12
Smoke Signals
OCTOBER 15, 2011
ReyinioDdls Moglh ScDddoD woID allow ffeaftlhieB'
FEATHER continued
from front page
daughter wearing an eagle feather
on her cap for graduation)," Driver
said.
In reaction, the Reynolds School
District has spoken strongly for the
value of preserving Tribal cultural
practices during its graduation
ceremonies.
Like nature that throws out
thousands of seeds for a single tree,
Driver set state and Tribal bureau
cracies in motion to see Mykilee
wearing an eagle feather beside the
tassel on her graduation cap when
she graduates in June 2012.
In 10 days, Tonie did a ton of
research on the subject, contacted
authorities at her Tribe and many
others across Oregon in the pro
cess. She tells another part of the tale
in an e-mail to Connie Philibert,
executive assistant to Reynolds
School District Superintendent
Joyce Henstrand. Philibert handled
the case early on for the district.
The initial rejection from Reyn
olds High School came from as
sistant principal Wade Bakely,
who told her that "the school has a
no-adornment policy for graduation
attire; it has been in place for years;
it can't be changed; exceptions will
not be made."
As Driver pressed for a look at
the written policy, she felt the frus
tration in Bakely's voice. She felt
intimidated, but the louder his voice
became, the softer her voice became,
but she pursued her questions.
"They really don't have the au
thority (to block Native American
cultural practices)," she said.
Driver knew because last year
she served as chair of the district's
Title VII Committee. She asked
Bakely whether school policy could
trump federal law guaranteeing
Native Americans the right to their
cultural and religious practices, but
to no avail.
So she started calling around to
see if help was available.
Driver did not know that she
already had a friend in the district
superintendent's office.
"There is no denying that Reyn
olds (High School) inappropriately
denied her first request," said Hen
strand. "There is a non-adornment
policy, not a policy, a practice, at
the high school, but there is no
policy around it.
'Their goals are admirable. Grad
uation ceremonies used to be a bit
rowdy without much decorum."
Reynolds High School banned
adornment on students at gradua
tion and it was successful in bring
ing decorum to the ceremony.
"It was successful," Henstrand
said, "but we can't do that at the
expense of a student who has a
religious need or practice that it
would violate. We have to have
the decorum and some degree of
practice that makes us proud while
being flexible enough to serve the
religious and cultural needs of our
students."
Driver, however, was already in
motion. Among her stops was the
Portland office of the Confeder
ated Tribes of Grand Ronde, where
Mykilee at
tends culture
classes each
week. Staff
pointed her to
Tribal member
and Education
Department
Manager April
Campbell.
Campbell
remembered
the time, two
years ago,
when a Tribal
member graduated from another
school in Oregon.
"When Tonie called, I said, 'I'm
tired of hearing this,' " Campbell
said. "A lot of times, students will
wear regalia. (This graduate) had a
beaded cap and the principal took it
off his head on his way up to receive
his diploma. These types of actions
occur all too often. I worked with
the school's Parent-Teacher Com
mittee, with the principal at the
high school, and the superinten
dent of the district. I wasn't able to
make any headway as the district
wouldn't bend."
"I cannot believe this," Driver told
Campbell. "It's a ceremonial thing.
Different Tribes have different tra
ditions, but this is unified within
Tribes. All recognize the eagle feath
er as a sign of accomplishment."
For Mykilee's part, "I was really
disappointed because any other
high school that is near a reserva
tion and has Native students in it
is allowed to wear eagle feathers
on their caps. I just didn't think
that they would say, 'No,' and not
be aware of what a great honor
this is."
Campbell pointed Driver to Kar
en Quigley, executive director of the
Oregon Legislative Commission on
Indian Services in Salem.
"She's a shaker and a mover,"
Campbell said.
'There's an ongoing need to edu
cate all Oregonians about the sig
nificance of Tribal traditions," said
Quigley.
Quigley brought the story in the
Education Cluster, a tool of Oregon's
government-to-government program
bringing together state agencies with
Tribal entities to improve communi
cation and solve problems.
"It's an incredibly effective tool,"
Quigley said.
She also spoke with other Tribal
representa
tives from
the Govern
on e n t -1 o -Government
Education
Cluster that
included
Campbell and
Steve Wood
cock at the
Department
of Education,
the Indian
education li
aison.
"Anecdotally," Quigley said, "this
was enough of an issue, and it
brings up in the broader context
how Native kids are treated in the
school system. Is the culture seen
as something positive? Or are they
uncomfortable in the school system?
That's a recurring theme for us."
Quigley asked Campbell to con
firm that the Oregon University
System honors cultural practices for
Native Americans and to use that
model to convince high schools of the
acceptability of the practice.
"Sometimes," Quigley said, "it's
good to see what other parts of the
system are doing. When it turned
out that wearing regalia for gradua
tion was fine with Oregon's colleges
and universities, it stood as a model
for the high school."
Despite the personal turmoil for
the Driver family and for the Reyn
olds School District, the problem
went up the appropriate chain of
command.
After rejection at the school level,
Driver went to the superintendent's
office where "Connie (Philibert,
executive assistant) met with Tonie
and heard the request," said dis
trict Communications Coordinator
Andrea Watson. "She talked to the
superintendent. She talked to the
parents. She said it would be fine
to have her feather for graduation.
The high school said, 'No,' but at
the second step, the school decision
was overturned and we told Tonie
we would allow that. That's just the
way it is supposed to work.
"We don't have a specific policy,
but we do have a district initiative
(diversity training) that we've been
working on for several years."
The initiative stresses "prin
ciples of diversity, race, that differ
ences matter," and focuses on "the
achievement gap," Watson said.
For the 2010-11 school year, 1
percent of the Reynolds district's
11,200 students were Native Amer
ican, Watson said, but even with
the small percentage, she recog
nized that "this is a significant
cultural issue."
Although Henstrand immediate
ly saw the value of the traditional
practice, saying, "I have been an
advocate of rights of people of color
for years. I have plaques on my wall
for this. ... When Connie brought
Ms. Driver's issue forward, I im
mediately said, 'Of course she can
wear her feather.' "
Henstrand said she had to in
quire about the appropriateness
of certain aspects of the request.
Did Driver have the right to own
the eagle feather? Was she truly a
Tribal member?
Ten days after Driver's initial
request at Reynolds High School,
Henstrand made official her first
reaction to the problem. She over
ruled the high school and gave
permission for Mykilee to wear an
eagle feather next to the tassel on
her graduation cap.
Next June, Mykilee will become
the first Reynolds High School
graduate to wear the eagle feather
on her cap during graduation.
"When Mykilee first heard that
she wouldn't be able to wear the
eagle feather, she said she was go
ing to wear it anyway," Tonie said.
"But I told her, 'We're going to do
it the right way, with honor.' And
she's like, 'OK'."
Meanwhile, many of the seeds
Driver planted continue to grow
across the state.
There is no statewide policy re
garding adornments on graduation
dress, according to Christine Miles,
communications director for the
Oregon Education Department.
"Susan (Castillo) was aware of
this situation," said Miles. "They
are looking to see if they need to
address a statewide policy to make
it clear what's accepted and what's
not."
"It has been solved at Reynolds,"
said Quigley, "and that will stand
as a model for other schools."
"We're meeting with the government-to-government
group Nov. 9
and 10," said Campbell, "and the
Tribes are going to bring it up to
that level as well." B
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'It's a ceremonial thing.
Different Tribes have
different traditions, but
this is unified within
Tribes. All recognize the
eagle feather as a sign of
accomplishment. '
Tonie Driver