Smoke Signals
Local Princoisal who revolt
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Maftiv cyDfiyr accepts new jb
By Brent Merrill
Popular Grand Ronde Elemen
tary School Principal Kathy
Sumners is moving on. But, she
wants people to know how much she
has enjoyed her eight years in the
community.
"It is very hard to leave," said
Sumners who was asked to accept a
position as principal at North Marion
Intermediate School in Aurora.
"This was such a hard decision be
cause I absolutely love the Grand
Ronde community. I have loved
working with the Tribe and all of the
employees and tribal members and
everybody. It's just been a wonder
ful, enriching part of my whole life
and that was what made the deci
sion so hard to make."
Sumners said she has seen many
changes in the school in the time that
she has been here and she said 'she
has seen the perception of Grand
Ronde Elementary change as well.
"First of all, it was very different
when I came here," said Sumners.
"Eight years ago, almost nothing was
done culturally in the school for our
students. One of our teachers,
Michaelle Kimsey (the wife of former
Tribal Council member Marvin
Kimsey) had been here doing the In
dian Education Program. Michaelle
had done a lot of tutoring and some
culture classes and she did it well.
Mostly, the emphasis was on tutor
ing through an Indian Education
grant the schools get. So, that was
really the only way that we were able
to provide any kind of cultural aspect.
There was much more emphasis on
tutoring at that time and we focused
on helping the Indian kids who were
lower academically than where they
should have been and really working
with them.
"When I came, we started out do
ing a pow-wow and we did a week of
cultural things particularly Indian
culture," said Sumners. "We had a
lot of volunteers a lot of tribal vol-
Our involvement with the
Tribe is a very important thing,
if we didn't have the Tribe and
the employees to fall back on,
I think our school would not be
the rich place that it is today.9
Kathy Sumners
Principal
unteers people not only from
Grand Ronde, but Salem and else
where who came and volunteered
time.
"I knew when I came that we
needed to if we were really going
to work on trying to help everybody
understand about different cultures
that we needed to do more cultural
education," said Sumners. "That
(education) is the key to the whole
thing. And, over the years we have
done a lot of cultural things and we
have changed the whole emphasis of
our Indian Education Program to
where now we are doing culture
classes for all kids on Indian culture.
All of our kids are learning about
Native history and those are all done
through the culture classes that
Michaelle has done. All kids are
learning about the culture of the Con
federated Tribes of the Grand Ronde."
Sumners said the school also pro
vides information on African-American,
Hispanic and Asian culture.
"That educational information,
over the years, has provided more
awareness of not only Indian cul
ture, but other cultures as well," said
Sumners.
"When I came here, 25 percent of
our kids were Native American," said
Sumners. "Now, 50 percent of our
kids at Grand Ronde Elementary are
Native Americans and another 10
percent are Hispanic, Black or of Pa
cific Island descent. Not only is that
a significant increase, but also when
I came here we only had 120 some
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Grand Ronde Principal Kathy Sumners will finish out this school year.
She has made many friends in the community during her eight years
here. Sumners will be missed greatly the Tribe wishes her the best in
her new job.
kids in the school. Now we have 176
kids. So, the total population of the
school has increased by about 50
kids, but the Native American popu
lation has increased significantly."
Sumners said she embraced the
Tribe and the Native culture whole
heartedly when she came to Grand
Ronde.
"It was totally a conscious choice
that I made," said Sumners. "My hus
band and I enjoyed Native American
cultural activities and pow-wows way
before I ever came here. When I
came here it was definitely a con
scious choice to embrace what we had
here. We had such wonderful oppor
tunities to offer the kids that it would
have been ridiculous not to take ad
vantage of that in a positive way. It
was something that I saw as a posi
tive aspect of this whole community.
Our involvement with the Tribe is a
very important thing, if we didn't
have the Tribe and the employees to
fall back on, I think our school would
not be the rich place that it is today."
Self-esteem and a positive self-im
age have been emphasized under
Sumner's leadership. Pride, aware
ness of other cultures and participa
tion have also increased during
Sumner's tenure.
"We're trying to raise the self-esteem
of these kids to where we have
included all kids in different activi
ties," said Sumners.
As Sumners moves on, she said one
of the moments that will stick out in
her mind when she reflects on her
years in Grand Ronde will be of a
Pow-wow held at the school after her
first year. Then Tribal Chairman
Mark Mercier honored Sumners by
giving her a Pendleton blanket.
"That was such a touching moment
for me," said Sumners wistfully. "It
was a real acceptance from people
within the Tribe. It made me know
that what I was doing at the school
by emphasizing diversity and cul
tural awareness was the right way
to go. It was very touching and very
emotional. I've had some wonderful
relationships with people over the
years."
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I pring is here and tribal members
are urged to take advantage of
'the good weather to continue the
community's long-standing tradition of
caring for family gravesites at the tribal
cemetery. Old flowers and various trin
kets left on gravesites become debris and
need to be cleared away from time to
time.
"Traditionally, families would come
down here and take care of their graves and have a family get together. Now,
most people just bring flowers and leave them," said cemetery caretaker and
tribal Elder Russ Leno. "This is an important place, we should take care of it."
Leno said some families still take good care of the gravesites and take pride in it.
He would like to see a return to the tradition of taking care of the graves.
Tribal members should be thankful for the present condition of the cemetery.
The entrance road used to be covered with scotchbroom and families followed
trails to get to their gravesites.
Leno said he understands the reasons families place mementos and he wants
the membership to know that he cares. He said he enjoys talking to the families
when they visit.
"If somebody gives me a name I can pretty much tell them where to find the
gravesite," said Leno.
Leno will also assist families who want to put names on unmarked gravesites.
Trees, plants and bushes can be planted near gravesites but, consideration of
where those trees can be planted should be discussed with the cemetery staff
prior to placement.