Tribal Education Departments National Assembly, Co.

Serving education departments in Indian Country

OIE presents check to NARF for TEDNA. Pictured from left are Victoria Vasques, Director, OIE; Quinton Roman Nose, Director, Education Department, Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma; Joyce Silverthorne, Director, Education Department, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation in Montana; Jerome Jainga, Director, Education Department, Suquamish Tribe in Washington; and, Melody McCoy, NARF Staff Attorney.

Photo by Ray Ramirez.

The three original directors of the Tribal Education Departments National Assembly (TEDNA) were on hand in Boulder, Colorado, to celebrate the federal contract that is helping to found their organization. Jerome Jainga, Director of the Education Department for the Suquamish Tribe in Washington; Quinton Roman Nose, Director of the Education Department for the Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma; and, Joyce Silverthorne, Director of the Education Department for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation in Montana, traveled to Boulder to attend the Check Presentation Ceremony there on October 18, 2003.

"We are very excited," stated Jerome Jainga. "We have a lot to do, but a national organization will have access to needed resources to help our students at home and in urban areas." Joyce Silverthorne added, "A national organization will help us interact with the federal and state governments that have so much control over the education of our students. Tribes need to be at the table and they are ready to be there." Quinton Roman Nose commented that, "Things have really happened fast since we first talked about this. Most things in Indian education take a long time. It's good to see some momentum."

The contract is a one-time funding opportunity from the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Indian Education (OIE) to the Native American Rights Fund (NARF), expressly for the purpose of establishing a national organization for Tribal Education Departments (TEDs). The OIE selected NARF, a national, non-profit legal defense fund, on the basis of NARF's fifteen year dedication to providing legal assistance to tribes to help them develop TEDs that serve tribal students attending tribal, federal, and public schools and education programs. TEDs provide needed coordination, immediate direction, and long-term planning to address tribal student needs and the education goals of tribes which often get lost in the myriad of laws, regulations, and policies that govern education generally and Indian education in particular.

To date most of NARF's work with TEDs has been supported by contracts from private sources such as the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation in Battle Creek, Michigan. The OIE contract marks the first time that a federal agency has directly funded TED matters.

Because of the federal contract, NARF was able to secure the pro bono (no cost) legal assistance of the Portland, Maine, law firm of Drummond, Woodsum, and MacMahon to prepare and file TEDNA's organizing documents. On October 27, 2003, TEDNA's Certificate of Incorporation was officially filed in Delaware. TEDNA is a nonprofit membership organization for TEDs. With input from TEDs, and a volunteer ad hoc committee, organizational By-laws will be developed in the next few months. Following the ceremony, the TED Directors on hand went into a full day working session to prepare for upcoming National TED Meetings on November 2, 2003 in Greensboro, North Carolina, and on November 16, 2003 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

The Director of OIE, Victoria Vasques, came from Washington, DC, to present the check at the ceremony which was held in the living room of NARF's Boulder, Colorado headquarters. Receiving the check on behalf of NARF were NARF National Support Committee member Lucille Echohawk, and NARF Litigation Management Committee member Yvonne Knight, both of whom have long been involved in Indian education.

About forty people attended the Saturday morning ceremony. Four of the local OIE Title VII programs – Adams County; Boulder County; Denver; and, Jefferson County – were represented by students and / or staff. The students and parents appreciated the opportunity to meet the Tribal Education Directors and Ms. Vasques, and to learn about TEDNA. The Director of the Adams County Title VII Program, John Emhoolah, began the ceremony with a blessing. The Big Crow Drum Group performed an honor song for the OIE and a prayer song for tribal students.

Two dozen inaugural TEDNA T-shirts were generously donated by Brian Preston of Preston Designs, Inc., in Tempe, Arizona.