Line officers are BIA employees who monitor grants to reservation schools, ensuring that schools are complying with education programs and standards for which they receive grants. They also oversee accreditation and certification of schools and teachers, and are responsible for security and safety issues, student rights and technical assistance. They direct maintenance programs in schools, dormitories, employee quarters, grounds and buildings, and serve as contracting officers, among other duties. Currently, two line officers work in North Dakota at Turtle Mountain and Standing Rock reservations, serving South Dakota schools at Rock Creek and Little Eagle. Four others work in South Dakota on the Cheyenne River, Pine Ridge and Rosebud reservations. Crow Creek and Lower Brule reservations share a line officer. If the BIA proceeds with its realignment, all line officer positions would be eliminated from the reservation schools, the number of officers would be cut to three and they would work from offices in Pierre, Rapid City and Bismarck, N.D. At a Tribal Leaders Education Legislative Summit earlier this month in Rapid City, Fire Thunder said tribal leaders had asked the South Dakota congressional delegation staff to help schedule a meeting with U.S. Secretary of Interior Gale Norton, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings and Edward Parisian, acting director of Officer of Indian Education Program. "I'm confident we're going to get that meeting," she said. At that time, Fire Thunder said the group would be presenting resolutions, letters and testimony opposing the BIA education restructuring and realignment. "We're going to do our very best to stop this realignment," Fire Thunder said. The tribal leaders also directed their lawyers to impose an injunction and restraining order to halt the Office of Indian Education Programs from beginning the process of removing the BIA education line officers from South Dakota reservations. Fire Thunder said the $17 million would be much better spent in schools and classrooms on reservations than in Washington. Shirley Bernie, student services director at Marty Indian School, concurred. "This (restructuring) is going to set up a new tier of administration bureaucracy while eliminating services to Indian schools in North and South Dakota," Bernie said. Bernie said most reservation schools don't have enough funds to pay for increased costs of bus fuel, heating fuel, food and services. She noted that nowhere in the restructuring had Washington administration addressed the needs of the children.
"For all the needs of our kids at our schools, they want to add management positions," Bernie said. "We're so poor already." Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe attorney Rebecca Kidder said that in light of news of budget cuts across the board, BIA education officials have moved to add even more administrative offices to their Washington bureau at the expense of Indian children's education. "I don't know how that results in better education," Kidder said. Contact Jomay Steen at 394-8418 or Jomay Steen Link to Report Copyright © 2006 The Rapid City Journal Rapid City, SD
Special thanks to Seasioux for passing this on.
Last updated on February 24, 2006