Past News Items

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Acting Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Aurene M. Martin today announced that the No Child Left Behind Act Negotiated Rulemaking Committee has set a schedule of four meetings to undertake rulemaking as required under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. The Committee, which was established earlier this year, is charged with making recommendations to the Secretary of the Interior for proposed regulations on six sections of the Act that seek to improve accountability and student academic achievement at BIA-funded schools.

A draft review of Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) off-reservation boarding schools in Phoenix. Arizona and Riverside, California recommends closure of the Phoenix school at the end of the current school year.

The report also recommends consideration of a new facility to provide specialized treatment services within a residential setting in close proximity to the Arizona Indian communities for students with special needs. The report recommends that the Sherman school in Riverside continue operation for its students and those displaced by closure of the· Phoenix facility

ROCKY BOY, MONTANA – Acting Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Aurene M. Martin traveled from the nation’s capital to the Rocky Boy’s Indian Reservation this afternoon at the personal invitation of Chippewa-Cree Business Committee chairman Alvin Windy Boy, Sr., for the dedication of a new $4 million campus of the Stone Child College.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Acting Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Aurene M. Martin today announced the appointment of Edward F. Parisian as Director of the Office of Indian Education Programs (OIEP). Parisian, an enrolled member of the Chippewa-Cree Tribe of Montana, has served as OIEP’s deputy director since April 15, 2002. His new appointment is effective August 3, 2003.

WASHINGTON - Secretary Gale A. Norton issued an open letter to the residents of the White Mountains of Arizona today expressing her condolences to the friends and family members of those killed while battling wildfires in the region. Secretary Norton emphasized that the recent tragedies have underscored her determination to ensure that public firefighter safety be an issue of top priority within the Department.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Acting Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Aurene M. Martin today announced that August 2003 is “Back to School Month” for the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) funded schools. “August is the time of year when BIA school administrators and teachers are hard at work preparing for the coming school year,” Martin said. “These dedicated professionals provide our students with the foundation they need to achieve personal growth and academic success. BIA students are learning what they need today to become Indian Country’s leaders of tomorrow.”

WASHINGTON – Interior Secretary Gale Norton and Acting Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs Aurene M. Martin will join students, parents, and tribal officials on August 28, 2003, to celebrate the opening of Baca/Dlo’ay azhi Community School, a new Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA)-operated day school located in Prewitt, N.M.

PREWITT, N. M. - Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton and Acting Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Aurene M. Martin today joined students and community members celebrating the opening of Baca/Dlo'ay azhi Community School, a K-6 facility serving approximately 390 students from the Prewitt and Thoreau communities on the eastern portion of the Navajo Nation reservation in New Mexico.

(WASHINGTON)- Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton today praised President Bush's intention to nominate David Anderson to serve as Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs. The announcement is subject to confirmation by the U.S. Senate, once the official nomination is made by the President.

Special Trustee Ross O. Swimmer today announced four tribal consultation sessions that will be held to discuss issues relating to the participation of the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians (OST) in the Department of the Interior consolidation of all real estate appraisal functions. The consultations will be held on September 24,2003, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and on October 28,2003, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Formal notice of the consultations will be published in the Federal Register later this week.