OPA

Interior Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Forrest Gerard said today that his office has initiated plans to implement changes in Indian education programs mandated by Title XI of the Education Amendments Act of 1978, (P.L. 95-561), signed by President Carter November 1. Title XI, of the Act stresses self ... determination and control of Indian education programs by the Indian community. Its three parts deal with federally assisted programs in public schools, Bureau of Indian Affairs education programs, and programs administered by the Department of Health, Education and Welfare.

Gerard said that the "Act will assist us in making major improvements in managing the Bureau's educational program. Because of its importance, we will implement this legislation as expeditiously as possible." He has directed Deputy Assistant Secretary Rick C. Lavis to manage the policy and planning actions necessary for implementation of the Act. On October 23, Lavis wrote Indian tribal leaders, in anticipation of the President's signing of the legislation, to inform them of the contents of the law and to request nominations of persons to serve on implementing task forces.

In this letter to the Indian leaders Lavis said: "I will need your assistance in many ways. First of all, I ask that you distribute copies of the enclosed H.R. 15 Conference Report to your Council and Tribal members for review, and any other individuals you deem appropriate. The more informed we all are, the better prepared we will be for implementation. Secondly, I will be needing your recommendations of people to serve on the many Task Forces that will be required to address certain portions of the legislation. A wide representation of Bureau and Tribal people to serve on these Task Forces is essential to our success." Lavis said there would be 12 subject matter Task Forces established to deal with such things as school boards, education personnel, student rights, funding formulas, education policies, education/living standards and management information systems. He asked that nominees include education administrators and staff, students, tribal education committee members and school board members.

The Bureau is also asking for representatives from major national Indian organizations to serve on the task forces and to advise the Bureau on implementation. Lavis said the Act requires a number of management studies and other actions with specific time-frames for completion. He said the Bureau of Indian Affairs "will need to establish a carefully designed operations plan to meet those deadlines keeping in mind that the ultimate objective is to design a quality education system to meet the legislative mandates."

Lavis said that "Title XI, with its many requirements for improvement in the organization and management of the Bureau's educational program, will be most helpful in our current efforts to strengthen our educational endeavors. We consider Title XI to be a positive step forward, and we will enthusiastically carry out its requirements." Lavis added that he is also forming a task force to work on the, recently enacted Indian Community College Act (P .L. 95-471)· which will: be simultaneously implemented together with Title XI of P.L. 95-561.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs announced today that Raymond W. Mayotte has been appointed Superintendent of the Minnesota Agency at Bemidji. He succeeds Edwin Demery who is now the BIA area director for the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan and Iowa.

Mayotte has been at the Minnesota Agency since 1970 as employment assistance officer, field representative and, since May of this year acting superintendent. A member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians, Mayotte has worked in various BIA offices and agencies in the midwest since 1955. He had a previous tour of duty at the Minnesota Agency from 1962 to 1966. He is a native of Ashland, Wisconsin.

Proposed regulations to, govern the administration of Bureau of Indian Affairs adult education programs are being published in the Federal Register, Acting Deputy Commissioner Martin Seneca said today.

The proposed regulations provide a definition of the term "adult education" and give guidelines for the administration of funds and programs including the contracting of the programs.

The BIA has operated adult education programs since 1955 but has not had published regulations or manual guidelines for the administration of the programs. Comments on the proposed regulations should be sent within 30 days of publication to the Director of Indian Education Programs, 1951 Constitution Ave., N.W. , Washington, D.C. 20245.

For additional information call Mary Asbill, 202-343-7387.

The Department of the Interior announced today publication of final regulations in the Federal Register for designating public easements on lands conveyed to Alaska Natives under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. The regulations are designed to carry out the terms of the Federal District Court decisions in Alaska by Judge James von der Heydt in July and subsequent policy decisions on ANCSA by Secretary of the Interior Cecil D. Andrus in Marc of 1978.

"One of the early objectives of this Administration," Secretary Andrus said, "was to improve substantially the way in which the Settlement Act was being administered with the central theme of speeding up the conveyance of land. I have reconfirmed the objective of faster land conveyances again recently to Governor Jay Hanunond, and this is a part of that ongoing program."

"The easement policies of the Department are intended to carry out the intent of the Act to protect basic public rights of passage and access over lands conveyed to Natives under the Settlement, but to do so in a manner which recognizes the basic rights of private land ownership which the Act also intended for Natives.

The final regulations reconfirm the intent of the proposed regulations published last May to create a limited, non-duplicative system of easements which allow access across Native lands to public lands and along major water­ways. The final regulations respond to public comment by clarifying several issues, including definitions.

The definition of a "major waterway" which involved a three factor standard involving transportation use, resource value and commercial use, has been modified in the final regulations to a standard which is simpler and intended to meet communities which argued for a more usable and understandable test The new standard requires "significant use" for access to public lands or between communities.

Copies of the regulations and additional information are available from: Don Argetsinger, Office of Assistant Secretary for Land and Water Resources, Department of the Interior Room 6629, Washington, D. C. 20240; Beaumont McClure, Bureau of Land Management, Department of the Interior Room 3070, Washington, D. C. 20240; and Robert Arnold, Bureau of Land Management, Department of the Interior 555 Cordova St., Anchorage, Alaska 99501.

Assistant Secretary Forrest J. Gerard today announced that Deputy Assistant Secretary George V. Goodwin, Jr., will return to his native Minnesota to work with his Tribe.

"Mr. Goodwin has outstanding experience and leadership qualities" stated Gerard, "and he has been a vigorous advocate for the Indian interest. The focus of his work in our administration has been the improvement of the management systems and structure of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, in order that: the agency might be fully responsive to the unique and pressing needs of the Indian tribes."

Deputy Goodwin's resignation is effective November 17, 1978, and he leaves the Department of the Interior after three years’ service in the field and in Washington, D.C. · "I know that this decision was a most difficult one, "Gerard said, "but his return home will not erase his valuable contribution to the Indian field and will greatly benefit his home area."

Goodwin, a member of the White Earth Chippewa Tribe, has accepted the position of Executive Director of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe in Cass Lake, Minnesota, a post he occupied prior to joining the Department in 1975.

"Now that we have completed the BIA reorganization study and design work, the implementation stage will soon begin in earnest," Goodwin said. "This brief period between stages affords me the opportunity to return to Minnesota and allows for new energies to be brought to the reorganization effort. The needs of Indian country are so many and varied that it is always tough deciding where individual Indians might best be of service. With my experience in Washington, I feel that my place is at the local level at this time."

Deputy Assistant Secretary since mid-1977, Goodwin previously was BIA Area Director at Minneapolis. Following his earlier work with the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, he was Director of the Indian Community Action Program at Bemidji State College, from which he graduated with a B.A. degree in 1964.

Assistant Secretary -- Indian Affairs Forrest J. Gerard announced today the detail of Phoenix Arizona Director John Artichoker to manage the training and personnel assistance project which will determine the feasibility of establishing a national training center for Indian tribes and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Gerard said Artichoker's educational background and professional experience make him eminently qualified to carry out the congressionally mandated study.

An acting area director will be named for the Phoenix area shortly, Gerard said. Artichoker's detail was effective December l, 1978, and the study will begin in Phoenix.

Assistant Secretary -- Indian Affairs Forrest J. Gerard announced today the detail of James Canan, Billings Area Director to the Bureau's Management Improvement Program, where he will manage the field operation portion of the program. Gerard said he selected Canan for this assignment because of his many years of experience as an area director, his knowledge of the BIA's field operations at both the area and agency level.

Canan's detail was effective December 3, 1978. His duty station will be Billings, Mont., and an acting area director will be named shortly in Billings, Gerard said

Richard C. Whitesell, Superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Flathead Agency at Ronan, Montana, has been detailed to act as Area Director at the Bureau office in Billings, Montana. He will serve in this capacity pending the appointment of a temporary successor to James Canan.

Canan was recently assigned by Assistant Secretary Forrest Gerard to manage the field operations portion of a BIA Management Improvement Program.

Whitesell, a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, was formerly an Assistant Area Director for Community Services in Phoenix, Arizona, and for six years was Education Program Administrator at the Flandreau Indian School in South Dakota from 1971 to 1976. He served at Riverside School in Oklahoma from 1969 to 1971.

Whitesell, who served four years with the U. S. Marine Corps, graduated from the State Col.1ege at Dickinson, North Dakota and earned a Masters degree in Education from South Dakota State University in 1969.

Whitesell, 42, also has served as teacher-coach in the Brockton, Mont. public schools and at the BIA schools at Pierre and Cheyenne River in South Dakota. He is married and has three children, two sons and a daughter.

Interior Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Forrest Gerard announced today that Earl J. Barlow, a Blackfeet Indian, has been appointed Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Indian Education.

Barlow has been Superintendent of Schools in Browning, Montana since 1973. He has also served as the Montana State Supervisor of Indian Education and has worked for thirty years as a teacher, principal and education program administrator.

Gerard announced the appointment at the annual meeting of the Coalition of Indian Controlled School Boards in Denver. He was a luncheon speaker at the meeting. Gerard said, "In education circles and particularly in Indian education, Mr. Barlow is recognized as an educator who knows what needs to be done and how to get it done." Gerard noted that Barlow's experience included highly successful work with diverse tribal groups at the state level of planning programs and said that this kind of ability was "urgently needed at the national level."

Gerard said that the Education Amendments Act of 1978, enacted in November, called for major and significant changes in the operations of BIA education programs and greatly expanded the authority and responsibility of the Director of the Office of Indian Education Programs. "We are especially pleased, therefore, to be able to fill this position with a person of such high qualifications."

Barlow, 51, graduated from the University of Montana with a degree in social studies and also earned a Master's in Education from that university. He is married and has six children (five daughters and one son). Barlow has been a consultant and teacher at Montana State University, has been a superintendent of schools in three different school districts and administrator of state-wide education programs for the educationally disadvantaged. He began his career in education in 1948 as a teacher at: Hot Springs, Montana.

Leo J. O'Connor, an enrolled member of the Yankton Sioux Tribe, has been appointed Superintendent of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Yankton Agency at Wagner, South Dakota. Acting Deputy Commissioner of Indian Affairs Martin E. Seneca, Jr. said that O'Connor's appointment was effective December 3, 1978.

O'Connor has been the Agency Administrative Officer. From 1971 to 1976 he held various positions with the tribe. He was the acting tribal chairman, executive director of the tribal development program and director of the business and claims committee.

An army veteran, O'Connor also worked as a counselor in the Wagner public schools system and was an administrative accountant for the South Dakota State Training School. O'Connor, 40, is a graduate of the Aberdeen School of Commerce.