe and the
Jefferson County School District.
In addition, it details the role and
responsibilities of each partner in the
completion of the project.
Due to the State's massive budget
reductions and rippling effect on the
local school district's revenue fore
casting, the agreement is delayed un
til it can be determined that adequate
funds are available from basic school
support funds to meet the District's
Letter from the S-T
(Continued from page 8)
A tribal construction enter
prise charter was adopted.
A Warm Springs Development
Corporation Charter was adopted
and a board of directors was ap
pointed. A 10-year financial strategy and
the 2001 tribal budget were ap
proved. A 401 K provision for the tribal
employee pension plan was
adopted.
A settlement proposal for the
McQuinn timber mismanagement
claim was negotiated and an appeal
to the Federal Appeals Court was
successfully argued.
A sum of S 450,000 was secured
from the Ramah contract support
claim.
The Simnasho Store was
funded and constructed.
Kah-Nee-Ta Resort and Indian
Head Casino were merged.
A $250,000 fund was estab
lished to assist tribal members af
fected by layoffs at Warm Springs
at the national forefront as being
among the first tribal nations to es
tablish its own water quality standard.
The tribes were definitely the first
tribe in the state to do so.
In the summer of 2001, the Natu
ral Resources Branch and tribes hon
ored the efforts of the late Eugene
"Cougar" Greene for his life long
commitment to the protection of
tribal treaty rights and preservation
of tribal natural resources. The new
Natural Resources administration
building was named after Mr. Greene.
Certainly, at least for the past two
decades, much has been said about
our youth being the tribes most im
portant resource.
The complexity of the issues chal
lenging our youth are not that differ
ent from the challenges faced by pre
vious generations of reservation
youth, especially in how those chal
lenges were innately connected to the
challenges other segments of the
tribal member population have en
countered during that same period of
time.
That was true generations ago and
remains true today.
While it remains critical to invest
in our youth, we should not ignore
the fact that children do not live alone
in this world and indeed need family
and community support and direc
tion to reach their full potential. The
problem is not so much knowing
what we need to do but how.
The inception of the Boys and
Girls Club is one small step towards
that goal. The opening of the Family
Page 15
financial obligation to both existing
school operations and new school
debt. The delay means that the en-,
tire project is behind the desired pro
jected timeline leading to a Fall 2003
opening. The timeline will be ad
justed in the Architectural Design,
phase and made public as progress is
made.
After the Tribal Council and
Jefferson County School Board sign .
the financial agreement, the low in-,
terest loan application will be submit
ted for $ 8 million.
Future plans include preparation
for selection of a construction firm;
soil testing; and continual work on ,
the school's design. Despite the reces-'
sion and economic downturn,,
progress is being made on the school. (
The unforeseen state budget reduc
tion and dismal revenue forecast for,
the next twelve months has taken its
toll on an otherwise aggressive
project. The good news is that a new,
elementary school is in the future and
the joint partnership on the project,
between the Jefferson County School
District and the Confederated Tribes
is unique in American public educa-
tion.
Charles Jackson, S-T
Forest Products Industries.
The 21" Tribal Council was
among the most active and produc
tive in the Confederated Tribes' his
tory, but much remains to be done.
Tribal Council officers are com
mitted to working with the tribal
government and enterprises as well
as the community to help Tribal
Council accomplish their goals.
Working together and with the sup
port and assistance of the member
ship, there is nothing that we can
not accomplish.
Resource Center and the partnership
with the school district to construct
a new elementary school, in conjunc
tion with various collaborative efforts
with community groups are excellent ''
examples of how we could partner up
and work together to resolve issues
we are confronted with.
I recognize these efforts by them- t
selves will not get us to where we need
or want to be.
The family is and will always be
the most effective resource for teach
ing our youth, especially at the early
stages of life. .
To that end, the work of the Youth
Development Team, whose mandate
was to create advancement towards
this Tribal Council priority, has
played a part in the increased num
bcrs of tribal youth graduating from
high school and enrolling in college.
The completion of the review of
the Child Protection System, com
prised of the Tribal Court, Public
Safety and Children's Protective Scr-,
vices will provide the tribes an op
portunity to make necessary change
in our child welfare systems in the
coming years.
Noting that as we continue to
evolve is a people and community
our work will never be totally com
pleted and in that sense wc, the tribal
staff from the operations side of tribal
government, pray that our efforts and
collaboration with community mem- ,
bcrs have in some small way moved
the tribe closer to the vision of a fer
vent and prosperous Confederated
Tribes of Warm Springs.
My
ftp
-