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Lewis still at the helm Diné staff, students ask for changes
See related stories on Page 2.
By George Hardeen
Special to the Independent
TSAILE, Ariz. — For the past week, an overwhelming number of Din College students, staff and faculty had hoped the board of regents would hear their outcry and remove President Tommy Lewis as its meeting Saturday.
But the regents didn't come close to even raising the issue.
Instead, with a few impassioned speeches but otherwise little fanfare over the course its seven-hour meeting, the board heard reports, complaints and testimonials before finally getting around to considering how to respond to five directives issued Nov. 4 by the Navajo Education Committee.
The directives are the committee's attempt to resolve the huge and growing breach of trust between the college administration and, it would appear, everyone else at the school.
The education committee ordered the college to:
Draft a plan to mediate concerns of students, staff, faculty and the college's Management Team.
Hold a public hearing to discuss the regents' 13 reorganization directives.
Present a progress report on a staff "self-policing" instrument.
Submit a plan to involve and improve relations with communities around the Tsaile campus.
And to involve students in the school's conflict resolution process.
The deadline for a response is the committee's next meeting on Dec. 10.
The regents' somewhat unclear plan of action is now to lump a couple of the directives together and to compile information for the committee on the rest, sort of.
It decided to hold hearings at each of the school's centers and campuses, rather than just at Tsaile, but no dates were set. As for gathering information, the board chose to leave much of that effort up to the college personnel director, Preston Brown, who is expected to rely on existing policies and procedures.
Questions remain, however, about precisely what more will be done. Lewis planned to gather his Management Team today to work out many of those details on behalf of the board.
At one point during the meeting, Andy Ayze, a regent and chairman of the tribe's education committee, asked Lewis how much progress had been made on carrying out the directives.
Despite having spoken to the education committee 10 days earlier, Lewis said his office had received a faxed summary of the directives from Azye only three days before the regents' meeting and that he had been in New York City on college business during the week.
In other words, no progress had been made by the administration.
Staff, faculty, students and the communities, on the other hand, had been very busy.
They organized what they called a "consensus" group made up of their respective associations, conducted a survey at the five community centers and two campuses, prepared a 32-page report of survey results and comments, and presented the regents with supporting documentation including five chapter resolutions asking the administration to step down.
"Basically, the employees are saying get the bums outta here," one college employee said.
Of the 158 employees responding to the survey, practically all said Lewis and his acting vice presidents should be asked to resign.
Slightly fewer said the administration had lost the confidence of students, staff and faculty to run the school. And almost all called for a transition team to be appointed to coordinate a search for new administrators.
The 413 students responding were more conservative in their assessment of the administration, but still went along with the employees.
As for the regents, board president Phillip Bluehouse accepted the survey under reports but no discussion was held about it.
The board took no apparent notice that the diverse campus and community groups had already come together or had arrived at a consensus about what should be done. Nor did it ask anyone any questions about it or offer suggestions of its own.
Late in the meeting, as the regents discussed the directives, Lewis told the board that while the school had its own conflict resolution procedures, "there seems to be no coordinating body" that would make sure opposing views were represented.
He suggested letting the school's existing procedure "be the vehicle to bring us together and talk."
Earlier, he presented his overview and rationale for the need of a major reorganization of the college, citing the North Central Association's last evaluation and upcoming accreditation site visits as the primary factor.
However, Rex Lee Jim, president of the faculty association and spokesman for the new consensus group, said the issues went beyond the reorganization.
"There are broader issues and that is mismanagement," Jim told the board.
"The executive administration wants to put forth that this issue is about the reorganization," instructor Dan McLaughlin told the regents. "It's not about reorganization. It's about communication."
In an unexpected board action, newly-seated regent Bernadette Todacheene of Shiprock called for a reorganization of the entire board.
Nominations for new board officers were begun and left open until the next meeting on Dec. 4, when a vote on new officers is expected.
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Education head under attack
Critics say Jackson not suited to job
(Editor's note: This is the first of three reports on changes in the Navajo Division of Diné Education. This looks at criticism of Director Genevieve Jackson; Tuesday's article will tell her side of the story and Wednesday's will address improvements and repairs to Head Start centers.)
By Jim Maniaci
Diné Bureau
WINDOW ROCK — Her opponents think Genevieve Jackson, Navajo Nation Division of Dine' Education director since March, is a mean, dictatorial and vicious administrator. Therefore, she has to go, they maintain.
Their chorus for her ouster has been joined by the vice chairman of the Education Committee of the Navajo Nation Council. Opposition to her appointment to be permanent director resulted in the committee first approving, then repealing, its recommendation of approval, but the council confirmed President Kelsey Begaye's most controversial appointment.
Joining Wallace Charley, committee vice chairman, in the effort to replace Jackson are the Navajo Area School Boards Association and the former Head Start Policy Council eight days before a new and expanded council was seated. Critical charges also came in a letter from a former Head Start employee.
In a Nov. 3 letter to Begaye, Charley objected to Jackson's actions, "specifically for taking several inappropriate disciplinary actions against key division staff (that) resulted in increasing a negative working environment within the division."
He continued, "I found it irritating to the extreme that the (Navajo) nation's employees, who are well-educated, (are) being driven away." For the sake of morale, "I feel that the most satisfactory solution would be for you to consider immediate replacement before something drastic occurs," Charley's letter said.
The association's executive board "regretfully declares a vote of no confidence in Ms. Genevieve Jackson as the director of the Division of Din Education" in a resolution adopted 9-0 on Oct. 30.
The Nov. 4 cover letter said, "This action was taken reluctantly since we have felt that Ms. Jackson possesses qualities that would qualify her to be a strong director and we definitely believe that the nation needs a strong division director of Din Education, particularly at a time which seems right for the nation to put a Navajo Nation education system in place."
Instead of helping reach this goal by establishing a good working relationship, Jackson seeks to diminish the organization's role in Navajo education, the letter said.
The letter stated some discontent is normal with a new administration's actions "demanding more effective performance from staff, but some of it seems unreasonable, excessive and arbitrary. There are other deficiencies that may simply be related to a lack of experience."
The letter asks the committee to consider, with Begaye, making a change. "This is a signal to the powers that be within the (Navajo) nation that all is not well and to strongly recommend that a review be undertaken. NASBA is ready and willing to share its concerns in greater detail at the appropriate time and place," the letter concludes.
Part of NASBA's accompanying resolution adds, "She has created an atmosphere of fear within the division with petty administration of disciplinary action over staff, and the director appears more inclined to take actions to eliminate anyone who questions her actions or even expresses an honest opinion"
The old Head Start Policy Council asked in an Oct. 20 letter to the committee that Kaibah Begay be demoted from acting director.
An accompanying resolution complains the old council "was never given the courtesy of participating in shared decision making regarding the appointment of Ms. Begay in accordance" with federal regulations and that the council "has not legally approved the appointment of Ms. Begay as the acting director."
The resolution said there is a conflict of interest with Begay being the niece of the Northern Agency Head Start director and that Begay lobbied for Jackson's appointment. The old council said it was following a Washington, D.C., directive to assert its authority over the program, but that Begay refused to cooperate and exhibited a negative attitude about the council.
Begay cannot give her full commitment to the job because she works on a master's degree, and lacks the management experience needed for the job, the resolution added.
Tom Christie of the Navajo Department of Justice on July 19 advised the policy council that since it adopted the Navajo Nation personnel manual on Feb. 25, 1999, it "has effectively pre-approved any actions which may be taken by the division with respect to the director or any other employees of the Head Start Program," providing the division follows the manual.
Former Head Start employee Leslie J. Nelson Sr. wrote to the committee on Nov. 7 charging "Unreasonable demands are placed on staff, which has caused a once jovial staff to be placed under undue stress." He also charged 30-day suspensions were given to the Western, Eastern and Chinle Agency directors, and the Western Agency director resigned, as did the central office's facilities coordinator "after threat of another 30-days suspension."
The letter charges Begay was not legally hired: "In 1993, she was hired by former Head Start Director Larry Curley who placed her in a staff position after that staff was wrongfully laid off."
Nelson adds that Curley hired people in 1993 without advertising. "Staff in these positions, including myself, were laid off when our positions were budgeted" and Curley didn't interview any other candidates, according to the letter.
Navajo Head Start employs 756 people with 110 vacancies.
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Charter schools argue for expansions
By Jim Maniaci
Diné Bureau
WINDOW ROCK — The Bureau of Indian Affairs doesn't think Arizona's charter public schools special schools not necessarily bound by all the rules of the state bureaucracy should be allowed to add new grades if they receive funds from the BIA.
But the BIA-funded charter schools which are either BIA grant or charter institutions contend their expansions have been paid for out of state funds, and they have taken their battle to the U.S. Congress.
The BIA says these schools have violated a Congressional moratorium on adding new or expanding existing contract and grant schools, effective in fiscal year 1999.
The Navajo Nation Council's Education Committee learned Friday that the BIA wanted to take over the operation of the grant and contract schools that are expanding grades.
Melinda Jacquez, an attorney for Kin Dah Lichi Olta (Kinlichee School), said the schools had previously approached the BIA when they first wanted to use creative financing to help meet their needs, and there was no objection at that time.
Jacquez said the change in the BIA position occurred this summer, when the BIA objected to the schools adding new grades. She said the schools didn't convince the BIA that state funds, not federal ones, were being used to add grades.
She said U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl, R.-Ariz., has included a clarification agreeing with the schools' position in an Oct. 20 report on the appropriations bill for the U.S. Department of the Interior that now awaits President Clinton's signature.
Disputed language
In dispute is a sentence that reads: "No funds available to the Bureau shall be used to support expanded grades for any school or dormitory beyond the grade structure in place or approved by the Secretary of the Interior at each school in the Bureau school system as of Oct. 1, 1995."
Kyl's change in the federal law reads: "Funds made available under this Act may not be used to establish a charter school at a Bureau-funded school ... except that a charter school that is in existence on the date of the enactment of this Act and that has operated at a Bureau-funded school before Sept. 1, 1999, may continue to operate during that period" as long as it reimburses the BIA for the cost of using the facilities.
According to Navajo law, the tribe's oversight committee and the Inter-Government Relations Committee must approve the appearance of any Navajo group or organization that wishes to appear before the federal government. However, Jacquez said there wasn't time to get the approval.
Jacquez explained that written agreements specified the separation of the functions paid by the BIA and the state.
Arizona charters
Arizona leads the United States in public charter schools, having almost a third of the total number.
Arizona charter schools receive operating but not capital funds from the state as do more than 200 public school districts. Their charters allow the schools to focus on particular courses of study, and they do not have to be everything to everybody, as do normal public schools.
Several Navajo-controlled schools jumped on the charter bandwagon when charters became available about five years ago. This significantly increased the schools budgets.
A charter can be obtained a number of ways, from two different state boards, but a popular way on the reservation is for another public school district in the state to become the charter's sponsor. The sponsoring district receives an administrative fee for overseeing the use of the state funds by chartered school.
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'Jish' a powerful presence
By George Hardeen
Special to the Independent
TSAILE, Ariz. — To Navajos, it was the most silent but most powerful presence there.
In the center of the table in the Diné College board room was a wedding basket of Navajo jish and the original planting stick used to dedicate the college 30 years ago.
In the basket was a corn pollen pouch that was passed to all 34 guests lining the perimeter of the room during Saturday's board of regents meeting. That followed a Navajo prayer sung by regents' president Phillip Bluehouse.
But as discussion, criticism, emotions and differences of opinion were displayed regarding the college's administrative crisis, there the jish remained, hearing all.
There's the corn pollen right there, Tsaile/Wheatfields council delegate Sam Yazzie said in Navajo to the board. You don't want to talk harshly in front of it, he said. You want to be humble in front of it. It knows what we think and what we say.
But it remained.
And when the meeting ended late in the afternoon and the room cleared except for a few secretaries, there the jish stayed on the table after the important people had left, practically forgotten by all except those who would clean up the room after everyone else.
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Inmates from tribal turmoil await seasonal letters
By Bill Donovan
Diné Bureau
GALLUP — And then there were four.
As this Christmas season approaches, four of the 11 Navajo tribal members including former Navajo tribal Chairman Peter MacDonald convicted in connection with that July 1989 riot in Window Rock still remain in federal prison.
Vern Lee, who has been working for the past six years to get them released, has once again called upon tribal members to take time this Thanksgiving and Christmas season to send the four a card or letter to let them know that they have not been forgotten.
"I think that if they were to get a lot of letters this Christmas, it would really boost their morale," Lee said. (Addresses of the four are at the end of this article.)
Besides MacDonald, the three remaining in prison are former Shiprock council delegate Donald Benally, Ned McKenzie and Earl Roy Lee.
Benally, McKenzie and Lee received between eight and 12 years for their involvement in that July 1989 riot which ended with two MacDonald supporters dying of gunshot wounds. MacDonald received 14 years for conspiracy in connection with the riot.
"MacDonald's health is continuing to deteriorate," said McKenzie, who added that he talks to MacDonald occasionally on the phone.
MacDonald is now having a problem with nosebleeds as well as pain caused by problems with both of his hips that has forced him to be in a wheelchair all the time.
"He said that his left leg has lost muscle mass which may never return because of his age and health problems," Lee said.
If efforts by his family and Navajo tribal officials are not successful, MacDonald will serve at least five more years in federal prison. He turns 70 on Dec. 18.
Lee said that he believes McKenzie, who is also up there in years, is also suffering health problems, although Mckenzie has so far refused to speak out about his life in prison or his problems.
"Donald and Earl, from what I understand, are in good health," he said.
Lee was a member of a task force set up by the tribe during the Albert Hale administration that worked to get an early release for MacDonald and the others. That task force was disbanded when Kelsey Begaye became president last January.
"(Begaye) said that he plans to reappoint members to the task force but he hasn't done that yet," said Lee, who added that getting the task force set back up would be a good step in the right direction.
"There was still some money in the task force's budget that could be reallocated and could be used to help get MacDonald and the others either released or transferred closer to home," he said.
The big move right now is to get MacDonald, who has been incarcerated in a Texas medical prison for the past five years, transferred to a state prison in Arizona.
"I think the best Christmas gift the Navajo people could get is to have MacDonald and the others released," Lee said.
If a release or transfer is not possible at this time, Lee said that he and others would at least like to see that Benally, McKenzie and Lee get a waiver that would allow them to be placed in a minimum security facility.
All four are still considered maximum-security type prisoners because of federal laws that give them this designation because of the two deaths that occurred during the riots, even though none of the four had any direct involvement in the shooting.
"If the three could get a waiver, they would at least be able to serve the rest of their time in a federal camp," Lee said, pointing out that none of the three have been cited for any infractions while in prison. "These are not violent people," he said.
Benally, in fact, has been using his legal training to become a "jailhouse lawyer" for many of the other inmates at his prison, Lee said.
Lee says he gets the impression that the former tribal chairman's morale is low, in part because of all the pain he is under on a daily basis.
"It would really help if people would call or write the White House or their congressmen and ask for their help in getting MacDonald and the others released," he said.
As for the four men themselves, here are the addresses to use to get your Christmas messages to them. McKenzie's prison number was not available but Lee said that he should get the messages if you just send them to his prison.
Peter MacDonald
26215-008
FMC Fort Worth
P.O. Box 15330
Fort Worth, Texas 76119
Donald Benally
26826-008
P.O. Box 3000
Anthony, N.M. 88021
Ned McKenzie
P.O. Box 3000
Anthony, N.M. 88021
Earl Roy Lee
26836-008
FMC Ft. Worth
Houston unit
P.O. Box 15330
Fort Worth, Texas 76119
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Education head under attack
Critics say Jackson not suited to job(Editor's note: This is the first of three reports on changes in the Navajo Division of Diné Education. This looks at criticism of Director Genevieve Jackson; Tuesday's article will tell her side of the story and Wednesday's will address improvements and repairs to Head Start centers.)
By Jim Maniaci
Diné Bureau
WINDOW ROCK — Her opponents think Genevieve Jackson, Navajo Nation Division of Dine' Education director since March, is a mean, dictatorial and vicious administrator. Therefore, she has to go, they maintain.
Their chorus for her ouster has been joined by the vice chairman of the Education Committee of the Navajo Nation Council. Opposition to her appointment to be permanent director resulted in the committee first approving, then repealing, its recommendation of approval, but the council confirmed President Kelsey Begaye's most controversial appointment.
Joining Wallace Charley, committee vice chairman, in the effort to replace Jackson are the Navajo Area School Boards Association and the former Head Start Policy Council eight days before a new and expanded council was seated. Critical charges also came in a letter from a former Head Start employee.
In a Nov. 3 letter to Begaye, Charley objected to Jackson's actions, "specifically for taking several inappropriate disciplinary actions against key division staff (that) resulted in increasing a negative working environment within the division."
He continued, "I found it irritating to the extreme that the (Navajo) nation's employees, who are well-educated, (are) being driven away." For the sake of morale, "I feel that the most satisfactory solution would be for you to consider immediate replacement before something drastic occurs," Charley's letter said.
The association's executive board "regretfully declares a vote of no confidence in Ms. Genevieve Jackson as the director of the Division of Din Education" in a resolution adopted 9-0 on Oct. 30.
The Nov. 4 cover letter said, "This action was taken reluctantly since we have felt that Ms. Jackson possesses qualities that would qualify her to be a strong director and we definitely believe that the nation needs a strong division director of Din Education, particularly at a time which seems right for the nation to put a Navajo Nation education system in place."
Instead of helping reach this goal by establishing a good working relationship, Jackson seeks to diminish the organization's role in Navajo education, the letter said.
The letter stated some discontent is normal with a new administration's actions "demanding more effective performance from staff, but some of it seems unreasonable, excessive and arbitrary. There are other deficiencies that may simply be related to a lack of experience."
The letter asks the committee to consider, with Begaye, making a change. "This is a signal to the powers that be within the (Navajo) nation that all is not well and to strongly recommend that a review be undertaken. NASBA is ready and willing to share its concerns in greater detail at the appropriate time and place," the letter concludes.
Part of NASBA's accompanying resolution adds, "She has created an atmosphere of fear within the division with petty administration of disciplinary action over staff, and the director appears more inclined to take actions to eliminate anyone who questions her actions or even expresses an honest opinion"
The old Head Start Policy Council asked in an Oct. 20 letter to the committee that Kaibah Begay be demoted from acting director.
An accompanying resolution complains the old council "was never given the courtesy of participating in shared decision making regarding the appointment of Ms. Begay in accordance" with federal regulations and that the council "has not legally approved the appointment of Ms. Begay as the acting director."
The resolution said there is a conflict of interest with Begay being the niece of the Northern Agency Head Start director and that Begay lobbied for Jackson's appointment. The old council said it was following a Washington, D.C., directive to assert its authority over the program, but that Begay refused to cooperate and exhibited a negative attitude about the council.
Begay cannot give her full commitment to the job because she works on a master's degree, and lacks the management experience needed for the job, the resolution added.
Tom Christie of the Navajo Department of Justice on July 19 advised the policy council that since it adopted the Navajo Nation personnel manual on Feb. 25, 1999, it "has effectively pre-approved any actions which may be taken by the division with respect to the director or any other employees of the Head Start Program," providing the division follows the manual.
Former Head Start employee Leslie J. Nelson Sr. wrote to the committee on Nov. 7 charging "Unreasonable demands are placed on staff, which has caused a once jovial staff to be placed under undue stress." He also charged 30-day suspensions were given to the Western, Eastern and Chinle Agency directors, and the Western Agency director resigned, as did the central office's facilities coordinator "after threat of another 30-days suspension."
The letter charges Begay was not legally hired: "In 1993, she was hired by former Head Start Director Larry Curley who placed her in a staff position after that staff was wrongfully laid off."
Nelson adds that Curley hired people in 1993 without advertising. "Staff in these positions, including myself, were laid off when our positions were budgeted" and Curley didn't interview any other candidates, according to the letter.
Navajo Head Start employs 756 people with 110 vacancies.
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Volunteers bring light of literacy
By Tom Purdom
Staff Writer
GRANTS — The last thing 77-year-old Herman "Mark" Markowitz thought he would ever do was make a difference in the life of a stranger.
Nevertheless, Markowitz now tutors a local man who fell through the cracks of the educational system and, until recently, could not read or write.
In Markowitz's words: "It makes me feel good inside."
And that is all the Philadelphia-born Markowitz gets out of the deal ... not a single dime but a million dollars' worth of feeling good.
Markowitz is among the tutors who volunteer each week to bring people out of the darkness of illiteracy and into the light of literacy.
Markowitz is not a trained teacher. In fact, he is retired consultant in the telecommunications field. For almost 35 years, Markowitz and his wife lived in El Paso. But they moved to Grants in 1998 to be closer to one of their three children.
After graduating from a technical school in Kansas City that offered broadcast engineering, Markowitz worked in various commercial enterprises until World War II broke out.
On a visit to Philadelphia, he ran into a friend who was on his way to join the U.S. Marines. Markowitz went with him and months later found himself in the thick of fighting against the Japanese in the South Pacific.
After the war, he resumed work in the telecommunications field, got married, raised three children and eventually retired.
But Markowitz didn't find retirement fulfilling. He was used to being on the cutting edge. "After doing a lifetime of constructive things, sitting on my fanny didn't seem constructive to me," he said.
However, while visiting his daughter one day, Markowitz talked with her minister, who was on the Cibola County board of directors of Literacy Volunteers of America. "He thought doing tutoring would keep me busy," Markowitz said.
Linda Vigil, the organization's Cibola County director, arranged a training session for Markowitz a structured learning environment which lasted two days and two evenings.
"You don't have to be a former or present teacher to become a tutor," Markowitz said. "What you need is the ability to get along with other people and a desire to help."
Markowitz was apprehensive at first. His tutoring assignment was a 45-year-old man who, Markowitz thought, needed understanding and someone to care. "Some of the students are dropouts, and some do drop out of the program, but there are others who go on to get their GED and some who even go on to college," Markowitz explained.
"These are people, who, for one reason or the other, slipped through the educational cracks. These are people who may have been treated badly, but they all have a common goal, and that is to learn to read."
Most of the tutors work on a one-on-one basis, although some have multiple students. All tutoring is done in public places.
Markowitz said for new tutors and students alike, it is a "learn-as-you-go" proposition. "If you follow the training, you know what kind of questions to ask," Markowitz said. Tutors try to help the student gain self-confidence. The student slowly begins to trust the tutor.
For Markowitz, teaching is a rewarding experience. "You get to see your work in action, and you can make a difidates, according to the letter.
Navajo Head Start employs 756 people with 110 vacancies.
t`Zsses an honeppinion"
The old Head Start Policy Council asked in an Oct. 20 letter to the committee that Kaibah Begay be demoted from acting director.
An accompanying resolution complains the old council "was never given the courtesy of participat |
