Dine officials defend Hawaii trip
They were just ‘doing what they were supposed to’

By Karen Francis
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — Navajo Nation Communications Director George Hardeen said that representatives from the Navajo Nation were just doing what they were supposed to in attending a National Indian Education Association conference in Hawaii in October, a trip that has been widely criticized in the media.

“The Navajo Nation sends representatives to many conferences. They are conducting the business of the Navajo Nation on behalf of the people,” he said.

Speaker of the Navajo Nation Council Lawrence T. Morgan said that Council Delegates are often required to travel while representing the Navajo people.

He said, “It is very important that our public servants remain actively abreast of national issues that have an impact upon our nation.”

The U.S. Department of Interior is looking into whether federal money was inappropriately spent to send Navajo Nation representatives to an education conference in Hawaii.

The Inspector General is responding to a Nov. 16 letter from Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., who asked whether federal dollars were misappropriated or misused, said a spokesman for Inspector General Earl Devaney.

The total number of Navajos attending has come under scrutiny after it was reported Nov. 3 that 362 tribal members preregistered for the National Indian Education Association conference last month in Honolulu.
Lillian Sparks, executive director of NIEA, has said that figure could include enrolled members of the tribe from anywhere across the United States, who do not live on the reservation and are not representatives of tribal government.

Navajo officials confirmed they sent 50 representatives of the Navajo Nation government, including 15 Head Start workers, at a cost of more than $110,000.

The Navajo Head Start program, which last year had its funding temporarily revoked after a scathing report on problems that included inadequate financial controls, spent more than $35,000 on its conference representatives.

Lamont Yazzie, interim director of the program, told The Associated Press he wanted his staff to be well-represented — in part to address some of the program’s past deficiencies.

He said approval to send 15 people was granted only after he was assured that trouble areas were being addressed. He also said the money to send them came from funds for staff development and training.

There are multiple jurisdictions regarding education on the Navajo Nation, which is larger than some states. On the Navajo Nation there are public schools, private schools, charter schools, Bureau of Indian Affairs schools, and grant schools, for example, which are governed by separate entities such as school boards.

In addition to the various school systems, the nation itself has a Department of Education, the recently-formed Navajo Board of Education and the Navajo Nation Council’s Education Committee, which is the legislative oversight for the nation’s educational affairs. Each of the entities sent its own representatives to the Hawaii conference.

Hardeen said that of the 50 tribal representatives, 15 were from the Head Start, three were from the Board of Education, about 10 were others from the Department of Education and about 21 were from the Legislative Branch. Several parents from the Parent Advisory Committee were also sent.

“If staff do not do required training they will be found deficient. Staff is very strongly encouraged by federal officials who monitor programs to go to conferences just like the Hawaii conference,” he said. “If they don’t, then the next story we would see is this program is found deficient in training their staff.”

Hardeen also said that in many cases, if the funds are not used for their specified purpose, i.e. training, the money cannot be used for another purpose.

In the past, Hardeen said, “The Navajo Nation has had a problem with spending federal monies it receives and we see those headlines in the paper.”

He said that by attending the conference, the tribal employees who went were following regulations.

Hardeen also said that each school district on the Navajo Nation is autonomous and decides for itself what conferences to send participants to and how many will go.
— The Associated Press contributed to this article.