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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 15, 1998)
6 Education Smoke Signals Tribal Head Start program up and running f I " ' i f ' " UI1I IWIJUIIIIUIBMIMI'1 " 4 "4, :)-:- I By Dean Azule Finally, after much hard work, the tribal Head Start program is alive and operational as of August 3, 1998. The Head Start and Twah Sunchako pre-school programs will offer inte grated services for eligible 3 and 4 year olds on a full-day, year-round schedule for the 1998-99 academic year. Both programs have a com bined enrollment of 33 children. Pro gram components include: parent in volvement, Parent Policy Council, nutrition, medical (vision, hearing, dental screening), education, family advocacy, developmental and social services. The program expansion is made possible through a grant under the American Indian and Alaska Native Head Start programs, American In dian Programs Bureau, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Head Start and pre-school pro gram welcomes new and continuing staff for the school year: Patricia Fasana-Lynn Director, Early Childhood Ed., Head Start and pre-school Vikki Bishop Pre-school Site Su pervisorHead Start Education Coor dination Elaine Lane and Toni Lockwood Head Start Teachers Leanna Norwood and Marissa Leno After Care Teachers Brian Krehbiel, Lisa Schmidt, and Nelda Logan Aides Daniel Haug Bus Services Donna Marner Cook Tara Leno and Adrian Contreras High School Interns Goals of the Head Start and pre school programs are to give students building blocks for future success, to serve and promote Indian people in leadership roles, to involve parents in the entire program process, and to incorporate culturally and develop appropriate Native curriculum in classroom instruction. The Education Division and the Twah Sunchako Learning Center of fer a BIG THANK YOU to: John Mercier, Mike Larsen, Curtis Rentsch, Doug Colton, and Summer Youth Crew for scrambling to get the modular operational. Bob McElderry for grant applica tion and review. Marlene Groshong, Ruth Adams, Cheryle Kennedy, and Kathleen Marquart for hustling to squeeze in children and staff screening. Evergreen Hearing of McMinnville for donating children's hearing screening. Yamhill County Head Start for the encouragement and sharing. Bill Kephart for fast hook up of tele phones and computers. Tribal Council for all their support. In order to establish a waiting list of eligible students, recruitment will be conducted on an ongoing basis. Parents interested in signing up their children can call Patricia Fasana Lynn at 879-2161, or Vikki Bishop at 879-2287. Twah Sunchako Learning Center houses the tribal Head Start program and the tribal pre-school program. The programs look forward to an ex citing first year of operation. Look for our "Open House" announcement scheduled for October! Oregon Universities grant tuition break to tribal members At their July meeting, the Oregon State Board of Higher Education, Oregon University System, adopted a policy to give resident tuition status to any member of an Oregon tribe who enrolls at one of the state's seven public universities. This means that any Grand Ronde tribal member who lives outside of Oregon can attend one of the state universities and not have to pay the exorbitant non-resident tuition fee. Members will pay only resident tuition within the Oregon University System. This policy be comes effective with the start of Fall Term 1998. This policy is the result of lobby ing by the Oregon Tribal Education Contractor's Association and the Or egon Indian Coalition on Post Sec ondary Education over the last three years to bring about change. After much consultation with Oregon tribes and educational organizations, the Chancellor's Office and the State Board worked toward identifying the tribes within the state, as well as not ing traditional and customary bound aries. "We share the hope with tribal lead ers that this will help bring back stu dents to Oregon" explained Chancel lor Joe Cox. "While the number of students will not likely be large, the symbolism is very important." Students seeking resident tuition status under the new policy will be required to document tribal enroll ment. Currendy these procedures re garding tuition are now being devel oped by Eastern Oregon University, Western Oregon University, South ern Oregon University, Oregon State University, Portland State University, the University of Oregon, and the Oregon Institute of Technology. Additionally this policy also in cludes some tribes from Washington, Idaho and Northern California, who had traditional and customary bound aries in Oregon. The enactment of this policy will save money for Native American stu dents who previously paid higher non-resident rates because they lived outside of Oregon. This move is greatly supported by the tribal com munities as they continue to expand their government to government re lationships. Portions of this article was submitted by the Oregon University System and the Office of the Chancellor. g:gi!ia3!!ll The Tribal Education Division and Committee will be purchasing basic school supplies for tribal youth. Sup plies are available while they last, and may be picked up at the Youth Cen ter during the week of August 17-21 from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., includ ing the lunch hour. You will need to make arrangements to pick up sup plies during this week, as we will not be handing them out after this time or mailing supplies. Please call Lisa Leno or Hollie Larsen at 1-800-422-0232 if you have questions. Grad photos needed Tribal Higher Education Graduates: please send your college graduation photo to be included in our graduate "Hall of Fame." We hope to have as many graduates as possible repre sented. Please include basic infor mation such as college attended, de gree earned, and year of graduation. Please mail to the Tribal Education Division. STUDENTS: submit your grade reports! Student awards will be delayed for 32 students who have not submitted i their Federal Financial Aid informa tion which was due on February 15. Grade reports need to be submitted (in a timely manner) at the conclu sion of each grading period. The Tribal Student Advisory Council is recruiting for new members. To be eligible to serve on the council you must be a tribal member enrolled and attending a college or university. Some ac tivities the Student Advisory Council participates in are: Quarterly education planning meetings. Oregon Indian Education Asso ciation (OIEA) participation. Achievement & Recognition awards activity for youth. Leadership activities. If you are interested in becom ing a member of the Student Ad visory Council or participating in some of the council activities please contact Hollie Larsen, Edu cation Division Secretary, at 1-800-422-0232, ext. 2275 to re quest an application.
