Tribal Governments
Legislative Day set
for Feb. 13 — pg. 5
PRESORTED
STANDARD MAIL
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
SALEM, OR
PERMIT NO. 178
february 1, 2014
study: native
students face
many hurdles
By Dean Rhodes
sixth sense
Smoke Signals editor
A
new study funded by Spirit
Mountain Community Fund
has found that there are
many hurdles hampering Native
students from being successful in
Oregon’s educational system, and
there also are many problems for
educators and Tribal representa-
tives in determining which public
school students are enrolled mem-
bers of Oregon’s nine federally
recognized Tribes.
The study’s executive summary,
released Jan. 22 by its authors
ECONorthwest and the Chalk-
board Project, compared Tribal
membership rolls for seven of
Oregon’s Tribes with data from the
state Department of Education.
The fi ndings were, according to
a press release, “informative and
disheartening.”
The fi ndings include:
• Tribal students in the seven
Tribes showed elevated rates
of chronic absenteeism, which
means students missed10 percent
or more of school days. One-third
of Tribal students were chroni-
cally absent in 2011-22, with the
highest rate – 43 percent – at the
high school level. Students who
miss that that much school are
unlikely to ever read or do math
at grade level or earn a diploma,
educational studies have shown.
• Almost 33 percent of Tribal stu-
dents in the seven Tribes were
enrolled in priority or focus schools,
which are deemed underperform-
Halona Butler dances a jingle dress dance during the sixth annual Gathering
of Oregon’s First nations powwow held at the Oregon state Fair & expo
Center’s salem pavilion on saturday, Jan. 25.
Tribal Council Chairman reyn Leno welcomes
attendees to the sixth annual Gathering of Oregon’s
First nations powwow held at the Oregon state Fair
& expo Center’s salem pavilion on saturday, Jan. 25.
Story and more photos on pages 8-9.
See EDUCATION
continued on page 7
Photos by Michelle Alaimo
Final Four: Bridge may receive Chinuk Wawa name
By Ron Karten
Smoke Signals staff writer
P
ORTLAND — Construction of the
country’s longest car-free bridge is
going up over the Willamette River
and the bridge might be christened with a
Chinuk Wawa name.
On Wednesday, Jan. 15, Tri-Met and the
Oregon Historical Society announced four
potential names for the bridge, narrow-
ing possibilities down from about 9,500
submissions. Unusual for the process was
public input, a fi rst in the Portland world
of bridge naming.
In a coup for the Grand Ronde Tribe,
See BRIDGE
continued on page 10
David Lewis, Tribal Historian and a member of the portland-Milwaukie Light rail Bridge naming
Committee, talks with a group including Oregon Historical society executive Director Kerry
Tymchuk, right, during the unveiling of four potential bridge names at the Oregon Historical
Photo by Michelle Alaimo society in portland on Wednesday, Jan. 15.