Spilyay Tymoo
Coyote News, est. 1976
August 28, 2019 - Vol. 43, No. 18
August – Shatm – Summer - Shatm
Back to school time
T he 2019-2020 school year will
see changes in the school district,
like a new principal and assistant
principal at the high school, and a
new principal at Bridges. At the
Warm Springs Academy the new
principal is Bambi Van Dyke.
You can meet the new princi-
pals at the Warm Springs Back to
School Barbecue this Thursday,
August 29 from 4 to 6 p.m. at the
Warm Springs Academy.
Principal Van Dyke comes to
Warm Springs from Montana,
where she was principal at the St.
Charles Mission School, located
by the Crow Reservation near
Billings.
Warm Springs Academy
principal Bambi Van Dyke
Dave McMechan photos/Spilyay
Ms. Van Dyke is having a busy
week getting to know the staff
and preparing for the start of
the new year.
Meanwhile in some other
developments: The Academy
is talking with the Warm
Springs Boys & Girls Club to
locate the club at the school,
giving the students easier ac-
cess to the club activities. And
the Academy continues to work
with Culture and Heritage to
bring language, tradition and
culture lessons to the school.
New school year at Early Childhood Education
C asandra Moses is the new
director of the Early Childhood
Education Center. She started
at ECE this summer. Her pre-
vious job was as the behavioral
health specialist with the Op-
portunity Foundation in
Redmond.
The day care at ECE is now
open, and the Head Start stu-
dents return on Tuesday, Sep-
tember 3. ECE is taking appli-
cations for Head Start and
Early Head Start.
Ms. Moses has a 3-year-old
of her own, Jolee, who will be
Casandra Moses
starting soon at Head Start. Ms.
Moses has two boys—Murrary,
10, and Izeyah, 13—who will be
at the Warm Springs Academy.
And her eldest daughter is Savan-
nah, 20.
Ms. Moses is a board member
of the Central Oregon Disability
Support Network. A goal for the
future at ECE is to bring in a
speech pathologist, making the ser-
vice much more convenient for
local families. Right now there is
no speech pathologist in Central
Oregon.
There will be a Back to
School open house at the Early
Childhood Education Center
from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Tues-
day, September 3.
The open house is a
chance for parents to meet
the teachers and other Head
Start staff, and to visit the
classrooms.
Learn more about enrolling
your child by stopping by
Warm Springs Early Childhood
Education, or call 541-553-
3242.
Enterprise updates at district meetings
The Seekseequa and Agency
districts have heard recent up-
dates from the tribal enterprises.
At the Agency meeting on Mon-
day evening this week, about 60
tribal members were in atten-
dance.
The enterprise representa-
tives reported on their opera-
tions, including employment,
and their financial forecasts for
2020.
Tribal projected revenue for
next year is significantly lower
than for the current year (see re-
lated story on this page).
Projecting the amount of
money each tribal enterprise will
contribute to tribal operations is
part of the annual tribal govern-
ment budget process.
Revenue for the tribal budget
comes from enterprise profits,
plus the timber revenue, invest-
ment income, permits, taxes, fees,
and settlements.
In September the Tribal Coun-
cil will also meet with all of the
enterprises, and the departments,
as Council develops a budget pro-
posal for membership review in
October.
Indian Head Casino, which is
projecting an increase in its divi-
dend, reported on the employ-
ment situation at the casino and
the Plateau Travel Plaza.
According to the August 2019
report, Indian Head employs 158
people. The breakdown is as fol-
lows: Tribal members, 53 percent.
Married into the tribes, 6 percent.
Other Indian, 11 percent. Non-
Indian, 30 percent. And there are
several open positions.
The Travel Plaza employs 53
people: Tribal members, 44 per-
cent. No MITs. Other, 18 percent.
Non-Indian, 38 percent. And few
open positions.
Some other items from Indian
Head: September-October will see
an ATV Giveaway.
Jackpots are up in 2019, the
report says. At the Plateau Travel
Plaza tribal members get 5-cents
off per gallon of gas, and 10-per-
ECR WSS
Postal Patron
U.S. Postage
PRSRT STD
Warm Springs, OR 97761
Report
on Kah-
Nee-Ta
Ms. Van Dyke is originally from
Walla Walla, later moved to
Gresham, then Myrtle Beach,
South Carolina, and Montana.
She arrived in Warm Springs
just last Sunday evening, and was
at work at the Academy the fol-
lowing morning. The first day of
school is Tuesday, September 3, so
Kindergarteners, here enjoying their breakfast, returned earlier in August to the Warm Springs Academy.
PO Box 489
Warm Springs, OR 97761
cent discount in the store side
only.
The tribal member gas credit
has been over $125,000 for
2018-19.
Warm Springs Composite
Products reported on its expan-
sion into another plant, happen-
ing this year.
All Composite product lines
are expanding, and the enter-
prise created 19 additional jobs
over the past year, their report
says.
Power and Water, Credit,
Warm Springs Telecom, Ven-
tures, the Timber LLC gave
additional reports at the recent
district meetings.
Tribal Council, Management
and Finance are preparing the
2020 budget proposal for presen-
tation to the membership at the
October district budget meetings.
Management and Finance plan
to have a proposed budget for
Council in early September. The
Tribal Council for the rest of the
month will then meet with the de-
partments and enterprises to hear
their individual budget updates.
At the end of the month Coun-
cil will then approve a proposed
budget number that cannot be ex-
ceeded for expenditures during
the following year.
The current year budget was
approved at $18.4 million. For
next year a preliminary estimate
foresees a budget of $14.8 mil-
lion—a decrease of approxi-
mately $3.5 million. Some reasons
for the decrease:
The Timber LLC is seeing a
reduction in its timber revenue
of $1.5 million. And the Carbon
Sequestration (Warm Springs
Geo Visions) dividend payment
for the current year was close to
$2.5 million, for 2020 the num-
ber is greatly reduced.
Other enterprises—in particu-
lar Power and Water, Indian Head
Casino and Credit—are project-
ing greater dividends for the next
year, though their increases would
not be enough to offset the re-
duction.
A possible approach will be for
the organization as a whole to ab-
sorb the $3.5 million reduction or
to increase revenues by $3.5 mil-
lion, said Michele Stacona, Sec-
retary-Treasurer/CEO.
Water update
Earlier this week there were re-
ports of water outages and low
water pressure in the Greeley
Heights area.
The apparent cause has been
the rate at which the water treat-
ment plant has been able to fill up
the reservoirs.
The tanks were continuing to
be filled as Tuesday of this week.
While the boil water notice was
lifted two weeks ago, tribal Utili-
ties and Management continue to
encourage water conservation.
The rate of consumption has
been high in recent days, leading
to the low reservoirs.