Sacred Circle out on a limb

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The present status of the Edmonton Public School Board's (EPSB) Sacred Circle group finds them out on a limb in search of answers and solutions to their exclusion from direct participation in the school board's Native education policies and programs.

Now referring to themselves at the Sacred Circle Advisory Committee (SCAC), this body of mostly Native people had been active in the past in terms of programming in decision-making but that now appears to have been effectively skirted by the school board which has assumed absolute control over the now defunct Sacred Circle Education Program. It would be a disservice to state that the committee is satisfied with the recent turn-around. In consequence, two recent meetings of the SCAC have made it abundantly clear that they wish to remain an integral and participatory body in the area of Native education in the public school system.

The meetings which were also attended by Elaine Mills, the assistant superintendent of instructional services, struggled through he difficult task of coping with the fact that Sacred Circle is history as far as the school board is concerned.

The Sacred Circle project was first instituted back in 1981 as a five year pilot which concluded this summer and has since been absorbed by the public system at large. To assist them, the public board received a whopping $610,000 from the province's Education Opportunities Fund (EOF) for the 1986-87 school year.

Regardless of the demise of the Sacred Circle project,, says acting chairperson Jenny Margetts, the advisory committee is alive but not so well. Furthermore, the committee as a whole is rather put out with the fact that the committee name was arbitrarily changed by the school board to the "Native Education Advisory Committee."

The board felt justified in dropping the original name because the program had ground to a halt. The SCAC finds this unacceptable and has asked Mills to pass that message on to her superior. Mills has told the committee that "the school board sees a need for the advisory committee" and that "she is present at their meetings" to listen and pass on advice to the board."

What is annoying to the SCAC is that major changes regarding Native education are being implemented without the participation or sanction of their group. Reacting to the closing statement of a May 9, 1986 document on "Native Education" which went before the EPSB for approval, Margetts says the board certainly did not receive any support from Sacred Circle.

Don Massey, then chairman of the EPSB, does not concur. He claims that the document was not challenged when it was presented to the board. It has been brought to our attention, however, that such is not the case. For example, Ralph Bouvette, SCAC chairman, said that the SCAC strongly objected to the death blow of the Sacred Circle name.

Massey, on the other hand, does say that "there is good support there (at the EPSB) politically" to address Native education and, "we certainly want to iron out any problems."

When questioned by Windspeaker about whether the board would be receptive to overtures from the SCAC, Massey replied, "the board would be more than happy to look at t recommendations."

With this week's selection of a new board chairman in the person of George Luck, the SCAC will have to educate him and other new board members. As for Massey, he still remains on stream and the board, says Margetts, will likely be approached by a formal delegation of the SCAC who do not want to be viewed simply as Natives who are supposedly in support of the board's course of actions, but who wish to actively participate in the decision-making process as it affects Native students and their education.

Sacred Circle is credited with originating the Native problems about their resolve to continue as part of the structure, but as an involved part. As Margetts put it, "we've given too much; we must express ourselves in the interests of our children."

When contacte by Windspeaker, Dan Ewasiuk, the director of Support Programs for Alberta Education, which funds the EPSB's Native education projects through tits EOF grants, claims to be unaware as to what's been transpiring. He maintains that "one of the things we looked for very specifically in the urban Native education projects was that there was some involvement of the Native community and, as I understand it, there was a steering committee for this program from the very beginning."

Ewasiuk further contends he had no knowledge about the position of the Sacred Circle director had been terminated. "I would have thought that there would remain some mechanism for involving the Native community even if the project were terminated," he stated.

A promise from Ewasiuk was that he will approach the school board to discuss the SCAC concerns and, "to resolve the problem at the local level."

The present status of financial support from the EOF for Native education is destined for the guillotine next summer when all such monies will be transferred to the provincial Native Education Project (NEP) office. Once that occurs, says Merv Kowalchuk, associate director of the NEP, "the Edmonton public is going to have to change as well."

"One of our policies," he continued, "will be that Native people in any school jurisdiction will have to be involved in the planning." School boards, he adds, will have

no option but to co-operate. New guidelines from the NEP will be released in early 1987 regarding the funding of Native education projects, Kowalchuk explained.

"You will be able to get money but there has to accountability, partnership and planning in that program. If the Native community is not involved, school boards cannot expect financial support form the NEP," said Kowalchuk, who further suggested that for now, "the SCAC must get to the school board" if it wants to be involved in this calendar year.

While figures on the Native education dollars have not yet been made public by Educaton Minister Nancy Betkowski, it is expected to run somewhere in the millions, perhaps four or five million. Also anticipated and anxiously awaited is the new Native Education Policy which, according to the most recent information available, is scheduled for release on the first of November.

Kowalchuk suggests that groups such as the SCAC should prepare themselves for the time when the Native education dollars are channeled through the NEP. That will be next summer and submissions from responsible Native groups will be welcomed but will have to, as usual, demonstrate need, solid planning, organization, and so on.

In the meantime, SCAC has been responding to other concerns. In the past their staff members were not allowed to participate or attend SCAC meetings. Not any more. The committee has opened its doors and permits staff involvement feeling that it contributes to a healthy climate and a better flow of information between parties. In the past, many of the staff reviewed their exclusion as a deliberate attempt to keep them in their place and at the complete mercy of the administration.

A circular of other staff concerns has been received by the SCAC and will be reviewed. Of additional concern to both the staff and the committee has been the school board's decision to transfer all of the Sacred Circle resource centre materials and equipment from its present location at the Oliver School to central office despite the unanimous protestations of the SCAC and the Native education staff.

At last week's SCAC meeting it was agreed that they would meet again this week to peruse the EPSB's new policies on Native education as presented and accepted by the EPSB on May 9, 1986. The document will be subjected to critical analysis and discussion from which recommendations and suggestions will be developed and then forwarded to the appropriate individuals of the EPSB for their reaction.

What may follow as a result will be dependent upon the responses received by the SCAC. Oe thing is sure, they're bound and determined to be back in the picture for the sake of their children's education.