SCA
OrColl
E
75
i . S68
v. 32
no. 20
I September
27, 2007
Spilyay Tym C
C oyote News, est. 1976
September 27 , 2 0 0 7
P.O.Box 870
, OR 97761
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Eugene OR 97403-1205
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Warm Springs, OR 97761
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Council to weigh options for mill
(Subm itted by the office, o f the the
Secretary-Treasurer.) ,
Recent concerns over the perfor
m ance o f W arm Springs Forest
Products Industries prompted Tribal
Council to meet in executive session
to discuss the mill and investigate its
prospects. The September 13 ses
sion in Lincoln City resulted in a di
rective to Secretary-Treasurer Jody
Calica to assess the mill’s board, man
agement, and operating results over
the past two years.
The purpose of the assessment
is to see what can be done to pre
serve the mill’s viability as à revenue
source for the tribes.
Warm Springs Forest Products
Industries (WSFPI) losses have av
eraged $1.4 million per year since
2000, with just one profitable year
in that period, when lumber prices
hit a cyclical high during the hous
ing boom. Council is concerned
about the ability of the mill’s board
and management to develop and
implement strategic business options.
B y Leslie M itts
Spilyay Tymoo
u a v e M CM echan/Spilyay
Tough competitive environ
ment
WSFPI benefits from the steady
log supply available from reserva
tion tiirtbet, but several other fac
tors create a very tough financial en
vironment for the enterprise.; Past
Brian Suppah, mill tipple operator, is one of 117 W SFPI employees.
harvesting practices have led to lpwer
current annual levels. Declining log
sizes and long-term trends in the North
American forest products industry all
contribute to the difficulties^/'.
Declining housing starts, mortgage
industry woes, and increasing interna-
tional competition have sen£typercu&-
sions throughout the timber industry,
resulting in significantlyfower prices bn
the lumber markets. Dozens of mill
closures have occurred throughout
the Northwest over the past ten
years,
See WSFPI on 11
Tribal budget subject of upcoming gatherings
B y Dave McMechan
Spilyay Tymoo
The proposed tribal general fund
budget was posted earlier this month.
There are five meetings at: various lo
cations scheduled for tribal member
discussion of'the proposed budget.'
The 2008 proposed budget is based
on the 2007 approved budget. The pro
posed budget for next year projects
increases of $1.173 million for opera
tion, community assistance, land pur
chases, capital projects and per capita.
There alsods a projected increase in
revenue of $166,000, according to the
budget statëmeqtby secretary-treasurer
Jody Ctiica-With decreases in program
operations o f approximately $460,000,.
there is a deficit in the posted budget
of $547,437, which must be eliminated
prior to final adoption later this year.
According to the budget message of
the secretary-treasurer:
“When the Tribal Council takes ac
tion to finalize the 2008 tribal budget,
total proposed expenditures will not be
increased beyond the (pasted) proposal.
If no new revenues are made available
in 2008, proposed spending requests
will have to be reduced below current
budget levels to result in a balanced or
surplus, budget. As reported to the
m em bership over the. past several
years,” the statement says' “tribal gov
ernment will continue to try and balance
the essential community needs with the
Current and forecasted revenue'base.”
.- The 2008 proposed budget is posted
artiund the community^, such as the
administration building, and the post
office. Tribal members wifi also receive
the proposal in the mail.
The upcoming meetings are sched
uled as followed, with the meetings
beginning at 7 p.m., dinner served at 6:
Agency District: Monday, Oct. 1 at
the Agency Lpnghopse.
Seekseequa District: Tuesday, Oct.
2 at the Seëkseeqüa Fire Hall.
Simnasho District: Wednesday, Oct.
3 at the Simnasho Longhouse.
Sidwalter community: Thursday,
Oct. 4 at Corey Clements residence.
General Council; Tuesday, Oct, 9 at
the Agency Longhouse.
Warm Springs library planning to expand services
B y L eslie M itts
Spilyay Tymoo
The local library may be a work
in progress, but plans for the future
are quickly expanding.
> Julie Quaid works as the librar
ian for the library located in the Fam
ily Resource Center. • Althea Henry
works as the library aide.
Specifically, the library carries,
books relating to children’s literature,
Native American culture and history,
and K-12 education (materials like
reference books and study guides).
Currently library staff members
are working to catalog 700 new
books in preparation for a' much
larger project—linking the library
with Jefferson County Public library
in M adras and the D eschutes
County Public library in Bend.
By August 2008, Quaid said, they
hope to have the books cataloged
using the same system as the other
two libraries.
That will enable them to borrow
books from both o f those libraries
with a courier service, as well as lend
books from the local library to oth
ers.
A t that point, the library will ¡also
Positive
trends
reported
at schools
Leslie M itts/Spilyay
Dallas Camas, 21, said he goes to the library about twice a week.
have to begin using a library card sys
tem-—currently they just have a lend-
ingpolicy for the general public.
N o matter the system, Quaid said,
returning the books is important to the
success of the library.
“We.have to have people return the
books after they check them out,”
Quaid saicl
In fact, she added, if anyone has
checked out à book and not returned
it, staff members would appreciate the
book being brought back to the library.
While there are a few regular patrons
at thè library, many also use the library
for its computer access, Quaid added.
This year they also plan to upgrade
the computer systems.
An ILMS enhancem ent grant
helps fund the library, paired with
two grants through the Jefferson
County Public Library.
However, Quaid said, they also
have private fionors in places as far
away as New York and Connecti
cut.
In fact, the library was founded
on donations alone.
“A lot of our collection is built
on donations,” Quaid explained.
Other libraries, literary foundations
and private donors often donate
books that are used or have been
used in the library.
“We get people donating from all
over,” Quaid said.
Currently they’re working to
make sure the collection is current—
removing any books older than five
years old.
The library moved to the Family
Resource Center in 2002 when the
building was remodeled.
Before that, it was located in the
Com munity Center, but was not
staffed and books were not returned
frequently.
See LIBRARY on 10
New data is demonstrating & posi
tive trend in the 509-J school district.
Officials with the school district said
the data— regarding item s such as
grade-point averages, absenteeism and
suspensions—is the best it’s been in
years.
Within the district, Warm Springs El
ementary School has made several note
worthy improvements, according to the
data.
School principal Dawn Smith said
the teachers and staff have been work
ing for years in various areas to im
prove student achievement.
One aspect, she said, involves align
ing the entire curriculum with the stan
dards of the state of Oregon while also
developing year-long teaching plans at
each grade level “that guide instructions
and help ensure that everyone teaches
everything that needs to be taught.”
In addition, Smith said, they’ve also
worked to select core subject programs
that both support and enhance the state
standards»
“The programs that we have in'place1
also allow for differentiated instruc
tions, meaning that students may move
through most of our programs at their
own pace,” Smith explained-—allowing'
students to move quickly through con
cepts and skills they have already mas
tered while having time to review and
practice other that they may find chal
lenging
Sm ith said they’ve also imple-f
mented instructional strategies that
help students develop language skills
necessary to fully understand w hat is
being taught.
“It’s not enough to just teach read|;
ing or teach math or social studies or
science,” Smith said. “You have to
make sure kids clearly understand and
can apply what they’re learning.”
At Warm Springs Elementary, Smith
said, they also have high expectations
for student behavior and strive to cre-^
ate a strong community within the
schooL
Another aspect they’ve worked to
improve, Smith said, involves develop
ing a common language o f achieve
m ent •
“Every student knows they may b e;
asked at any time what spelling level
they are on,” she said. “They know
they may be asked how many acceler-:
ated math objectives they have passed,
how many words they read on their hot
or cold timings that day, or what per
centages o f questions they just passed
on th eir co m prehensio n reading
quiz.” .
According to Smith, “There is a con
tinual flowing o f ‘achievement’ speak
that everyone in the school is involved
in daily and that sets the tone o f the
school. We are all about learning and
getting more proficient at everything
we do and everyone knows it.”
A large part of their ongoing suc
cess at Warm Springs Elementary is
due to parent involvement as well, Smith
said.
“We have tremendous parent sup
port and we are grateful daily for it,”
she said» “Our parents understand and
support what we are doing and hold
high expectations for their children as
welL”
See SCHOOLS on 11