Tribal Education Departments National Assembly, Co.

Serving education departments in Indian Country

Both Forums were well attended by Tribal Education Directors and other interested persons. The featured topic was the new Tribal Education Departments National Assembly (TEDNA), a national, non-profit, membership organization for TEDs. TEDNA had been officially incorporated less than one week, and the Greensboro Forums were its debut to Indian Country.

"We are very pleased how TEDNA is being perceived and received," said Jerome Jainga, Education Director for the Suquamish Tribe in Washington, and one of three original volunteer TEDNA directors. "The response has overwhelmingly been 'it's about time'; 'we are so happy that this step has been taken'; and, 'we will do everything we can to support this organization.'"

TEDNA was founded largely by a contract from the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Indian Education to the Native American Rights Fund (NARF). NARF has worked with tribes for over fifteen years to help them establish tribal education departments and develop tribal education codes. NARF estimates that there are over 110 TEDs in operation today in Indian Country, serving thousands of tribal students nationwide. While the idea of a national TED organization had been proposed before, it had never caught on until this year.

Now that it is incorporated, TEDNA is proceeding to draft a Mission Statement and By-Laws. A draft Mission Statement was presented by Jerome Jainga and the other original volunteer directors, Quinton Roman Nose, Education Director for the Cheyenne-Arapaho Tribes of Oklahoma, and Joyce Silverthorne, Education Director for the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation in Montana. Open discussion was held and very important additions and changes to the draft Mission Statement were adopted by consensus of the Forum participants. The current draft Mission Statement can be viewed elsewhere on the TEDNA web site. Comments on the draft will be accepted through at least December 31, 2003.

"The By-Laws will take some time," commented Joyce Silverthorne. "It is important that we go through a very inclusive process in developing them," she explained to the Forum participants. "The most critical issues are which TEDs will be eligible for membership in TEDNA, and that raises the issue of what is a TED for TEDNA purposes." She continued, "We want to hear from everyone about these matters. Nothing has been decided and everything is on the table. The U.S. Department of Education has given us one year to do this and we want to do it right." She added that the By-Laws issues will soon be available on the web site.

The TEDNA web site is being developed by NARF. It is an on-going process with a long term goal of providing current and accurate information on topics ranging from statistics on Indian education, pertinent federal, state, and tribal education laws, and links to sources of information on student data collection and reporting systems and Native Language programs. "In this day and age of technology," stated Quinton Roman Nose, "there's no reason why our TEDs can't have access to these resources on a timely basis to help tribal students." He added,"That's what our students deserve and that's what we are striving for."