Native American Press / Ojibwe News (Bemidji, Minnesota), 1999-04-16

              An open letter to
New rules would
"Protecting our
Bemidji school
Bursting the
Guest editorial by
Gov. Jesse
affect off-
Children"
district records
balloon:  Even
Gov. Jesse
Ventura - treaty
reservation land
conference held in
suggest
educators are now
Ventura, pg. 4
ruling and
tax status
Minneapolis, pg. 8
educational
bad-mouthing
oppression, pg. 4
inequality
schools' self-
esteem efforts
Bemidji school district records suggest
educational inequality
Voice ofthe People
b mail, ppesson@paulbunyan.net
By Jeff Armstrong
Statistics on Native educational attainment in the Bemidji Public Schools are
not easy to come by, but those obtained
by Press/ON reveal deep racial disparities. According to records from the 1997-
98 school year, at least one in three
indigenous students in grades K-12 is
outside of mainstream classrooms,
whetherin special education, alternative
schooling or out of school altogether."
At least 187 ofthe 797 Bemidj i students
identified as Natives are in "special ed"
placement—arateof23%,nearly double
the district-wide average of 12% for all
races. The school district keeps no
records on its success in reintegrating
students back into conventional classes,
according to a staff member who compared special education to
Frankenstein's castle: "You see a lot of
people going in there, but not very many
coming out."
More than 70% ofthe students in special education are males, suggesting
perhaps that behavioral and disciplinary
issues may be a factor in evaluating
students for educational needs. Many
Native parents have complained that
disciplinary responses in the district are
influenced by the race of the student.
Although Bemidji's dropout rate is just
1.6%overall,Nativesconstituted nearly
half of that total, accounting for22 ofthe
47 such withdrawals last year despite
making up just 14% of the student body.
About 6% of Native.students between
grades 6 and 12 dropped out of school
last year, nearly fourtimes the rate forall
races.
The number of indigenous dropouts
last year is up considerably from 13
during the 1996-97 school year, but still
lowerthanthe28intheyearpriortothat.
However, the percentage ofNative students among dropouts in the 1997-98
school year was the highest in the last
three years.
An addtional 87 Native students attend
alternative educational facilities in the
district, though here the numbers may
overlap somewhat, as alternative school
students are often in special education
placement there. At the Northwest Juvenile Training Center, run by the state
corrections department, 39% ofthe students are indigenous. All but three of
them are in special education.
Similarly, 62% ofall students at the
Riverside school, most of whom are
placed thereby court order, are in special
ed placement. Native youths make up
28% of the student body there, twice
their proportion in the district population. The Alternative Learning Center, a
SchOOls/to pg. 6
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Bursting the balloon
Even educators are now bad-mouthing schools' self-esteem efforts.
With the pressure to raise test scores
[Thefollowingarticleoriginally appeared
in the Los Angeles Times and was reprinted in the April 10/99 St. Paul PioneerPress]
By Richard LeeColvin
Los Angeles Times
At Loren Miller Elementary School in
Los Angeles, a school struggling to
raise test scores that are barely in double
digits, children last year spent part of
each day working on... their self-esteem.
In daily "I Love Me" lessons, they
completed the phrase "I am .. ." with
words such as "beautiful," "lovable."
"respectable," "kind"or"gifted." Then
they memorized the sentences to make
them sink in.
No more. The daily "I Love Me" lessons will soon be replaced by rapid-fire
drills and constant testing of kids' skills.
building nationally, schoolsare rethinking their decades-long love affair with
self-esteem.
Self-esteem, which burst into the national consciousness in the late 1980s
with help from aCalifornia task force.has
long endured attacks from cultural conservatives. What's new today is that the
criticism is being heard from deans at
such education bastions as Columbia
University's Teacher's College and in
prestigious venues such as the Harvard
Mental Health Letter.
"The false belief in self-esteem as a
force for social good can be not just
potentially but actually harm ful,"wrote
Carnegie Mellon University psychology professor Robyn Dawes in that
publication in October.
Having high self-esteem certainly
feels good, psychologists say.
But, contrary to intuition, it doesn't
necessarily pay off in greater academic
achievement, less drug abuse, less cri me
or much of anything else. Or, if it does
pay off, 10,000 or more research
studies have yet to find proof.
With researchers growing increasingly
negative about being positive, a switch
from tenderness to tough love is in vogue
now among social
commentators, politicians and educators.
Fretting about students' feelings has
become an unhealthy classroom
obsession, researchers declare in academic journals and elsewhere.
Better, they say, to spend more time on
something children can justly be proud
of—acing algebra or becoming a super
speller.
"There's nothing that boosts self-concept more than being able to do something— it doesn't matter if it's reading
or something on the monkey bars your
Self-esteem/to pg. 8
Sl. Paul Mayor Norm Coleman welcomed the Native American Press/Ojibwe News to their new office in St. Paul on April 13.   A
diverse group of nearly 100 people - Anishinabe and non-Indian, Reform, Republican and Democrat - joined in the office-warming
party.   Mayor Coleman said in his welcoming comments, "Bill is controversial.   I don't know if any of you were aware of that.
[Laughter] You have to be controversial if you're going to make change.   Change doesn't happen withoul controversy." A local cable
access IV show will soon air in St. Paul about the Native American Press/Ojibwe News and the occasion.   Pictured: Publisher Bill
Lawrence, new editor Julie Shortridge, and Sl. Paul Mayor Norm Coleman
New rules would affect off-reservation
land tax status
Spearfishermen say it feels
knowing court decision
good
WASHINGTON (AP) -TheInterior
Department wants to make it tougher
for Indian tribes to avoid paying taxes
on land they acquire off their reservations. Under rules proposed Thursday, the department said it would start
giving greater weight to local concerns when deciding whether to take
tribal lands into trust.
Federal trust status removes the land
from tax rolls and exempts itfrom zoning controls' and other regulations.
Tribes made wealthy by gambling
interests have stepped up their purchases of land on and off their reservations, leading to conflicts with local
communities.
Last year, the department refused to
let a small Shakopee Mdewakanton
tribe remove from the tax rolls 593 acres
of land it had purchased near its reservation in the Minneapolis suburbs.
"In restructuring the regulations, we
believe that the decision-making process will better reflect the present-day
needs and concerns of Indian tribes
and surrounding non-Indian communities," Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt said.
The department's new rules would
make it easier for tribes to get trust
status for lands acquired within their
reservation boundaries.
In such cases, the application process would be streamlined and there
would be a strong presumption in favor of the tribe, the agency said.
Tribes have long since lost much of
the land they once owned on their
reservations because of the
government's 19th century allotment
policies.
About 8 percent of the land lost
through al lotment has been reacqu ired.
Most of the land-into-trust applications that the department receives are
for small parcels, averaging 30 acres in
size, within reservation boundaries.
Red Lake Band, Bemidji work together
on casino plan
reational vehicle park.
REDLAKE, Minn. (AP) - The Red
Lake Band ofChippewa and the city of
Bemidji are working together to plan a
casino and convention center to boost
the region's economy and attract more
tourists.
Tribal Chairman Bobby Whitefeather
and Bemidji Mayor Doug Peterson
unveiled sketchy plans for a tribally
operated casino in Bemidji at a meeting
in Redlake.
In the planning stages now, the complex would also have an 18-hole golf
course, horse stables, trails and a rec-
"This could be a catalyst for Red
Lake and the city of Bemidji. It always
bothered me that people fly into Bemidji only to be bused or driven elsewhere to a casino," Peterson said
Thursday.
Gamblers would only have to make it
to the Bemidji-Beltrami County Airport to try their luck. The complex is
proposed for a wooded area just north
of the airport runways. The land is
jointly owned by Bemidji and Beltrami
County as part of the airport, and it
could be leased to the tribe, Peterson
said.
"Casino ownership is under discussion," Whitefeather said, adding that
he has briefed Leech Lake Tribal Chairman Eli Hunt about the proposal. Red
Lake and Leech Lake may jointly run
the facility. The concept is so new that
no numbers have been attached to it
yet, including the potential cost or
how construction would be funded.
Dan King, tribal treasurer, said the
proposed 1,000-slot machine casino
would be at least as large as the Shoot-
Red Lake/to pg. 5
CHISAGO CITY, MN (AP) - As
spearfishermen from the Fond du Lac
Ojibwe Reservation readied their boats,
they felt good knowing their rights had
been affirmed by the highest court in
the land. "You just know it's there
forever, that it's not a one-time, one-
year thing," said Mike Murray, 32, a
Fond du Lac band member from
Cloquet. "It's nice to know, for the
band members who have kids, this
right will be there as long as they have
that (band) enrollment number."
Murray was among 18 spearers who
fished Wednesday night on Green
Lake, one of seven that Fond du Lac
band members have declared they'll
spear on this spring under rights retained in an 1837 treaty with the U.S.
government.
Their rights to hunt, fish and gather
were affirmed in lateMarch by the U.S.
Supreme Court after five years of battles
in lower courts. Fond du Lac band
members, along with the Mille Lacs
band and six Wisconsin bands, may
exercise their gathering rights on about
13 million acres of land in east-central
Minnesota that the bands ceded to the
United States in the 19th century.
"It means a lot," said Ed Jaakola, 39,
another Fond du Lac band member. "I
know my ancestors did itbefore. We've
always had the right. We're just getting back to the old ways."
A couple of hours after spearing
began for the second night Wednesday on Green Lake, Fond du Lac tribal
conservation officers MarkZacher and
Tom Foldesimadeacircuit of the 1,000-
acre lake to check on the spearers.
Tribal spearing is regulated almost
more closely than non-Indian fishing.
Back at the landing, the Fond du Lac
Division of Resource Management
had set up a tent headquarters where
the evening's fish were measured,
weighed and recorded.
Each spearer must get a perm it on the
evening he wants to spear. The permit
allows him to take five walleyes. Only
two ofthe fish may be longer than 20
inches and only one may be longer
than 24 inches.
Male walleyes are typically smaller
than females so the regulation spreads
the harvest between males and females, says Brian Borkholder, inland
fisheries biologist for the band's Division of Resource Management. If a
permit is filled during the evening and
more permits are available, a spearer
may get another permit good for five
more walleyes.
A total of 343 fish may be taken by
spearers on Green Lake this spring,
Borkholder says. That number is based
on an estimate ofthe lake's walleye
population. Fond du Lac band members also will participate in netting
walleyes on Mille Lacs Lake under the
1837 Treaty this spring.
Although little public objection has
been raised since the Supreme Court's
announcement affirming the Ojibwe's
rights to hunt, fish and gather in the
ceded territory, spearing and netting
remain controversial.
Spear/to pg. 3
Turtle Mountain tribe asks BIA for help
with debt
Commission debates restrictions on
commercial, Indian casinos
WASHINGTON (AP) - A federal
commission condemned the refusal
of most Indian tribes toprovide information on their gambl ing operations
and also weighed restrictions on
money-lending and cash-dispensing
in casinos nationwide.
MembersoftheNational Gambling
Impact Study Commission on Thursday offered limited criticism of commercial casinos, once limited to Las
Vegas and Atlantic City but now
springing up throughout the country. Some commission members said
traditional casinos at least force
would-be gamblers to travel.
Members appear largely united on
an overall principle of endorsing "destination gambling" and denouncing
the spread of "convenience gambling" like betting over the Internet
and on video poker machines in bars.
The nine-member commission will
release a report in June on the economic and social effects of legalized
gambling. Seven members participated in Thursday's meeting to discuss possible conclusions and recommendations.
Commissioners drafting the report's
chapter on Indian gambling say they
have been hampered by the refusal by
Commission/to pg.5
FARGO, N.D. (AP) - The Turtle
Mountain Band ofChippewa is asking
the Bureau oflndian Affairs to help
restructure a debt that has grown to
more than $20 million.
Tribal Chairman Richard "Jiggers"
LaFromboise, who was elected in November, said the tribe has serious financial problems brought on by "poor
business practices" of previous tribal
leaders. "When we came into office,
we found ourselves in a large, disorganized mess," he said Friday. "We have
tried to tighten our belts, we've had to
lay off a bunch of people, all to try to
reverse this."
LaFromboise, along with a number of
council members and the president of
a Rolette bank, traveled to Washing
ton, D.C. in February to meet with
Kevin Gover, the Interior Department's
assistant secretary for Indian affairs.
Gover said the tribe told him it was
saddled with heavy debt related to the
construction of a hotel and convention center on the reservation in north
central North Dakota.
Tribal leaders asked the BIA to guarantee a loan the tribe hopes to get
through local lenders to restructure
the debt, Gover said.
The BIA has a cap of $2.5 million on
such loans, but Gover said the agency
agreed to consider waiving that cap.
LaFromboise said the tribe is asking
the BIA to guarantee more than $20
million.
Tribal Counci Iman Ron Peltier said
the tribe is submitting its formal written
request to the BIA on Monday.
LaFromboise is confident it will be
approved.
"The day Richard 'Jiggers'
LaFromboise is without optimism is
the day you won't find me doing this
job," he said. BIA spokesman Rex
Hackler said it is not uncommon for
Indian tribes to ask for help in restructuring theirdebts, but he said the Turtle
Mountain tribe's request is unusually
high. The BIA is considering it because ofthe potential economic affect
on the reservation if the tribe cannot
get the debt under control, Hackler
said.
"The BIA wants to do everything it
can to foster economic development
Turtle/to pg.3