6
Education
Smoke Signals
Tribal Head Start program up and running
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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.
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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.