National Media Ignore Signing of Executive Order for Indian Education Story-Date: 01:04 p.m. PST Sunday , September 20, 1998 ------------------------------------------------------------ National Media Ignore Signing of Executive Order for Indian Education By Brenda Norrell, Indian Country Today, Rapid City, S.D. Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News Sep. 21--WASHINGTON, D.C.--When President Clinton signed an executive order on Indian education, the national news media were a no-show at a press conference in the nation's capital, favoring instead to report on the Clinton scandal with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. Gila River Indian News editor Jean Harmon, Nakota of the Hunkpati Band of Crow Creek Sioux in South Dakota, was the only reporter attending the news conference. "President Clinton signed an executive order on Indian Education and what appears in the newspapers? Monica Lewinsky." Ms. Harmon said. "No press came. They were all too busy doing Monica Lewinsky," said Ms. Harmon, editor of the tribal newspaper of the Gila River Indian Community in Sacaton, Ariz. Ms. Harmon said the executive order was developed as a policy statement by tribal leaders and Indian educators, based on extensive research and comments gathered in Indian country. Signed in the presence of 900 American Indian leaders and representatives in Washington, the Executive Order on American Indian and Alaska Native Education seeks to improve the academic performance and dropout rate of Native youth. Currently, fifteen of every 100 Native American children drop out of school. Specifically, the executive order seeks to improve reading and mathematics, increase high school completion and post-secondary attendance rates and reduce the influence of factors that hinder education, such as low incomes, lack of employment and substance abuse. Further, the order seeks to create strong, safe and drug free school environments and expand the use of science and educational technology. President Clinton ordered his administration to work to improve the education of Indian children, only 10 percent of whom go to college. Currently, there are 173 federally-funded schools for 47,000 Native students in 23 states. "If the trend continues, then the future for Native American children will become even bleaker," Clinton told tribal leaders. "The opportunity gap between them and their peers will widen to a dangerous chasm." The order requires the Clinton administration to develop a comprehensive Indian education policy within two years. It calls for a series of regional forums and a series of pilot schools to test new education methods. Focusing on economic development, Clinton also announced initiatives to boost businesses in Indian country -- including a $70 million Agriculture Department program to help new technology companies get contracts from the United States government. The Choctaw Nation in Hugo, Okla., is the first of seven such projects. Ms. Harmon said tribal leaders from across the country were in Washington and prepared to answer questions from the press during the August signing of the order, including leaders from the National Congress of American Indians, but no one showed. The press favored instead coverage of the grand jury testimony of Ms. Lewinsky. John Yellow Bird Steele, president of Oglala Sioux, offered optimism about the order. "There is hope here and optimism. We have Cabinet officials discussing our issues. We have the president talking to us." ----- Visit Indian Country Today on the World Wide Web at http://www.indiancountry.com/ (c) 1998, Indian Country Today, Rapid City, S.D. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. ------------------------------------------------------------