By SHIRIN PARSAVAND, The Press-Enterprise

Students who come to Sherman Indian High School get a mix of academic classes and instruction in native languages and traditions that many couldn’t get in their schools at home on reservations or in cities.

But the strength of that education could be in jeopardy, with the layoffs of 34 teachers, dorm staffers and other employees this school year because of a funding shortfall.

The cuts at the federally run boarding school come as the government is pouring unprecedented amounts of money into the nation’s public schools. Much of the $100 billion in stimulus funding for education nationwide is going to save jobs that otherwise would be lost as a result of state funding cuts because of the recession.

Other federally funded schools for American Indian students also have experienced cutbacks this school year, but those at Sherman Indian were especially severe. The school has been in Riverside for more than 100 years.

The federal Bureau of Indian Education, which runs Sherman Indian, has not explained why the school has taken a harder hit than other schools it operates, including the three other off-reservation boarding schools it runs in Oklahoma, Oregon and South Dakota.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs, which oversees the Bureau of Indian Education, would not answer questions for this story because of a grievance filed by the union representing the employees at Sherman Indian.

A former principal at Sherman, Don Sims, who left the school in February 2008 after conflicts with the board, said last week that a change in how the agency funds schools hurt the off-reservation boarding schools. Sherman Indian is under more financial pressure than the other three schools because it receives the same per-student funding but its expenses are higher because of the cost of living in Southern California, he said.

Sims said the board, which is made up of representatives from California and the tribes with the most students at the school, essentially forced him out, although that was never made explicit.

“I was either let go during probation or retired voluntarily,” he said, adding that he has documents that give each explanation. Carl Davis, now the school’s assistant principal, served as acting principal until the appointment of Roland “Tripp” Doepner at the end of the last school year.

In a letter in February to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., asked why the employees were laid off at mid-year and about the effect on students’ education and class sizes. She also asked why contingency funds weren’t used to cover the employees’ salaries until the end of the year.

The union representing employees at Sherman Indian High School and other schools for American Indian students also questioned why the Bureau of Indian Education did not use $3.5 million it had in a contingency fund to prevent the layoffs, which took effect Feb. 19.

Grievance Denied

But in its denial of a union grievance over the layoffs at Sherman and other schools, the bureau said $2 million of that money already has been spent, most of it given to schools on a per-student basis in March. The rest is scheduled to be issued to the schools in June.

The union representing employees, the Federation of Indian Service Employees, is pursuing the next stage of the grievance process. It is asking for all the employees to be hired back, with back pay.

Sims said all four of the off-reservation boarding schools run by the Bureau of Indian Education have struggled since the bureau changed how they were funded several years ago. The schools used to be funded based on their student counts early in the school year. Now, enrollment is reviewed at several points in the year, and funding can be cut when the enrollment goes down.

The boarding schools typically lose some students in the middle of the year when they get homesick, their parents want them at home or they cause disciplinary problems and are sent home, Sims said.

Students do not pay to attend the school.

As of late February, after the layoffs, Sherman Indian had 363 students and 133 employees. The school had 564 students in the fall.

Judging the effects of the cutbacks is difficult because school administrators have referred all questions to the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

The school now lacks enough dorm workers and counseling technicians to meet the staffing ratios required by regulations, according to the union’s grievance.

The layoff of a science teacher means that students can only take two science classes, according to the grievance. Students can be admitted to California’s four-year colleges with two lab science courses, but University of California guidelines strongly recommend three years of science.

The news that the school would have to lay off employees came shortly after it appeared it was getting a new start. In July, Doepner talked about wanting to add career preparation courses, especially classes to train medical workers who could help on the reservations, while preserving the school’s college-prep curriculum.

The board at Sherman Indian voted at a meeting in October to approve the layoffs.

$500,000 Shortfall

David Talayumptewa, an administrator with the Bureau of Indian Education, said at the meeting that the school ended the previous school year with a $500,000 shortfall, according to minutes of the board meeting.

Senior Elizabeth Charley, the school’s student body president, said she thinks the layoffs will hurt students’ education in the long run.

Charley’s chemistry class was taken over by the school’s biology teacher in the middle of the year after the chemistry teacher was laid off. But Charley said she doesn’t regret her decision to come to Sherman. She said she doesn’t know whether any underclassmen are planning to go to their home schools next year because of the layoffs.

The cutbacks worry Robert Cook, president of the National Indian Education Association, which advocates for American Indian children in federal schools, tribal-run schools and regular public schools.

Cook, who taught at a tribal-run boarding school in South Dakota for several years, said he thinks the schools are a necessary alternative for students who often get lost in large schools and wind up dropping out.

The government also has an obligation to American Indian schools under treaties signed with tribal nations, he said.

“We want to make sure those are maintained and funded and providing quality academics,” he said.

Stimulus Money

American Indian schools will receive a portion of the funding in the federal stimulus package. But a $54 billion stabilization fund in the stimulus package, which makes up more than half of the stimulus money going to schools and colleges and is intended mainly to prevent layoffs, is going to states to distribute to school districts and colleges.

In December, Doepner began talks with the Riverside Unified School District about the possibility of the district taking over the education of its ninth and 10th graders.

The talks stalled, though, when district officials could not get an answer in writing from the California Department of Education about whether the Sherman Indian students would be considered city residents, and therefore receive state funding.

Bart Stevens, deputy director of school operations for the Bureau of Indian Education, last month denied the school had asked the district to educate some of its students. But e-mails from the district’s deputy superintendent, Mike Fine, to Doepner outline proposals either to send district teachers to Sherman Indian or educate students in district schools.

In another series of e-mails in late February, Doepner asked Fine about the state funding issue and mentions the possibility of students enrolling in one of the “regular” public schools in 2009-10.

Reach Shirin Parsavand at 951-368-9645 or sparsavand@PE.com
© 2009 Press-Enterprise Company

Posted on April 13th, 2009 by hunwut
Filed under: Education