I? WHAT NEXT??? H The debate over funding for the Public Schools of Robeson County continues. And as compromises are offered here and there, the taxpayer might wish to sit up and take a closer look at what is going on in our system. In our opinion, the Robeson County system is top heavy and some individuals are overpaid for the work they do. We ate not speaking of teachers or principals. Our focus b on the "big bosses" in the central office. According to the March 1991 issue of Education Report, Robeson County, with 1,664 teaching positions, has the second largest number of assistant/ associate superin tendents in the state with IS. Only Forsyth County, with 14, has more assistant/ associate superintendents and they have 2,467 teaching positions. We find this interesting in that Mecklenburg County, the state's largest system with 4,820 teaching positions (almost three times Robeson's) has only 10 assistant/ associate superintendents and Wake County with 4,107 teaching positions has only 11. If we examine school systems more in line with Robeson's in terms of teaching positions, we find the following: Cumberland County with 2,860 teaching positions has 6 assistant/ associate superintendents; Durham County with 1,263 teaching positions, has 3 assistant/ associate superintendents; Gaston County with 1,884 teaching positions has 4 assistant/associate superintendents as does NEw Hanover County with 1,232 teaching positions as well as Onslow County with 1,146 teaching positions, and Guilford County has 1,472 teaching positions with 6 assistant/ associate superintendents; and Greensboro City Schools has 1,410 teaching positions and 4 assistant/ associate superintendents. From this list the obvious question is, "What do these system know that we don't?" How can they run their systems with Vt to 'A fewer assistant/ associate superintendents than we are able to run ours? With the average local supplement for Robeson County's assistant /associate superintendents costing $9,416 each, how can we afford the luxury of maintaining such a top heavy system in one of the state's poorest counties? These assitants and associates are obviously not helping us lower the drop out rate. What do they actualy do that is worth an extra 19,416 per year (and that's only the local supplement---wages are not included). By eliminating at least 7 of these positions we can easily free up $66,912 of local money without sacrificing any educational benefit, and in our opinion, that b exactly what we should do. It is time for Robesonians to begin looking carefully at how their money b spent And along this line, perhaps we should also look at the local eupplement paid to the superintendent of the Pubttc Schools of Robeson County. He currently receives $32,366 as a eupplement to the salary! Only eight superintendents in the entire state receive more (i.e. Durham, Forsyth, Gaston, Guilford, Mecklenburg, Wake Counties; Greensboro City and High Point City). While the etate average for local supplement for superintendents is $15,654, Robeson County's superintendent receives almost twice as much. Why? Some might suggest we must pay a large supplement in order to attract quality people to the position. This flys in the face of common sense. Look at what we got for $32,356. If money is all that will attract an individual to our system, then we have a problem because that individual is obviusly not what we need to lead us. And we beleive everyone has now learned that money does not necessarily guarantee quality in terms of recruiting the right person for thfe job. ..A'.. . o ? ? ? - ? . While Kobeson bounty s superintendent and assistant/ associate superintendents receive over the stat average in local supplements, our teachers, principals, assistant principals, and supervisors all receive less than the state average. So while some compromise and offer counter proposals about how our schools should be funded, let's take a closer look at how we currently use the resources we have allocated to the educational process. We feel more money must be put in the hands of those who are daily involved in the education of our children and by this we mean teachers and principals. We do not have the resources to wast local monies on maintaining our current top-heavy, inefficient, and ineffective system. We hope and encourage the county commissioners, as directed by then- constituents, to become more actively involved in redistricting taxpayer's dollars to insure education is the byproduct of our expenditures and to do this, they must also take a close, hard look at the administration of the RobesonXSunty school system. ft************************************************* You have heard a great deal of talk about Democrats scrounging around to find someone to run for office since the Persian Gulf War was so superbly handled by President Bush. And while that is true, likewise the Republicans are having a hard time, at least in our kate. in finding any competent, interesting candidate to challenge Sen. Terry San ford. First we heard Lt Gov. Jim Gardner express an interest in running for the Senate. We could not get too excited by the former hamburger salesman/ owner. He barely could And his way into the newspapers even though he has been Lt Governor for the past three years and what time he was in the news, for all he accomplished, he would have been better off playing crochet in the nude in front of th the nearest local Hardee's restaurant Next we heard from Bill Colby, who currently heads up human services in North Carolina. Judging from his past failurees, we wonder why he feels we would be interested in seeing him continue his lackluster record as our representative in the U.8. Senate. He'a a bland excuse for a leader and we feel he has adequately demonstrated he just misses the basic qualification for his current position: head of human services. And now we hear from the latest and newest Republican, Lauch Faircloth. He stands very little chance of convincing the Republican Party to support such a "johnny-come-lately" especially when even the Demo crats rejected his candidacy for governor. Even though Republicans like to see Democrats change their party affiliation, in the final, in the final analysis, they too dislike a turncoat. Lauch is the Democrat's Trojan Horse. He will be a handicap for and embarrassment to the Republican Party. The only viable candidate for the Republicans is the East Carolina University professor whom no one remembers. But even he comes us short because he is basically a second-hand, recapped Jesse Helms and no one wants recaps now days especially when the original is getting such good mileage. So while Republicans bask in the glory of the outcome of the FVrsian Gulf War, they too have problem in our state. Voters quickly forget military defeats and victories and turn to the men and women who ean insure social and economic progress. Consequently, the Republicsns can kiss their 1992 chances of taking Sen. Sanford's seat goodbye! As we recently mentioned, Robeson County's 10 percent drop out rate was one of the state's highest, but sadly, we heard very little from our educational "leaders" about this problem. This was somehow dismissed and attributed to other facton and excused as being beyond the school's control, but when the state decided to cut educational budgets, then we hear from Richard Monroe, presides tof the Robeson Association of Educators. He was quoted as saying, "lam angry..Jam speaking for the 1,200 members of the RAE when I say they (the legislature) should have left the personnel and the programs in place and let Senate Bfll 2 (another school improvement plan) go first" While we commiserate with Mr. Monroe over budget cuts which negatively impact education, we chide him for not similarly responding to the dismal job done by some "educators" which resulted in a dramatic increase in Robeson's drop out rate. We tao are angry. But we are angry at the failure of our educational system to educate our children. When children have problems it appears they are either labeled or ignored in the hope that they will simply go away. To our children's credit, if this is an adequate portrayal of the system at work, they do leave such a system because the system fails them. True educators should not be silent when our children drop out of school at such alarming rates and become vocal only when their jobs might be at stake. Somehow people might get the idea that some educators have their priorities mixed upl We know for a fact that our rewards system for competent educators is defective! But, we suggest Mr. Monroe try marching on into the classroom and performing his duties as an educator and if educators are competent, then parents/ taxpayers will handle the legislature and the governori But first, one must be convinced of competence and the record remains unclear in Robeson County! | c^fHong *ZJ(IE tan D(niel, 'jMxtelox of lit ifi^U f^KM cNallot cAmttiean cRttouxet Ctnltx There is no goo^lLiglish word for "Indisn." There is even disagreement ebout why we use the word "Indian." One argument has it that when Columbus got lost in 1492 he thought he had found India, and thus the people of the lands he "found" came to be known mistakenly as "Indians." Hie other argument has it that when Spanish conquistadors arrived they met people who were extremely spiritual in their everyday lives, and thus the people of this land came to be known as m (Hot (literally "in God"). In Spanish-speaking countries, the word mdkw is still used. And although the former explanation sounds logical, and the latter one sounds desirable, there is still no good English word for what we mean when we say "Indian." Several alternatives have been offered. Perhaps the moat common is the term "Native American." But there is a debate about that one, too. Some people think the word "America" came from Amerigo Vespucci, the Italian navigator and explorer whose name was written on early maps in Latin as Americus Vespucci us. Other people think "America" came to us through Spanish explorers, whose word amemtyu* was used to describe a mountain range in Nicaragua, and that the Spanish word came from a Carib "Indian" word for those mountains, omeric. Esther way. "Native American" wouldn't be exactly correct for describing all the people of both North and South "America." And some native traditionalists don't want to be called either "Indian" or "Native American." These traditionalists prefer the individual names by which each group is known, like Lumbee, or Cherokee. But there's a problem there, too. Many of the tribal or national names we use are incorrect, and often are words used by some other group to describe a particular tribe or nation. For example, the people commonly known as "Navajo" are, traditionally-speaking, Dineh; the "Sioux" are more properly called Lahota or Dakota; the "Chippewa" call themselves Anishinabe; and most "Eskimos" prefer more authentic names such as In nit or Inupiak or Netsilik. This kind of "name game" can be preuy confusing if one is looking for s single word to describe all these people. Alternatives which have found favor in some circles include: "indigeoua" (which means naturally occurring in in an area); "aboriginal" (which means first inhabitants); "native" (which means bom in a certain place); and phrases such as "lint citisens of the continent" or "original inhabitants of the land." But objections have been raised to all of these. And there is no good EhgUsh word. Maybe this tells us that the subject is too complex for a single word. We use the word "bird" for the flightless ostrich, the soaring eagle, the ground-dwelling quail, and the tiny speeding hummingbird; but when we do we am using a word with very limited meaning. What if the hundreds at nations of people who were living on theee two continents before Europeans came were entirety too diverse to fit within one term? Would that be so bad? Maybe it alao tells us that we should stop trying to thmk in English. When we learn a foreign language, we are encouraged to "think" in Spanish (or whatever it is) instead of slowly translating everything into English so we can understand it And afters while it becomes easier, we actually bear and understand in the "foreign" language. What if thinking in English just natural!; prohibits us from understanding the rich diversity we mam when we say "Indian?" And just maybe all of this also tells us that it's human nature to put names on things, to label people and places so we can begin to comprehend them, or at least be able to talk about them. After all, the "Indians" too gave names to the Emopeans; and some of those labels were not exactly complimentary either. Maybe if we all spent less time putting labels on people, and worrying about which label is the most fashionable or acceptable to use, and spent more time on the people themselves, it wouldn't matter that there is no good English word for Indian. For more information, call or visit the Native American Resource Center in Old Main Building, on the campus of Pembroke State University. Engagement Announced Mr. and Mrs. William Lonnie Revels, Sr. of Greensboro announce the engagement of their daughter, Jennifer Anne Revels, to Reid Scott Baxter. Miss Revels is the granddaughter of Mr. Lonnie Gaston Revels and the late Rosa Dimple Revels and Mr. and Mrs. WDlard LocMear, all of Pembroke. Miss Revels graduated from Ben U Smith High School in 1960 and attended Appalachian Stafp University. She is employed by Revels Printing Company of Greensboro. Her fiance is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Hariey Francis Baxter of Greensboro, and the grandson of Mrs. Janet lyman of Fsyetteville and the late Roy Tyman and Mrs. Winnie Brogden. Mr. Baxter graduated from Walter Hines Page High School in 1962, and from James Madison University in 1967. He is employed by H.F. Baxter Corporation in Greensboro. The wedding is planned for Saturday, May 11, 1991 in Greensboro at West Market Street United Methodist Church, and the reception will be held immediately following the wedding at Sedgefield Country CTub in Greenaboro. Jennifer Anne Revels Invest In A Lumbee Bank IRA 7 AA Annual 7 4 A* Annual! ?Ww Ratf M9 Yield Tan Can Add Ta Or Opaa An IRA Far lf9? Until April If, lffl ?Compounded Quarterly LUMBEE BANK Mtmter nNC 205 W. 9rd 81. 111 North Court Squoro Pombroko Lumborton 521-9707 725-2200 9^Q^S3^BD333ciDD5E9ES555QES7' ^ ^ Unwind After ?,a\forkaday k Lifetime.^ READERS' FORUM Eqjoys reading satirical truths To the Editor The new column appearing in the Carolina Indian Voice entitled "Joe Frybread" is beginning to get me hooked. I look forward to each issue of the paper to see what satirical truth is contained therein. The'most recent one on the Academy Awards was filled with deep meaning from a fresh viewpoint I hope that Joe reads this letter because I hope that he will keep sharing his observations with us. SAM KERNS Pembroke, NC Call 521-2826 To Subscriba Smp fm mtJL it 4h @,*1ditm %toic6 H. Mitchell Baker, III, P.A. ATTORNEY AT LAW Fighting for victims' rights is what wa do .. .and It's all wa do. ? Wrongful Death ? Serious Auto Accidents Wo Charf for Bovlowlin TMir Cooo 1-800 548-8464 919-739-75181 m* m. iMwNfUn, N.C Vinyl Siding Vinyl Siding Available for ALL Homes NEW or USED Cover the Wood Work on Brick Homes & NEVER PAINT ACAIN! 11 dUaieiM 738-5409 (ALL TYPES OF BUILDING S REMODELING fl Room Additions. Enclose Carports & Porches. V Install Replacement Windows. Build Garages ROOFINC S ALUMINUM CAR TOPS AVAILABLE | No Middle Man FREE ESTIMATES Some Financing I For All Voup^ ^ Al's Aluminum S R ?modal I ng W? Covar Nomas, Commercial Buildings f Churehas RELIABLE I INSURED I CALL AL LOMHV TODAYI I I The Carolina Indian Voice I Mauniianaf m Dukl >**>* spupcr is rllWMMffl Kvery Thursday Afternoon By THE CAROLINA INDIAN VOICE. INC. P.O. Box 1075 Pembroke, N.C. 2*572 Phone (919)521-212* EDI TOR Conner Brayboy I OFFICE MANAGER Stephanie I). Lock I ear I And Many Friends A Volunteers SUBSCRIPTIONS / YEAR 112.00 (In /VOl I YEAH ..113.00 (Out of NC)M , , ^ 4iltijlii|M A Jta J jil ltf