In fact, Slowman-Chee, six Indian Education representatives and one school board member are all unavailable until later this week after they return from Honolulu, Hawaii.
The Indian Education and school officials are in Hawaii for the four-day 2007 Convention of the National Indian Education Association, which runs through today at the Hawaii Convention Center and Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort in Honolulu.
Chapter representatives and school officials from the Central Consolidated School District did not pay for the trip, though. The money came from federal Johnson O'Malley funds, according to CCSD Interim Superintendent Charles Hayes. The federal dollars have suffered considerable cutbacks in recent years.
This year, CCSD received $338,794 in Johnson O'Malley funding, down from $414,614 last year. Most of Central's enrollment of more than 6,700
Most other school districts in San Juan County chose not to send anybody to Hawaii, citing the high expense and a need to spend the funding they receive on local American Indian programs and students.
CCSD's stance on going to Hawaii
School officials with Central Consolidated School District say the reason for sending six Indian Education Committee members was not to give these members a vacation in an exotic locale. Instead, the purpose was to make up for years of not sending members to informational conferences of any kind.
"I can't speak for the past, but attending these sorts of events is a conscious choice this district made at this point in time. We are in a position where we need to catch up," Hayes said.
In recent years, the district has not sent Indian Education delegates to both national and state conventions.
"We are trying to change that. I do not know what the reasons were for not participating, but this administration and Indian Education Committee (cannot be expected) to do their jobs well without sufficient information," Hayes said.
Johnson O'Malley money helps meet the "specialized needs of Native American students attending public schools," according to the National Johnson O'Malley Association. Needs include school supplies, salaries for home-school liaisons, financial assistance for lab fees, money for after-school programs and payment of fees associated with ACT testing, said Sharon Barber, secretary for the Indian Education programs with CCSD.
The 38th convention has thousands of Indian Education members from across the country convening in the tropical setting to discuss matters relating to Title VII funding, Indian education matters and other items of interest to bilingual program leaders.
Through a series of workshops and lectures, the results of the latest research and best educational practices were to be presented during the four days.
The tally of long-distance trips
Between airfare, hotel accommodations, meal allowance and convention registration, the trip costs almost $1,400 per person, Barber said. Combined with that expense and costs of a trip held the previous weekend for other committee members to visit Niagara Falls for a National Johnson O'Malley Association meeting, the district's Johnson O'Malley fund has been billed an estimated $20,000, according to Byron Manning, executive director of finance and business operations with the district.
Manning said the Hawaii trip totals $14,000 to $15,000. The Niagara Falls trip for five members was about $5,000.
According to the National Johnson O'Malley Association, the convention in Niagara Falls attracted between 350 to 400 attendees.
Many agree that the National Indian Education Association conference is helpful. For example, new members are voted in and serious topics, such as changes in the way federal dollars are allotted, are discussed in great detail. CCSD, however, is by far paying for more individuals to attend the Hawaiian meeting than any other school district in the county.
The conference attendees include Susie John, representing Beclabito Chapter; Larry Jackson Jr., of Naschitti Chapter; Lucille Yellowman, of Nenahnezad Chapter; Susie Wood, of Newcomb Chapter; Jeanne Tsipai, of Two Grey Hills Chapter; and Louise Charley, of Sheep Springs Chapter, as well as Slowman-Chee and board member Elayne Lowe.
By comparison, neither Farmington Municipal Schools nor Aztec Municipal School District sent anyone. Bloomfield School District has two representatives going: One paid his own way, and the other had to pay for everything except her plane ticket.
Too expensive'
The explanation other districts give is that the trip is "too expensive."
Marie Charles, Indian Education director for Aztec schools, said her district receives only $20,000 Johnson O'Malley dollars — an amount she stretches as far as she can. Every dollar goes into services for the district's 409 American Indian students.
The same policy is true at Farmington Municipal Schools, where no one from the eight-person Indian Education committee can travel unless the meetings are within the state or at tribal locations.
"JOM got a big cut this year and our committee says that the money should go to programs that serve our students," said Arlene Kirstine, the director of Indian Education for Farmington schools. "The last thing they want to do is travel on Indian Education money."
Farmington schools receive $162,438 in Johnson O'Malley money, down $42,532 from last year. The district has 3,013 American Indian students.
In Bloomfield, the only other district with representatives in Hawaii, Lena Smith, director of federal programs, said while the national conference is great for networking, it simply isn't cost effective to send more people.
The district paid only for the $550 airline ticket for Janice Montoya, a first-grade bilingual teacher of Navajo language at Central Primary Elementary School. The Bloomfield district received $53,000 in Johnson O'Malley funding this year for its 1,011 American Indian students.
Fixing a mistake?
Past decisions against sending representatives to these meetings in earlier years was a huge mistake, Hayes said. CCSD attendees will learn the latest research about educating American Indian children, will find out about successful programs from other parts of the country and will make badly needed contacts, Hayes said.
Other districts in the county do not have the large American Indian student populations that CCSD has, school officials pointed out. Out of the district's 6,739 students, 6,011, or 90 percent, are American Indian.
The district is attempting to become aggressive about getting its representatives into circulation among national Indian education groups. It sent five Indian Education Committee members to the annual National Johnson O'Malley Association Conference in Niagara Falls last weekend.
The district also sent Slowman-Chee to the State Indian Education Advisory Committee meeting in Santa Fe, set up by the Indian Education Division of the New Mexico Public Education Department. It was the first time in recent memory that a CCSD representative attended.
And six district officials attended a Government-to-Government meeting in the state to talk with tribal officials from around the state and educators who work in overwhelmingly American Indian districts to establish better contacts.
With the fate of Johnson O'Malley dollars hanging in the balance — the money allotted by the federal government decreased from $24 million in 1994 to $14 million this year — the idea is to educate CCSD Indian Education Committee members on the challenges facing this and other federal programs so they can become advocates to continue that funding, Hayes said.
While admitting it would save the district some Johnson O'Malley funding if the conference were somewhere else in the continental United States, instead of across the ocean in Hawaii, Hayes said there is a reason for the convention's location — and it's not for the sunsets and beaches.
Hawaii's indigenous population is one of America's best-served by a public education system. The delegates sent to Hawaii will get a chance to see first-hand what is widely considered to be a successful program, Hayes said.
Asked why the district chose to send so many delegates, Hayes said there are so many workshops going on during the same time slots that one or two people could not catch it all.
In addition, CCSD's Indian Education Committee has decided that a certain portion of Johnson O'Malley money would be best spent informing its members about national issues, research and trends.
O'Malley president's thoughts
While unable to speak about the National Indian Education Association Conference specifically, National Johnson O'Malley Association President Virginia Thomas said that local Indian Education members need to learn what's going on at the national level to ensure that the critical funding continues getting approval from Congress.
"We need grassroots people to get involved to get tribal leaders," Thomas said. "I encourage my people to go to National JOM conferences (and other conventions) to sit in there and learn federal regulations, basic JOM 101 classes to ... keep these programs alive."
Thomas defends the value of attending the National Johnson O'Malley Association Conference, saying it's the one chance Indian Education committee members nationwide can gather, share ideas and compare program success rates.
The 2006 National Indian Education Association convention was in Anchorage, Alaska. The year before that, it was in Denver and, in 2004, it was in Phoenix.
National Indian Education Association leaders could not be reached for comment.
Cory Frolik: cfrolik@daily-times.com
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