Volume 7 Number 3
May 1968

by Donald A. Olsen, Assistant Director for Administrative Services

DINE, INC. (Demonstration in Navaho Education) was incorporated in the State of Arizona, June 26, 1966. It is a private non-profit corporation, sponsored by the Navaho Tribe and set up to receive funds to provide educational opportunities for the Navaho community at Rough Rock.

The Rough Rock Demonstration School started actual operation on July 1, 1966. It had been the dream of many, Navahos and others, long before that time. To begin operation of a community school within a few days of incorporation proved to be a great challenge.

Planning, organizing and "putting into being" this opportunity was, in looking back, not far from a miracle. A new boarding school facility had been turned over for this demonstration project by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. There were no supplies, not even paper clips, to be found in the facility. Staff, equipment, and many preparations were necessary to establish this demonstration in community education for the Indians. School opened the first year a few days late, yet it opened and the demonstration project was off to a very fine start.

To accomplish the objectives and goals of this demonstration, separate divisions were set up. Administrative Services became the facilitating service division for the many new programs, projects and community activities.

The corporation (DINE, Inc.) provided independence in that it was controlled completely by Navahos. Not being a part of the BIA school system brought with it such added responsibilities as purchasing, financing, personnel, payroll, and other necessary activities and functions to deal with the public, staff and business. The school was required to set up purchasing, accounting, financing, bank accounts, and related activities for a complete and independent operation.

Plant management, maintenance, repair, and building services were required by the community project, as were food services for the boarding school children and community activities. As the school developed, the staff planned, worked and moved ahead in new opportunities.

The BIA, as a partner in the demonstration project along with the Office of Economic Opportunity and the Navaho Tribe, provided the actual physical plant facilities. In addition, the BIA, under a contract, provided the project with the funds a regular BIA boarding school would have received. The Bureau deducted the food costs from the contract with them and in turn furnished the school with regular food deliveries.

The other partner, OEO, through its interest in and concern with Indian education, provided additional funds for many of the actual community programs and other demonstration projects. DINE, Inc., through its Board of Directors, receives funds from the OEO’s Demonstration and Research Division, making it possible to combine a regular school program with a true community school for the benefit of the total community and as a demonstration in Indian education.

It has taken several partners in this "hike up the mountain." Another partner, not the least by any means, has been the Navaho people themselves: The Board of Directors, all Navahos; the School Board, all local Navahos; and the Navaho community at Rough Rock. These Navahos have provided the desire, the interest, the concern, and the direction for the Rough Rock Demonstration School. They provide the direction and the control for the school and its purposes.

The division of Administrative Services means many things to many people. It means facilitating and assisting to free other areas of details and other requirements, so that time, talents, and energies may be devoted to the specific demonstration programs and projects.

Finances and accounting have been a very important function of Administrative Services. The school must operate under guidelines and regulations from the OEO and from the contract with the BIA. In addition, the school receives funding under Title 189-10 for the Navaho Curriculum Center. Under this, textbooks and other materials for the use of students and teachers in the classrooms are prepared.

It has been to the school’s advantage to be able to design and plan its own accounting systems, bank accounts, and necessary records, as these developed from needs and requirements. All receiving of funds and monies, disbursing, and documenting and accounting records have been maintained and accomplished on the local level, independent of any other agency or person. It is felt that local independent control, opportunity for decision making, and the freedom thus afforded has been the secret of much of the success. This is the very reason for DINE, Inc.: Local community control for the demonstration in Navaho education.

In the other areas under Administrative Services, the philosophy and intent of the School Board has been followed in hiring and training local Navahos, and providing them with opportunity and income. Many of the Navahos who were hired, trained, and provided opportunity for employment, could not have obtained employment elsewhere. The local School Board instructed the school to pay less than civil service wages, the minimum wage scale in most instances, so that it would be possible to employ more local community residents with the same amount of money. Of the 60 to 80 persons now employed on permanent or temporary bases at the school, 40 never held a job before.

The area of plant management consists of maintenance, repair and custodial service to the project. With the work crew for the Rough Rock School, these services have extended into many added programs, projects and services for the community: Upkeep of the school plant, housing, grounds, and other areas; building additional buildings for use by the project; and supervising the moving of additional classrooms and readying them for use. With continual needs and requirements in this unique project, for which the school was not designed, it has been necessary to fit programs into the existing plant.

Custodial staff members, all local Navahos, have been schooled by in-service training. They now are able to give the cleaning and maintenance service expected of professionals. Furthermore, most of these individuals have no education, speak no English and would be unemployable at other schools. This has required understanding both ways, and is a continual on-the-move program.

A final major area of responsibility under Administrative Services is food service. The school provides three nourishing meals a day, seven days a week, for all boarding school students, day students, parents, visitors and others fed at the school. In addition, many community activities and "special" days have been provided by the food service.

To understand the demonstration in Indian community education at Rough Rock, one must picture the objectives of Navaho control and community involvement. All programs at the school and all divisions are oriented around these goals.

Rough Rock might not have been too well known two or three years ago, but now it is visited and known by many. The author believes Rough Rock’s influence is felt far beyond the reservation boundaries, and its impact is felt in many places throughout the United States. Those who have had the opportunity to be connected with Rough Rock are now truly a part of it in spirit and hopes. We must continue "to climb the mountain."