The Last Year of Reservation Education

After the White Horse experience, I worked on construction. Then I applied for the principal's job at Wolf Creek School in Shannon County in 1994.

They had a history of failure for the twenty years the school had existed. Nine people had applied, but I was selected to be the principal. As an agent of change, I knew how difficult this job was. The rumor from Pfeiffer's evaluation reached the administration before school even started. The board was upset because it had hit the community. There I was with the scarlet letter branded on my forehead. There is no escape from this mark when you are in education. I was called into executive session for two hours at the next school board meeting. Even before school started, I was essentially a dead duck.

It didn't take me long to get into trouble. I was challenging the corruption in the community as well as in the school district. The drug dealers were worried because I was out in the community and made deliberate efforts to go to their houses. Some parents, however, were glad to see a visible principal. Frank Means told me once I was the only principal he ever saw in the homes in the evenings checking on the kids. I felt that it was only the right thing to do. We can't complain about the situation and then go to the comfort of our homes and forget about it until the clock tells us when our responsibility begins and ends.

I wrote to Pfeiffer asking if she was sticking with her story or if she had figured out the truth. I asked to have her present her position to the board so I would have a chance to challenge it. Got no response from her. She was not happy with me because I had reported her incompetence to Fred Magnavito, chairman of the South Dakota Board of Psychological examiners. They did make Pfeiffer undergo a "re-education" process, which was nothing but a slap on the hands because Fred did not want to call attention to the fact the whole system of psychologists and their work really had no credibility. It was the same old strategy they all used- protect the organization don't police it. So, I was still hung out to dry. I realized that justice was not about to defeat a bureaucracy. Protecting the members of a group is the first responsibility of the group.

One of the examples of what I did had to do with Geno Chief, an eighth grade student at Wolf creek. Geno had the reputation of being the worst kid in school. He was filled with disrespect and anger. I did have quite a problem with him. Geno and I had a strange relationship. I took the trouble to find out just what it was that was causing this kid to do the things he did. I went to his home and visited with his mother, Francine Quiver.

I found Geno's dad died when he was just a small boy. He had to live in an old trailer that was literally a trash heap. It didn't even have a door. It didn't take a wizard to understand what the problem was. I would go to see him some evenings to see how he was doing. Geno appreciated the attention. His behavior improved, but in the end, Marie, the guidance counselor, made me expel him.

Francine came to see me about the problem. The board was ready to take action against Geno. This was difficult for me because I had never expelled a student in my life and that night I had two I had to recommend for expulsion, Geno and Sean Hawk. I knew Hawk was going to be well represented because his mother was the legal aide for the tribe and his dad was an important somebody. But Geno had nobody. Francine came and complained that she couldn't get to the board meeting in Batesland because she had no transportation. I told her that was no problem because she and Geno could ride with me. I am sure that was an unusual situation when the boy I was about to have expelled was riding with me to the board meeting so he would have a chance to defend himself. Actually, Geno and I got along well outside the school.

As the meeting went, the board expelled Geno and refused to expel Sean, a much more serious problem. As it went I apologized to Geno for the screwed up system and we got to be pretty good friends. At one point Gilbert Lone Elk was beating up Nephi Antelope, son of Audrey Miner. He chose to live with me when I went to Pine Ridge. I think I was the closest thing he ever came to being a male role model. Even though Geno and I had almost come to blows and I had expelled him, he protected Nehpi. I must say I was pretty proud of Geno.

Geno transferred to a school where they dealt with troubled kids. Before he left, he stopped in to see me and thanked me for what I had done for him. He was happy to think that one of the "discipline" schools may help him. There was an uneasy feeling within me. I knew what Geno needed was not going to be found at one of these schools and that he was probably headed for a train wreck. I knew what he needed is someone who really cared and that I should have just moved him in with Nephi and me, but with all the crap hung on me, that was impossible. I felt a lot of guilt in not being able to help him.

As expected, in a few weeks Geno was back. Although he had no connection to the school, I still went to see him simply because he was a victim of life's experiences and a child of a different dimension that the experts didn't understand at all and he had no chance of solving his problems alone.

Geno came back and asked me if I would see if I could get him back in school. I told him I would try and approached Terry Mayer, acting superintendent, who had taken over for the fired Manuel Moran. Geno promised to not be a problem in school and placed his bond of trust in me. There was a look of desperation in his eyes and I thought we could work this out. I told him I would go to bat for him but the chances were tough. Unfortunately, Mayer was applying for the superintendent position in Shannon County and was cultivating the support of the teachers and they did not want to give Geno another chance and Mayer didn't. In some schools that may have been a legitimate reason, but this was the reservation. This was where extreme problems were which called for sacrifice and risk. Most of the teachers wanted nice peaceful professions. I felt this was not the place for them. This place called for problem solvers, not people who wanted to put on the look of professionals. (There were, however, the Picotta's, two outstanding teachers. But they didn't survive either.  Another whole story.) Therefore, Geno was without a place to go. It must be devastation to a kid to know nobody really wants him.

In Shannon County I thought the school had to take on much more responsibility that just education. I had to look beyond just what happened in school. Sure, we could kick kids out of school, but they didn't simply cease to exist- out of sight, out of mind. I knew where they were going - back to destroyed communities, back to the drug dealers, the gangs. That was unacceptable for me.

Well, I went to the shelled out trailer where he existed. I found Geno on the floor, spaced out on something to kill the pain of life. At first, I thought he might be dead, but he was still breathing and there was motion in his body. I thought about what to do. After a while, realized he was going to live and left him on the floor since it was as clean and comfortable as anything else in that dump. I went back later and my suspicion proved correct - he had survived.

That was the last time I ever saw Geno. I am afraid to find out what happened to him.

I was removed from my position in April. Terry Mayer, acting superintendent was upset with me because I was against the idea that problems would disappear with a curriculum coordinator. I had seen that wishful thinking solution fail before, and by the test scores of 1998,in Shannon county things got worse. It wasn't because I was gone, but two outstanding teachers, Jeff Pichotta and his wife disappeared and never returned to school. I suspect they knew I wasn't going to be there and the teachers of lesser talent like Jim Bradford and Ed Urig, two absolutely failed eight grade teachers, not to mention over half of the other staff, were going to stop any real change.

While at Wolf Creek I found myself in the wake of the licensed child psychologist # 152 Lee Pfieffer again. She had been the psychologist there before I came, a mess out of everything and, as I understand it, was fired. It was clear to me that the state had given a license to an incompetent fool and now she was being protected by the entire bureaucracy of incompetent fools. The problem is that these organizations, like licensed psychologists, eventually get loaded with incompetence and the incompetent protects the incompetent because competence gets replaced with arrogance and things take on an existence of their own and get totally out of control.

I was watching a discussion a SDPTV panel talking about Janklow's reaction to school failure. Margo Heinert, superintendent for Shannon County, tried to defend her failed staff and said she felt it was second to none. It is saying stupid things like that that will insure continual failure. Unless they have changed virtually the entire staff and got an enthusiastic one, I don't know how she can succeed.

That is the problem. The same failed administrators and teachers are circulated in the same system over and over. While visiting the school at Manderson, I saw a name on the door of a teacher who had worked at a school I was in once. I had eliminated her from one Indian school and she showed up at another. That had happened to me once before. This teacher was so weak she simply could not keep up with the rest of the teachers. She went from that Indian school directly to another with a strong recommendation from Cherrie Farlee, BIA Supt. for Education. Then the BIA has enough stupidity to paint on their education building, "Indian Education America's Finest." They say stupid things like that with their schools consistently on the bottom of the list. If I were god of education, I would rub that sign off the building with their noses.

There were two other principals in Shannon County while I was there. One was living with his girlfriend and the other was a recovering alcoholic and caught in a love triangle himself. One counselor was well known for having been "around the block" and the former supt. had serious problems in his household too. I was the only one of them who lived a life of credibility. So guess whose example is left to follow?

These are just a few experiences at Wolf Creek School. Little did I know at that time, these experiences were nothing compared to what was yet before me.