Post by blackcrowheart on Jan 15, 2008 11:37:02 GMT -5
Navajo travel tally could top $1million
The Navajo Nation Department of Diné Education spent $70,820 to send
27 people to a Hawaii conference, adding to a growing tally believed to
be around $1 million for as many as 400 tribal representatives.
The 27 sent from the education department were funded by Navajo Nation
or federal government money and ran the spectrum of board members,
administrative staff and parents. They joined hundreds more Navajo last
October at the 2007 National Indian Education Association Conference in
Honolulu.
A federal investigation is under way to determine if government money
was misused in the travel, but The Daily Times has submitted almost 150
Freedom of Information Requests to various federal, Navajo and education
agencies requesting data on who went, who paid and at what cost.
The response to those requests varies, as some entities complied with
the public records law while others seem to be ignoring it, possibly
exposing themselves to further legal action.
From the Navajo Nation Board of Education, three board members attended,
as did one board staff member. One staff member each from the offices of
administration; Monitoring, Evaluation and Technical Assistance; North
Central Association; and the Office of Educational Research and
Statistics all went.
In addition to those attendees, four staff members from the Office of
Diné Science, Math and Technology traveled.
Head Start sent 13 staff members and two parents at a cost of slightly
more than $34,566, bringing the department's total to $70,820.
But that sum only accounts for a portion of the overall price tag of
Navajo travel to the conference.
The tribe's legislative government branch sent at least 18 of its 88
members to Hawaii, spending $45,000.
At least three people from the executive branch, including Navajo
President Joe Shirley and his wife, traveled, but President Shirley is
among those who has refused to provide The Daily Times requested
information.
Diné Education Superintendent Eddie Biakeddy declined to comment.
However, several sources, including travelers to the conference, have
told The Daily Times that a large number of the attendees were school
board members from districts spread throughout the Navajo education
system. Among the sources were teachers who contacted the newspaper to
complain about perceived misuse of money they felt desperately needed to
go directly to the schools, but few would provide their names for fear
of being fired.
A failed deadline
The deadline to respond to Freedom of Information requests The Daily
Times sent to individual schools, school districts and education
officials has come and gone.
The last of The Daily Times' requests to inspect public records were
sent in late November. The law states the agencies had 20 days to
respond. Complying with the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
that demands open access to public information has not been a priority
for many school officials on the Navajo Nation.
School officials at tribally-operated grant schools ignored the request
for records pertaining to what schools, districts and officials sent
delegates to Hawaii and what it cost to send them.
The Daily Times learned last October that 362 people identifying
themselves as Navajo preregistered for the event. That information led
to an investigation by The Daily Times into where all these attendees
came from.
Other than public schools, two types of schools operate on the Navajo
Nation and receive federal dollars. They are Bureau of Indian Education
schools, a subset of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and grant schools.
The difference between BIE schools and grant schools is who oversees
them.
BIE schools answer to BIE officials, who are federal employees, and
grant schools answer to the tribe, said Kevin Skenandore, acting
director of the Bureau of Indian Education.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs oversees or directly operates 184
elementary and secondary day and boarding schools serving 45,000
students living on or near 63 federal Indian reservations in 23 states.
According to the U.S. Department of the Interior, about two-thirds of
BIE schools are tribally operated under BIE contracts or grants.
In response to formal requests sent out by The Daily Times in November,
the Bureau of Indian Education has released information about how many
of its 32 schools on the Navajo Nation sent delegates to the conference.
The Bureau of Indian Education reports that 29 people went to Hawaii at
a cost of $58,372. The breakdown of which BIE schools sent people and
how many they sent was not available last week.
What is known at this time is that certain schools chose to send
multiple representatives while others did not send a single delegate.
"There was a significant number of schools that didn't send any,"
Skenandore said.
The recommendation made to BIE-operated schools was that they send only
one school board member.
"I moved forward with the recommendation that they not send more than
one, but that was for BIE-operated schools. We don't control what a
tribally controlled school (does)," Skenandore said.
Grant schools over-represented?
A few of the school officials who wrote responses to The Daily Times
said the trip to Hawaii was too expensive to consider sending
representatives.
But other schools, mostly grant schools, had no problem in sending
multiple delegates.
Ch'ooshagai Community School, a grant school in Tohatchi with an
enrollment of 370 students, originally intended to send eight people to
the conference. Two backed out.
However, the pair who decided not to go, both board members, could not
refund their plane tickets or the registration costs. After all expenses
were paid, the school dished out $18,804 to send the remaining six
delegates, comprising of five board members and the human resource
director.
Edwin Begay, human resource director, said that schools on the
reservation have difficulties making No Child Left Behind benchmarks and
that Ch'ooshagai board members sought a new approach to passing muster.
"We could have made it but where we are weak for AYP is attendance. Our
children have to be here that whole (testing) week to be counted," Begay
said. "We have to have 100 percent attendance during that week. If we
have one child missing, we don't make AYP. The (conference) provided
work sessions that .... (showed) what things schools do to (correct
these problem areas)."
The money that covered travel and accommodation expenses came from an
interest-fund account, which is separate from the main budget, Begay
said. Only Begay used money from an administrative cost grant.
Worst responders
The worst response rate to the FOI requests was from Arizona grant
schools. Only three of the Daily Times' dozens of requests were
answered.
Two of the schools — Second Mesa Day School and Cibecue Community
School — sent no one to Hawaii.
Nazlini Community School in Nazlini, Ariz., sent three representatives
at a cost of $9,885.42. The grant school has 108 students in
kindergarten through sixth grade, and 21 who are charter students.
Nazlini Administrator Ronald Arias' single comment was that he shared
the information only because he was obligated by law.
Other grant schools that sent multiple representatives included New
Mexico's Shiprock Associated Schools, which sent six to the conference.
Navajo Preparatory School, a grant school with a student body of about
200 students in Farmington, sent two people to the conference but only
paid for one to attend.
It cost Navajo Prep $3,646 to send Board President Edison Wauneka to the
conference, Executive Director Betty Ojaye said.
When told how several grant schools sent half a dozen people, Ojaye
responded: "Oh, my gosh. With our school funds, we have to prioritize
where we sent people. ... NIEA is a place where we like to send people,
but our funds cannot afford to send more than one or two people."
Grant schools, said one official who refused to go on record, do not
answer to the Navajo Nation. They operate independently and answer to
their own elected boards. Deciding how many representatives to send is
left in their own hands.
In defense of the trip, Skenandore, from the Bureau of Indian Education,
said that paying to travel to Hawaii is a good deal compared to many
other locations in the United States.
"Let's just say that if the conference was held in Turtle Mountain,
N.D., or something like that, the travel cost would be higher,"
Skenandore said. "I can tell you that ... it's $1,200 to $1,500 for a
flight when you can get flights to Hawaii for half that cost."
However, The Daily Times reported earlier that a far fewer number of
Navajo representatives attended the three previous NIEA conferences, two
of which were in nearby Phoenix and Denver.
Most of the travel costs for the Hawaii trip confirmed so far seem to
average almost $2,500 per traveler. The total expenditure, at that rate,
would top $900,000 if only the preregistered 362 attended, but many more
are believed to have traveled and registered on site, according to
conference officials and attendees. If as many as 400 attended, the cost
estimate would be $1 million.
The Navajo Nation Department of Diné Education spent $70,820 to send
27 people to a Hawaii conference, adding to a growing tally believed to
be around $1 million for as many as 400 tribal representatives.
The 27 sent from the education department were funded by Navajo Nation
or federal government money and ran the spectrum of board members,
administrative staff and parents. They joined hundreds more Navajo last
October at the 2007 National Indian Education Association Conference in
Honolulu.
A federal investigation is under way to determine if government money
was misused in the travel, but The Daily Times has submitted almost 150
Freedom of Information Requests to various federal, Navajo and education
agencies requesting data on who went, who paid and at what cost.
The response to those requests varies, as some entities complied with
the public records law while others seem to be ignoring it, possibly
exposing themselves to further legal action.
From the Navajo Nation Board of Education, three board members attended,
as did one board staff member. One staff member each from the offices of
administration; Monitoring, Evaluation and Technical Assistance; North
Central Association; and the Office of Educational Research and
Statistics all went.
In addition to those attendees, four staff members from the Office of
Diné Science, Math and Technology traveled.
Head Start sent 13 staff members and two parents at a cost of slightly
more than $34,566, bringing the department's total to $70,820.
But that sum only accounts for a portion of the overall price tag of
Navajo travel to the conference.
The tribe's legislative government branch sent at least 18 of its 88
members to Hawaii, spending $45,000.
At least three people from the executive branch, including Navajo
President Joe Shirley and his wife, traveled, but President Shirley is
among those who has refused to provide The Daily Times requested
information.
Diné Education Superintendent Eddie Biakeddy declined to comment.
However, several sources, including travelers to the conference, have
told The Daily Times that a large number of the attendees were school
board members from districts spread throughout the Navajo education
system. Among the sources were teachers who contacted the newspaper to
complain about perceived misuse of money they felt desperately needed to
go directly to the schools, but few would provide their names for fear
of being fired.
A failed deadline
The deadline to respond to Freedom of Information requests The Daily
Times sent to individual schools, school districts and education
officials has come and gone.
The last of The Daily Times' requests to inspect public records were
sent in late November. The law states the agencies had 20 days to
respond. Complying with the federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
that demands open access to public information has not been a priority
for many school officials on the Navajo Nation.
School officials at tribally-operated grant schools ignored the request
for records pertaining to what schools, districts and officials sent
delegates to Hawaii and what it cost to send them.
The Daily Times learned last October that 362 people identifying
themselves as Navajo preregistered for the event. That information led
to an investigation by The Daily Times into where all these attendees
came from.
Other than public schools, two types of schools operate on the Navajo
Nation and receive federal dollars. They are Bureau of Indian Education
schools, a subset of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and grant schools.
The difference between BIE schools and grant schools is who oversees
them.
BIE schools answer to BIE officials, who are federal employees, and
grant schools answer to the tribe, said Kevin Skenandore, acting
director of the Bureau of Indian Education.
The Bureau of Indian Affairs oversees or directly operates 184
elementary and secondary day and boarding schools serving 45,000
students living on or near 63 federal Indian reservations in 23 states.
According to the U.S. Department of the Interior, about two-thirds of
BIE schools are tribally operated under BIE contracts or grants.
In response to formal requests sent out by The Daily Times in November,
the Bureau of Indian Education has released information about how many
of its 32 schools on the Navajo Nation sent delegates to the conference.
The Bureau of Indian Education reports that 29 people went to Hawaii at
a cost of $58,372. The breakdown of which BIE schools sent people and
how many they sent was not available last week.
What is known at this time is that certain schools chose to send
multiple representatives while others did not send a single delegate.
"There was a significant number of schools that didn't send any,"
Skenandore said.
The recommendation made to BIE-operated schools was that they send only
one school board member.
"I moved forward with the recommendation that they not send more than
one, but that was for BIE-operated schools. We don't control what a
tribally controlled school (does)," Skenandore said.
Grant schools over-represented?
A few of the school officials who wrote responses to The Daily Times
said the trip to Hawaii was too expensive to consider sending
representatives.
But other schools, mostly grant schools, had no problem in sending
multiple delegates.
Ch'ooshagai Community School, a grant school in Tohatchi with an
enrollment of 370 students, originally intended to send eight people to
the conference. Two backed out.
However, the pair who decided not to go, both board members, could not
refund their plane tickets or the registration costs. After all expenses
were paid, the school dished out $18,804 to send the remaining six
delegates, comprising of five board members and the human resource
director.
Edwin Begay, human resource director, said that schools on the
reservation have difficulties making No Child Left Behind benchmarks and
that Ch'ooshagai board members sought a new approach to passing muster.
"We could have made it but where we are weak for AYP is attendance. Our
children have to be here that whole (testing) week to be counted," Begay
said. "We have to have 100 percent attendance during that week. If we
have one child missing, we don't make AYP. The (conference) provided
work sessions that .... (showed) what things schools do to (correct
these problem areas)."
The money that covered travel and accommodation expenses came from an
interest-fund account, which is separate from the main budget, Begay
said. Only Begay used money from an administrative cost grant.
Worst responders
The worst response rate to the FOI requests was from Arizona grant
schools. Only three of the Daily Times' dozens of requests were
answered.
Two of the schools — Second Mesa Day School and Cibecue Community
School — sent no one to Hawaii.
Nazlini Community School in Nazlini, Ariz., sent three representatives
at a cost of $9,885.42. The grant school has 108 students in
kindergarten through sixth grade, and 21 who are charter students.
Nazlini Administrator Ronald Arias' single comment was that he shared
the information only because he was obligated by law.
Other grant schools that sent multiple representatives included New
Mexico's Shiprock Associated Schools, which sent six to the conference.
Navajo Preparatory School, a grant school with a student body of about
200 students in Farmington, sent two people to the conference but only
paid for one to attend.
It cost Navajo Prep $3,646 to send Board President Edison Wauneka to the
conference, Executive Director Betty Ojaye said.
When told how several grant schools sent half a dozen people, Ojaye
responded: "Oh, my gosh. With our school funds, we have to prioritize
where we sent people. ... NIEA is a place where we like to send people,
but our funds cannot afford to send more than one or two people."
Grant schools, said one official who refused to go on record, do not
answer to the Navajo Nation. They operate independently and answer to
their own elected boards. Deciding how many representatives to send is
left in their own hands.
In defense of the trip, Skenandore, from the Bureau of Indian Education,
said that paying to travel to Hawaii is a good deal compared to many
other locations in the United States.
"Let's just say that if the conference was held in Turtle Mountain,
N.D., or something like that, the travel cost would be higher,"
Skenandore said. "I can tell you that ... it's $1,200 to $1,500 for a
flight when you can get flights to Hawaii for half that cost."
However, The Daily Times reported earlier that a far fewer number of
Navajo representatives attended the three previous NIEA conferences, two
of which were in nearby Phoenix and Denver.
Most of the travel costs for the Hawaii trip confirmed so far seem to
average almost $2,500 per traveler. The total expenditure, at that rate,
would top $900,000 if only the preregistered 362 attended, but many more
are believed to have traveled and registered on site, according to
conference officials and attendees. If as many as 400 attended, the cost
estimate would be $1 million.