OPA

Indian children in three Bureau of Indian Affairs schools will be given special education services and assistance next school year with the help of funding by the Office of Education.

Schools in which the programs will be initiated include Wahpeton Indian School, Wahpeton, N.D.; Phoenix Indian School in Phoenix, Ariz. and Intermountain School, Brigham City, Utah.

The three programs are intended to establish guidelines for Similar, future operations in other Bureau schools, where they are applicable.

In addition, a creative program to upgrade 58 teachers in special education is being made available to all such Bureau personnel with the help of cooperating colleges and universities, the Department of the Interior said.

The Wahpeton program is aimed at combating the handicap of functional retardation brought about by physical-psychological defects. About 94 per cent of the students at the school come from maladjusted homes.

Its purpose is to meet the unique and individual learning needs of the retarded and physically handicapped students by adding to the present Wahpeton staff special education teachers, experts on mental retardation, as well as counselors and social workers. Cost is estimated at $48,800 per school year.

Phoenix Indian School is launching an evaluation program that will provide developmental profiles on each student from his freshman year through graduation. The accent is on establishing a kind of data-bank for continuous evaluation of student progress.

This will involve not only subjective evaluation of the student by the school staff, but objective measures that will include parent and family interviews, complete physical and dental examination, even psychological tests, vision and hearing screening, and assessment of achievement and communication skills.

The plan for Intermountain School is much the same. It, too, will use the interdisciplinary approach to the educational evaluation of students. As at Phoenix Indian School, individual differences will be delineated, the total school staff will be oriented and participate in the clinical process, and teachers will modify existing curricula based on student needs.

Costs for each of the latter two projects will be $20,000 for the school year.

To supplement these and other Bureau education programs, special education plans for the upgrading regular teachers are being developed.

The new program--Project Pre/Set (Preparing Special Education Teachers) is an attempt to develop teachers prepared to work with exceptional children in the regular classroom--children who are mentally retarded, whose hearing or speech is impaired, who are visually handicapped, crippled or emotionally disturbed.

Selected applicants will attend a graduate school program at cooperating colleges and universities. Because many of them already will be teachers and aides in the Bureau system, a summer plan is being worked out so that teachers and aides currently employed can continue in the program on a graduate or undergraduate basis on full pay.

Tuition and similar costs will be paid by the Bureau and Office of Education.

Secretary of the Interior Walter J. Hickel, on behalf of President Nixon, today announced the nomination of Louis R. Bruce, 6,3, of Richfield Springs, New York, as Commissioner of Indian Affairs.

Bruce, a member of the Oglala Sioux tribe of South Dakota, was praised by the Secretary as "a man of unparalleled qualifications, with the leadership skills and the desire necessary to carry out the Administration's pledge to bring dignity, education and economic progress to all of our American Indian, Eskimo and Aleut citizens.

"Mr. Bruce's extensive experience in Indian activities, in community and youth relations, and in Indian housing programs will provide a solid foundation for advancing our programs to assure the Indian American is no longer the forgotten American."

Bruce served as special assistant commissioner for cooperative housing with the Federal Housing Administration until becoming executive director of the" Zeta Psi Educational Foundation and Fraternity in 1966.

He organized the first National Indian Conference on Housing in 1961,and was instrumental in changing regulations of the agency to provide more direct benefits to Indian Americans.

Early in his career, he was New York State director for Indian projects with the National Youth Administration.

He has served as public relations and promotions director of Mid-Eastern Cooperatives; community relations consultant with the New York State Housing Division; vice president of the Compton Advertising Agency of New York; and as a member.of the Board of Directors of the Dairymen's League Cooperative Association of New York.

He owns and, until recently, operated a 600-acre dairy farm in Richfield Springs.

His father, Dr. Louis Bruce, a Mohawk Indian, was until his death last year a leader in working for a better life for the Indian people. Hr. Bruce's mother was an Oglala Sioux of the Pine Ridge Reservation of South Dakota.

Bruce was born on the Onondaga Indian Reservation in New York and grew up on the State's St. Regis Mohawk Reservation. He is a graduate of Cazenovia Seminary and Syracuse University.

He has received a number of awards including the American Indian Achievement Award and the Freedoms Award, presented by President Eisenhower for "outstanding contributions in promoting the American way of life."

A member of the Association of Indian Affairs, the Indian Council Fire of Chicago, and the National Congress of American Indians, he has served as executive secretary of the National Congress of American Indians.

He is married to the former Anna Jennings Wikoff. They have three children and five grandchildren.

Award of a $770,300 contract for the construction of a new elementary school for Indian students at Cherokee, North Carolina, was announced today by the Department of the Interior.

The contract calls for the construction of a 24-classroom building with a multipurpose room, office, kitchen and library. It will have a total floor area of approximately 65,000 square feet.

The contract also includes grading and utility connections.

When complete, the building will replace the present dilapidated school and allow the consolidation of a number of outlying Indian schools at the one location. The successful bidder was Boyd and Goforth, Inc., of Charlotte, North Carolina. Eight higher bids were received, ranging from $779,200 to $941,900.

Appointment of George A. Boyce, superintendent of the 2,000-pupil Intermountain Indian boarding school at Brigham, Utah, to develop a new instruction program in Indian arts and crafts at Santa Fe, New Mexico, was announced today by the Department of the Interior. The appointment will be effective August 6.

Boyce was the first superintendent of the Intermountain School when it opened in 1949 and served there for eight years. In 1957 he was relieved of these responsibilities and given a variety of research assignments in Indian education. He was renamed superintendent at Intermountain in 1960. Before moving into the Brigham position originally he served for eight years as director of schools on the Navajo Reservation at Window Rock, Arizona, and for three years as curriculum specialist and textbook writer for the Bureau of Indian Affairs at Haskell Institute, Lawrence, Kansas.

Prior to coming with the Bureau in 1938 Boyce had seven years of experience as a high school teacher of mathematics in Bronxville, N. Y., four years as a teacher at Western Reserve Academy, Hudson, Ohio, four years as dean of Chestnut Hill Academy in Philadelphia, Pa., and two years as a business assistant at the Lake Placid-Florida School, Lake Placid, N. Y. Born at Scranton, Pa., in 1898, he has a bachelor’s degree from Trinity College, Hartford, Conn., a master’s degree from Cornell University, and a doctor of education degree from Teachers College, Columbia University.

The Department of the Interior today announced the completion of property distribution plans on six additional Indian rancherias of California under terms of a 1958 law.

The rancherias involved are Alexander Valley (54 acres, 11 members) and Lytton (50 acres, 33 members) in Sonoma County, Chicken Ranch (40 acres, 16 members) in Tuolumne County, Mooretown (80 acres, 4 members) in Butte County, and Potter Valley (96 acres, 11 members) and Redwood Valley (80 acres, 27 members) in Mendocino County.

Under the 1958 enactment the group property of these rancherias, totaling 400 acres, was divided among the 102 Indian beneficiaries in accordance with plans approved by the Indians in referendum ballot. In all cases unrestricted title was conveyed to the distributees.

With the completion of these plans, the distributees are no longer eligible for special services from the Federal Government because of their status as Indians and the laws of the several States now apply to them as they do to other citizens.

This brings to 13 the total of property distribution plans which have now been completed under the 1958 enactment. Twenty-seven others are in process. The law covers 41 Indian rancherias in California but gives the members of each the option of deciding whether or not they wish to adopt property distribution plans.

It gives me special pleasure to announce, on behalf of the President, the nomination of Mr. Louis R. Bruce of New York State to be the new Commissioner of Indian Affairs. His biography is being passed out to you. As an enrolled member of the Sioux Tribe, Mr. Bruce has continually demonstrated his leadership among American Indians during a long and distinguished career.

He is a man of unparalleled qualifications, with the leadership and the desire necessary to carry out the Administration's pledge to bring dignity, education and economic progress to all of our American Indian citizens. Mr. Bruce's extensive experience in Indian activities, in community and youth relations, and in Indian housing programs will provide a solid foundation for advancing our programs to assure that the Indian American is no longer the forgotten American.

I have spent more than a quarter of a century in Alaska, where the native Indians, Eskimos and Aleuts comprise a substantial part of the population. I know them. I have been involved in their problems, and I have a personal commitment to help bring these native peoples into the mainstream of American life.

We have already begun that process with a bill now before the Senate Interior Committee to resolve one of the problems that has been hanging for a long time - full and final settlement of all Native Land Claims against the United States in Alaska.

I have directed Mr. Bruce to put into effect a re-structuring of the Bureau of Indian Affairs to make the Bureau fully responsive to today's needs of the Indian peoples.

I am determined to wipe out any bureaucratic restrictions which prevent participation in decision-making by the Indians themselves.

To assure maximum responsiveness to Indian thinking, an all-Indian Advisory committee, representative of all parts of the country will be selected. This body will advise the Secretary and the new Commissioner on implementing programs to achieve the ultimate objectives of the Indian people.

This Administration intends to listen to the American Indian. Too often the Government: has attempted to "solve" the problem of the, Indian simply by ignoring him. Our Indian citizens should have the opportunity to live in dignity and self-determination, They have the right to plan their own destiny.

We do not promise instant solutions to problems that have existed for 145 years - since the BIA was founded - but I can assure you that action will begin.

President Kennedy today nominated Philleo Nash, former lieutenant governor of Wisconsin, as Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and simultaneously, Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall announced appointment of John O. Crow, Cherokee Indian and 28-year veteran of the Indian Bureau, as Deputy Commissioner.

For the past six months Nash has been a member of the Indian Affairs Task Force, named by Secretary Udall, and has been a special assistant to Assistant Secretary John A. Carver, Jr., and Crow has been Acting Commissioner of the Bureau.

Secretary Udall said Nash's "exceptionally fine work on the Task Force confirmed the high opinion we had of his qualifications.” He pointed out that W. W. Keeler, chairman of the Task Force, had recommended Nash's appointment.

Secretary Udall praised Crow for his "outstanding service as Acting Commissioner, where his long experience and keen insight into the problems we face have made a major contribution."

“We are extremely well pleased," the Secretary said, "that Mr. Crow’s counsel and leadership will continue to be available to us."

Nash, 51, has had a career in government service, private business and higher education.

In addition to serving as lieutenant governor of Wisconsin from 1959 to 1961, he was a special assistant and administrative assistant to President Truman, specializing in Department of the Interior matters, from 1946 to 1953. For four years prior to the White House assignment he was a special assistant to the Director of the Office of War Information, the late Elmer Davis.

As a student and lecturer in anthropology, Nash has had an active interest in Indian affairs throughout his adult life. For the past five months he has been a member of Secretary Udall's Task Force on Indian Affairs which completed its study and submitted its report on July 12.

Born at Wisconsin Rapids, Wis., in 1909, Nash graduated from the University of Wisconsin in 1932 and received a Ph. D. in anthropology from the University of Chicago five years later. From 1937 to 1941 he was a lecturer on anthropology at the University of Toronto.

In the private business field he has been president of the Biron Cranberry Company at Wisconsin Rapids since 1946 and is currently president of the Wisconsin Cranberry Growers Association.

He is a member of Sigma Xi (the honorary science society), the American Anthropological Association, the Society of Applied Anthropology, and the Cosmos Club of Washington.

He married the former Edith Rosenfels in 1935 and they have two daughters.

A native of Salem, Mo., Crow grew up in Commerce, Okla., and is currently a resident of Alexandria, Va. He first joined the Bureau as a clerical worker at the Fort Totten Agency in North Dakota in 1933. Two years later he moved to the Truxton Canyon Agency, Valentine, Ariz. In the years that followed he took on increasing responsibilities at Truxton Canyon and was appointed superintendent of the agency in 1942.

After four years in this post he served as superintendent of three other Indian agencies over the following 11 years. From 1946 to 1951 he was at Mescalero Agency, Mescalero, N. Mex.; from 1951 to 1955 at the Fort Apache Agency, Whiteriver, Ariz.; and from 1955 to 1957 at the Uintah-Ouray Agency, Fort Duchesne, Utah. In June 1957 he was named assistant to E. J. Utz, the Bureau's Assistant Commissioner for Resources, and remained in that post until his appointment as chief of the Bureau's realty branch in July 1960. He was named Acting Commissioner last February and was the first man of Indian descent to have that responsibility in 90 years.

He was an outstanding football player as a student at the Haskell Indian Institute in Lawrence, Kansas, and later played professional football with the Boston Redskins.

A substantial reduction in interest rates charged on loans from the revolving fund of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, in line with recommendations of the Task Force on Indian Affairs for economic development on Indian reservations, was announced today by Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall.

The most important reduction is from 4t to 2 percent on loans to tribes for land acquisition. This ties in with the Task Force finding that a serious deterrent to more adequate use of Indian resources is the divided ownership or “heirship" status of numerous tracts that were allotted years ago to individual Indians.

Tribes which had received land purchase loans at the old rate of 4t percent found it difficult to work out programs for acquiring these “heirship” tracts on terms that would permit repayment of the loans within a reasonable period. The new rate of 2 percent will permit land purchase and consolidation programs to be undertaken which were not possible at the old rate, Secretary Udall said.

Another important change is in the rate of loans to tribes to finance business enterprises. A uniform rate of 4 1/2 percent has been charged in the past. The new regulation will permit a rate as low as 2 percent and as high as 5 depending upon the income-producing ability of the enterprise, and the benefits it will bring to Indians. The new rate should prove helpful in the development of new business enterprises which use reservation resources and provide employment for tribal members, the Secretary declared.

Indian young people receiving loans for educational purposes also will get some relief under the new revolving credit regulations. Up to the present time, interest has been charged on such loans from the time they were made. This has worked a hardship on many borrowers because interest accrued during the educational period. Upon graduation they were faced with large debts, much of which represented interest accruals. The new regulation provides that interest accrual will not begin until one year after completion of the course for which the loan was made.

The rate of loans to individual Indians for agricultural operating expenses is also being reduced from 6 to 5 percent, and the new regulations provide greater flexibility in the rate charged cooperative associations. In the past, cooperative associations have been charged 5 percent a year. The amended regulations will permit rates ranging from 2 to 5 percent according to the nature of the cooperatives business.

The Department pointed out that since the currently authorized amount of $10 million for the revolving fund is inadequate to meet the demands of Indians for loans, the effectiveness of the new regulations in stimulating greater economic development on reservations will depend largely on enactment of pending legislation to increase the size of the fund.

The new loan rates become effective on publication in the Federal Register.

Prospects for full development of the mineral resources of the Papago Indian Reservation in southern Arizona are now better than ever, Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall reported today.

On August 2, Secretary Udall said, bonus bids totaling $13,444 were received by the Papago Agency of the Bureau of Indian Affairs for two-year prospecting permits with options to lease on three tracts comprising 47,120 acres of tribally owned land. Trans-Arizona Resources submitted a bid of $11,204 on one tract of 18,560 acres. Metals Engineering Company bid $1,120 on each of the other two tracts comprising 9,920 and 18,640 acres.

If these bids are accepted by the Papago Tribal Council, it would bring the entire reservation of nearly three million acres under active mineral prospecting permit for the first time. A three-year permit with option to lease covering the main body of the reservation, apart from the three tracts just offered, was granted on July 13 to Hunting Geophysical Services, Inc.

The options to lease granted with the prospecting permits are subject to valid existing rights on the reservation lands. The prospecting permits cover all minerals other than oil and gas.

Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today announced plans for converting the 480-pupil Federal Indian boarding school at Santa Fe, New Mexico, into an Institute of American Indian Arts by the fall of 1962.

Planned to accommodate eventually as many as 500 students, the new Institute will provide a full high school course and two post-high school years. It will enroll youths of one-fourth or more Indian blood from all parts of the country who show special aptitudes in a wide variety of creative arts.

In addition to such fine arts as painting and sculpture, the curriculum will include many Indians arts and crafts such as woodworking, silversmithing, leather craft, beadwork, ivory-carving and basketry.

The Institute will be headed by Dr. George A. Boyce, former superintendent of the Intermountain Indian School at Brigham, Utah, who was recently assigned to Santa Fe and will be reporting there in the near future as superintendent of the new school. His duties this coming year will involve directing the necessary remodeling and rehabilitation of the present plant, program development, equipment and staffing for opening the Institute in the fall of 1962.

Throughout the school year of 1961-62 the Santa Fe School will continue providing regular academic instruction in the first nine grades. Meanwhile plans will be developed in the Bureau Area Office at Gallup for placing the present pupils in schools which are being expanded near their homes. Most of the present pupils--Navajos and Apaches primarily--are in elementary and junior high school grades.

The new Institute of American Indian Arts will be a nation-wide Indian school enrolling students from all tribes--from Alaskan Eskimo to Florida Seminole, from Arizona Papagos to Dakota Sioux. The school will offer broad as well as specialized instruction in the creative arts and will develop vocational opportunities in applied arts and related work as new opportunities for Indians. Because of world-wide interest in American Indians, Secretary Udall said, this national Institute of American Indian Arts will give many more Indians opportunities to get international recognition through the arts."

The Indian Arts and Crafts Board of the Department of the Interior will collaborate with the Bureau of Indian Affairs in making a promotional effort to open all outlets for Indian artists to make a significant contribution to modern American culture.

Specific emphasis will be given to recruiting a first-class resident and visiting faculty trained to serve special needs of Indian youth.

Secretary Udall stated that a special school committed to these goals is long overdue. Establishment of the Institute at this time will put into operation one of the key recommendations of the Task Force on Indian Affairs which reported recently to the Secretary.