WASHINGTON – Representatives of the Bureau of Indian Affairs will join with officials of the Colville Confederated Tribes on May 27 to celebrate the opening of the Tribes’ new replacement Paschal Sherman Indian School in Omak, Wash., situated at the northwest corner of the Colville Reservation. Jack Rever, Director of Facilities, Environmental Safety and Cultural Resources Management for Indian Affairs in the Interior Department, and Stanley Speaks, Regional Director of the BIA’s Northwest Regional Office in Portland, Ore., will lead the contingent of Bureau officials attending the event.
“I congratulate the Indian Affairs Facilities staff and the Colville Confederated Tribes for the successful completion of the new Paschal Sherman Indian School,” Associate Deputy Secretary Jim Cason said today. “Through your efforts, the Colville people now have a state-of-the art facility where their children can be educated in a safe and healthy learning environment.”
Paschal Sherman is a BIA-funded, tribally operated school which began as St. Mary’s Mission in 1886 on land donated by Chief Smitkin. The boarding school, which housed both Indian and non-Indian students, operated until 1973 when it turned over to the Tribes and renamed Paschal Sherman Indian School with funding provided by the BIA. In 2001, President Bush named Paschal Sherman as one of six BIA-funded schools slated for replacement in his Fiscal Year 2002 budget request.
The 91,623-square foot complex’s design incorporates Colville traditions with “green” technology and enhanced access for persons with disabilities. It will house 260 students from early childhood through Grade 9 and run full Residential and daily Academic Programs, including the BIA’s popular family literacy program, FACE (Family and Child Education).
WHO: Jack Rever, Director of Facilities, Environmental Safety and Cultural Resources Management – Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior, and Stanley Speaks, Regional Director, Northwest Regional Office, Bureau of Indian Affairs.
WHAT: Grand opening of the Paschal Sherman Indian School, a new replacement BIA-funded school operated by the Colville Confederated Tribes on the Colville Reservation. WHEN: Friday, May 27, 2005, starting at 9:00 a.m. (local time)
WHERE: Paschal Sherman Indian School, 169 North End Omak Lake Road, Omak, Wash. Phone: (509) 422-7590
CREDENTIALS: This invitation is extended to working media representatives, who are required to display sanctioned media credentials for admittance to the event.
