Indian Education Clouded by Identity Factor

Blond first-grader Willard Rolas was having trouble learning to make an Indian medicine pouch at the Sequoia School in Westminster.

While older students easily weaved the colored yarns into a pattern on their looms, the talkative youngster wound his into a knot, which he proudly displayed.

But the week’s lesson was not lost on him. Asked if he remembered a lecture by a Cherokee Indian, Alma Rail, the day before, he cried out: “I heard that.”

Serves Those of Indian Heritage

For this group of students, making Indian medicine pouches was not just an art exercise. The class was part of the Westminster Indian Education program, which serves about 350 elementary and junior high students who are of American Indian heritage.

But because of a new policy of the Office of Indian Education of the federal Department of Education, this may be the last year for the program, said Stephanie Almaguer, coordinator for the Westminster School District.

Starting with the 1986-87 school year, only children who have an enrollment number--which the federal government last issued to American Indians in 1940--or some other official document proving that they are of Indian heritage will be eligible for the program.

But local school officials said the change could mean the end of Indian Education in the county because most children now involved do not have an enrollment number.

Students are excused from regular classes for a week each school year to participate. The purpose of the program is to teach American Indian children about their heritage and to help them academically.

They learn which tribe their ancestors were from, view films about Indian culture, listen to lectures, take field trips and learn crafts such as weaving, Almaguer said.

In Orange County, districts in Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, Orange, San Juan Capistrano and Westminster offer Indian Education programs. The districts receive about $120 per pupil from the federal Department of Education for each child enrolled.

Highest Enrollment

Huntington Beach Union HighSchool District has the county’s highest enrollment--about 950 students.

The new policy means that only children who have an enrollment number, are a member of an Indian organization or are recognized by a tribe, have a certificate of degree of Indian blood or whose families claim to own tribal land will be eligible, a spokeswoman from the Department of Education said.

The Office of Indian Education spokeswoman said the policy is meant to ensure that only Indians participate.

In the past, students without enrollment numbers have been allowed to register with “good faith” letters signed by parents, stating that they are of Indian heritage and will try to get documentation of their ancestry. But the new policy excludes districts from using such letters.

Enrollment numbers were issued by the federal government in 1910, 1928 and 1940, a spokeswoman from the Bureau of Indian Affairs said. Proving that an individual without an enrollment number is an Indian is very difficult, she said, and requires a search for documents such as birth and death records.

The numbers were issued by field representatives who visited reservations. But some Indians said that many were not enrolled because they did not want to be counted by the government or because government procedures were faulty, Rail, Huntington Beach’s director, said.

“My husband’s family was not completely registered because some of them were out in the field when the federal officials came to count,” she said.

Sally Bozarth, cultural coordinator for the Westminster Indian Education program, said that many Indians in Oklahoma where she was raised did not register because they did not want to be labeled as Indians.

Orange County has the third largest American Indian population in the state, with 12,951 of a state Indian population of 201,369, according to the 1980 census. Los Angeles County ranks first with 48,120 Indians and San Diego County is second with 14,616.

Rail called the policy discriminatory. “Other minorities are not asked to prove who they are,” she said.

A UC Irvine administrator, Kogee Thomas, who works with minority students, contended that the government is “trying to cut out the program altogether.”

Special Attention

Thomas said the program helps keep Indian children in school by providing them with special attention.

“The elimination of the program would be devastating. Indians are still underrepresented in every profession. The major role models are not there. The need for their education is crucial,” she said.

Guy Caruzzo, principal of the Sequoia School where the Westminster program is based, said the government should continue to accept the “good faith” letters.

“These parents are not going to lie to get benefits they do not deserve. I think this is one way of the government cutting back on the program,” Caruzzo said.

But not all those involved with Indian Education oppose the stricter requirements.

Carl Bryant, Garden Grove Indian Education project director, said: “Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of students passed through this program without being properly qualified. Maybe that money could have better been used on the reservations.”

He questioned the need for the program, saying: “We can’t teach anyone to be an Indian; that is the responsibility of the parents. The problem is that Indian heritage is not talked about in the homes.”

Instead of a separate Indian education program, Bryant advocates including Indian education in the regular curriculum, so that all students can learn about the culture.

Plan to Fight

But others plan to fight the regulation. In the Fontana Unified School District in San Bernardino County, LaVern Pine, a counselor with the program, said: “We want to tell these politicians that we are not going to take this sitting down.”

A meeting to discuss the eligibility question will be held today at 10 a.m. at Fontana City Hall, 8373 Sierra Ave.

Pine, a Choctaw Indian, said: “This is another effort to say there just aren’t any more Indians out there. We are the only group of people in the whole United States that has to receive a number to get special education. It isn’t fair.”