From left are Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) members Bronson Trevor, Zelda Bronson and Mato Treloar as they select backpacks and school supplies during the Education Department’s Tribal Youth Backpack Distribution held Aug. 11-15 at the Nixyáawii Education Center. ANDRIA SCOTT/EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

Education Dept. distributes free backpacks, school supplies to CTUIR members

By TRAVIS SNELL MISSION – The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation’s (CTUIR) Education Department gave away 228 backpacks during its annual Tribal Youth Backpack Distribution event. Held Aug. 11-15 at the Nixyáawii Education Center, CTUIR members who are enrolled in grades kindergarten through 12th were eligible to receive backpacks and school supplies to assist them with costs of…

The incoming Šináata Scholars visit the Whitman College campus on Aug. 14 in Walla Walla, Washington. From left are Joel Satterwhite, Oscar Huesties, Addison Jones-Kosey, Lauralee Stanger and Addison Carey. Not pictured is Tatiwiyat Buck. WHITMAN COLLEGE

Largest-ever cohort awarded Šináata Scholarships to Whitman College

WALLA WALLA, Wash. – Whitman College in partnership with the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) have named Addison Carey, Addison Jones-Kosey, Joel Satterwhite, Lauralee Stanger, Oscar Huesties and Tatiwiyat Buck as the Šináata Scholarship cohort for the 2025-26 academic year.  “It is a joy to welcome these six incredible students to Whitman’s growing cohort of Šináata Scholars,” said Whitman College President Sarah…

Two young girls twirl in front of the Nixyáawii Education Center’s Week of the Young Child sign on April 8, 2024, in Mission. Students and faculty of the Átaw Miyánašma Learning Center, Cay-Uma-Wa Head Start and InterMountain Education Service District Early Childhood Special Education classrooms paraded from the Nixyáawii Education Center to the Nixyáawii Governance Center as part of the week’s celebrations. LISA SNELL | CUJ PHOTO

Mass layoffs rattle Head Start leaders already on edge over funding problems

By MORIAH BALINGIT, AP Education Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The problems for Head Start began days after President Donald Trump took office. Trump’s administration announced it would freeze federal grants — the primary funding for the early education program that serves more than half a million low-income children. Then came glitches with the funding website that forced nearly two dozen…

Stockton Hoffman, a student in the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation’s Tribal Employment Rights Office (TERO) 2024 class, practices driving a forklift on a simulator in Mission. TERO recently received two state grants to help people enhance their job skills. CTUIR

CTUIR TERO helping people obtain job skills with HECC grants

MISSION – The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR) Tribal Employment Rights Office (TERO) is helping people enhance their job skills after receiving two grants from the state’s Higher Education Coordinating Commission (HECC). TERO Apprenticeship Training Coordinator Michelle Bratlie said one grant is for service-learning education, while the other is for on-the-job training. Together the grants total $52,500…

In response to a February court ruling that blocked some Biden-era programs, the Education Department has taken down online and paper applications for income-driven repayment plans.

Some student loan repayment plans have been suspended. Here’s what borrowers should know

By CORA LEWIS, Associated Press NEW YORK (AP) — The Trump administration’s recent changes to student loans are causing frustration and confusion for some borrowers. In response to a February court ruling that blocked some Biden-era programs, the Education Department has taken down online and paper applications for income-driven repayment plans. “This especially hurts anyone who’s lost their jobs, including…

Haskell Indian Nations University in Kansas lost more than one-quarter of its staff, including “the Dean of Students, instructors, property management specialists, coaches, tutors, residential advisors, academic advisors, custodians, and food services employees” as well as its only bus driver, the lawsuit states.

Tribes and Native American students sue over Bureau of Indian Education firings

By GRAHAM LEE BREWER, Associated Press NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — Three tribal nations and five Native American students say in a lawsuit that the Trump administration has failed its legal obligations to tribes when it cut jobs at Bureau of Indian Education schools. Firings at two colleges as part of the administration’s cuts to federal agencies, with the help of…

Title VI Coordinator Wynema Thurman, left, and Kendall Rosario show off a tribal nations map that will be displayed in one of the several schools in the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation’s education service area. LISA SNELL | THE CUJ

Title VI more than just Indian Education

LISA SNELLThe CUJ MISSION – Youth Services Manager Kendall Rosario needs you to understand what she does and why it is important.She manages the Title VI Indian Education program for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation (CTUIR).“When I first started, there was a really negative idea of what Title VI was, why we were here,” she said. “Parents…