Spilyqy Tymoo, Wqrro Springs, Oregon
tenuity 20, 2005
Kah-Nce-Ta:
improving tribal
employment
(Continued from page 1)
She worked in the pre-employment
field at Chinook
Winds. When she heard of the
Confederated Tribes of Warm
Springs' proposal to build a ca
sino at the Gorge, she decided
to move back and work at Kah-Nce-Ta
and then one day work
at the Gorge casino.
At Kah-Nee-Ta, she's work
ing on streamlining the employ
ment and interviewing process.
The recruitment and develop
ment program, she said, should
be involved with the various
resort departments, as they are
hiring people, to make sure the
employment goals of the resort
are being met.
Leroy Smith was in tribal re
lations before joining the re
cruitment and development pro
gram. His job now is to go into
the community and meet with
people who might be interested
in working at Kah-Nee-Ta. He
meets one-on-one with people,
and also works with tribal orga-
Rescue: decision
was a quick one
(Continued from page 1) .
She has since been released
and is awaiting a court hearing.
Callista and Racquel Smith
Charter school:
key is funding
(Continued from page 1)
In Oregon, charters are
evaluated and granted every five
years and can then be renewed.
There are currently 43 char
ter schools in Oregon, serving
2,107 students. A total of 38
states have charter schools, while
four others have laws allowing
the forming of charter schools.
"My concerns are that while
we try to develop a charter
school, we don't understand the
totality of problems a charter is
faced with," said Jeff Sanders,
vice-chairman of the 509-J
School Board. A charter school,
he said, faces the same issues a
full-fledged public school does,
including hiring teachers and
adhering to policies and proce
dures. "It's no different from a pub
lic school," he said. "You have
the same requirements as the
school district does, in meeting
students needs."
Members of the Education
Committee have traveled to
view other charter schools, in
cluding one in Arizona, where
most Indian-originated charter
schools in the U.S. are located,
and the Nixyaawii School, a
charter school started by the
Confederated Tribes of the
Umatilla Indian Reservation, in
Mission.
Nixyaawii School opened this
year with 40 students.
"I visited (Nixyaawii) for a
couple of hours. They were hav
ing parent-teacher conferences
that day, so people were coming
and going, but I did sit down with
their administrator and talk
about it and they said that they
have like 45 kids in their school,
and they did a lot better than
they did in the public school
because of the one-on-one in
struction," Smith said last week.
The Education Committee
has also examined Siletz Valley
School, a charter school run by
the Confederated Tribes of the
Siletz Indians, which opened
after the publicly run Siletz El
ementary School had nearly
been closed in 2003. The school
opened by the start of the
school year in 2003.
Among the reasons sparking
the idea for a charter school in
Warm Springs are smaller class
sizes, more individualized atten
tion, and classes that teach tra
.! .1,,., , MIIIMI HI I Jl 11 IIM..,.,,,.. -, , Ij II )
- - Ji
V j n
i i f Pvr ft wir
The tribal member recruitment and development team: Priscilla Frank, Arlissa Rhoan, Leroy
Smith and Urbana Toto" Ross (from front counter clock-wise.)
nizations such as Workforce Najera, for instance, to be the to thank the resort human re
Development, and Vocation lead custodian at the resort. He sources department, directed by
Rehabilitation. mentioned that the recruitment Janelle Smith, for the teamwork
Smith recruited Michelle and development program wants in making the program work.
were released to their father,
Jonathan W. Smith, of Warm
Springs.
Before beginning work for
the Warm Springs Police Depart
ment, Davino was a reserve
police officer and 911 dis
ditions and language native to
the Warm Springs tribes.
"We know that with a char
ter school, we know we'll have
our own self governance be
cause it'll be allowed, we'll have
input, self-determination, self
education," Calica said. "That's
how we'll develop our own ways
of educating the youth that'll be
attending.
"The charter school is going
to be focusing on our traditional
values, our history, our sover
eignty." Members of the Education
Committee also cite what they
perceive as a lack of concern
from teacher and administrators
at Madras schools in terms of
how students are treated.
"The Council has responded
to a huge outcry of the parents.
I've been complaining about the
school system for years because
my son's in school," Barney said.
"I guess other parents are
speaking up, and now the Coun
cil is (saying), Hey, do this.
"Interestingly, the first char
ter school in Minnesota (City
Academy in St. Paul was the first
charter school to open, in 1992),
one of the things they said was,
'We got tired of the way the
school system was treating our
kids, and we put their destiny in
our hands', and I'm like, this is
long overdue."
"Academically, it really makes
a difference at a school where
people really do work with you
and give you a chance," Calica
said.
The first step, Barney said, is
getting input from the commu
nity regarding the project.
"First of all there has to be
some community involvement,"
she said. "We have to find out
the needs of the students and
their goals, and we need people
that when they start, they need
to finish and stay right with the
school."
The 509-J School District
receives funding for educating
students from Warm Springs,
has a class on the history and
government of the Warm
Springs tribes at Madras High
School, and has liaisons for the
American Indian community
both at Madras High School
and Jefferson County Middle
School.
Should a charter school open
in Warm Springs, money from
the state for educating Native
American students, funds that
patcher in Prineville for three
and a half years.
"This was first time I've had
to enter into a burning building.
It was just a decision to make
real quick, and do what has to
be done," he said. "That's what
make up for property tax rev
enues the district does receive
from Indian reservations like
Warm Springs, called impact aid
funds, would be deducted from
the school district's funding from
the state and relinquished to the
charter school, Sanders said.
The charter school would
receive basic school support
from the state, based on its en
rollment numbers. The charter
school would have to come up
with funds for things such as
meals, building maintenance,
teachers' salaries, retirement and
insurance.
Sanders, a member of the
509-J School Board for 15
years, said he is "open minded"
about the idea of a charter
school, but that he has not yet
heard a proposal from either the
Tribal Council or the Tribal
Education Department and
would reserve judgment until
then.
Additionally, some charter
schools have had difficulty stay
ing open nationally, and, because
of that, others have had trouble
attracting teachers to work for
them.
If they lack funding, charter
schools may not be able to pro
vide such courses as physical
education and music.
"There's a lot of review and
processes to make a charter
school a success," Sanders said.
The idea of creating a Kin-dergarten-through-12,h-grade
school on the Warm Springs
reservation has been introduced
before, Sanders said.
"Years ago, six or eight years
ago, the school board had a
meeting with Tribal Council on
the possibility of having our own
school in Warm Springs," he
said. "The school board said it
wouldn't object to but would
help start K-12 here in Warm
Springs."
The discussions stalled over
the funding for such a school
and the tribes' ability to fund it,
he said.
Julie Quaid, also a member
of the 509-J School Board for
a year and a tribal member, said
the school district is responsible
in serving students from three
distinct and equally split ethnic
groups in Jefferson County.
"In the schools, we have
some activities around that are
kind of targeted at kind of re
flecting our native culture here,"
she said. "But in the entire
Dave McMscturvSpilyay
the tribes pay me to do, to go in
and protect people."
Daniels's home was saved but
sustained about $500 damage
from the fire, apparently a
grease fire starting on an elec
trical stove.
school district, if we're looking
at an equal balance of 30 per
cent Native, 30 percent Hispanic
and 30 percent Caucasian, we
have to represent that diversity
in the entire district, in an equi
table manner."
Quaid said any planning for
a charter school in Warm
Springs must consider the needs
of students in Warm Springs,
independent of how other Na
tive American-run charter
schools have been modeled.
"We've got to be focused on
what works in our community
for our children, and just be
cause these charter schools are
somewhere else, that doesn't
mean that model's going to work
here," she said. "The model
worked over there, but that
doesn't mean pick it up and say
'we're going to run a military
model', 'we're going to run a language-immersion
model', 'we'll
run an academic model', or
maybe 'we'll run a disciplinary
behavior model'.
"How do we know? Success
in their community was success
by their standards
"(If we say), 'Well, Siletz is
doing it, Grand Ronde is doing
it, Umatilla's doing it.' Fine, that's
good for them, and I hope they
determine that's what's good for
them, but I don't know if that's
!vv iVii,'''"
) "
Weflconirae VJavmi Sporting
Open 7 days a week, on HWY 97
in the old Outpost building, 475-9776
Open 7a.m. til midnight, MonTliurs. Weekends 7a.m. til 2 a.m.
OPB: program
may air in May
(Continued from page 1)
Something Cain will do
that worked in the documen
tary he helped shoot at Crane
was allow some of the sub
jects the use of hand-held
cameras to shoot whatever
they want to shoot, each
from their own perspectives.
"What we're going to get
is this incredible hodge-podge
of footage, put it together
and make a pretty entertain
ing hour of people that city
people would never meet,
with no particular end, but to
give the viewer a chance to
get to know some people," he
said.
Cain said he hopes to cap
ture the everyday aspects of
the subjects he shoots in
Warm Springs and with that
let viewers in on the facets
of peoples' lives unique to
residents and tribal members
of the Warm Springs Reser
vation. Cain said he hopes his sub
jects feel free to talk about
the sovereign nation the
Warm Springs people share
and what it means to them.
Cain said his initial meet
ings with Warm Springs citi
zens were productive.
"Every person we meet
suggests someone else," he
said.
Cain said he hoped to
what's good for us."
Charter schools in Oregon
have to adhere to 15 different
standards, including public meet
ings and public records laws,
health and safety statutes, and
laws applying to statewide assess
ment. And, Quaid said, since char
ter schools are part of a local
school district, any efforts to
start a charter school in Warm
Springs must be able to work in
partnership with the 509-J
School District.
"It has to include the school
district. It just has to. There's no
way around it. That's what a
charter is," she said. "A charter
of a school board approval in
the school district, with a spe
cific purpose, and I think they
also don't understand that you
still have to meet all the regs.
They still have to report on the
"No Child Left Behind" (Act),
they still have to perform in
reading and writing and language
arts."
Quaid said a number of al
ternatives could be considered
for middle school and high
school-age students along with
the charter school idea, one that
may suit the needs of students
better.
"We don't know that a char
ter school is the answer," she
Sites
Cold
Beverages,
Ice, Soda,
Groceries
& more
shoot about 20 hours of ma
terial and have about that
much footage from the hand
held segments the tribal mem
bers use.
"Much of it will not be us
able, but we hope to have little
'gems and jewels' hidden in
what we shoot."
He said the first of the
US DA rural projects was in
Lakevicw, shooting different
people of a variety of age
groups, answering the same
set of questions.
"For what it was, it was
pretty good, but it was all just
people sitting in chairs," he
said. "We needed to get out
and see folks doing some
thing." He said the project in
Crane was "much more suc
cessful" from that regard.
"And we're building on that
with what we do at Warm
Springs," he said.
The mission, Cain said, is
to "introduce urban audience
to the rural part of state."
"It's an amazing op to do
some wonderful television,"
he said. "These programs
about rural Oregon get really
high ratings. I think we're go
ing beyond the issues and
cliche'sD getting to know
people beyond the 1-5 corri
dor." Cain said the documentary
could air on Oregon Public
Broadcasting in May.
- by Brian Mdrtensen
said. "It might be an alternative
ed program. It might be self
contained classes for (grades)
six, seven, and eight, and then
kids get referred into that study.
We can do that without having
a charter or without having a
new building.
"We can do that next year if
we wanted to, but it has to be
justified by who are we going to
serve and what is the purpose
and what is the outcome of that
service we're going to provide."
Barney said a charter school
in Warm Springs would not be
limited to only Native American
students.
"Nothing's going to stop the
kids from Madras from com
ing down here," she said, add
ing that the ones who chose to
attend the charter school would
be open to an education that in
cluded more exposure to Warm
Springs tribal traditions and lan
guage. Sanders said that even with
perceived discontent with the
public school system, it can be
improved, though it takes group
effort, both from within and
without the reservation.
"If it's broken, we're all com
mitted, Tribal Council, parents,
students, teachers. Everybody
has to come together," he said.