The Daily Alaska empire. [volume] (Juneau, Alaska) 1926-1964, 1947-08-27

your 1ilulstli totliuOl pdAiOAll5 WAtll
Indian children we would probably
receive greater and perhaps even
more just criticism from the parents
of the white children.
I'VE 90 not agree with your con-
| clusion that Congress intended that
the Indian children should be Obliged
! en- masse to attend the Juneau Pub
! lie Schools. We maintain that it is
still the duty of the Secretary OF
the Interior to provide for the edu-
cation of children of Indian blood
j in Alaska.
1 I'VE have no ill-wiii against oui
/ Indian citizens. AS matter of fact
about 7 to 1917 of our pupils during
the past several years have been
Indian children of qualified envir-
onment and intellectual level TO take
their places with our white children
in our public schools.
We have never Disseminated
against such Indian children.
1--WE do maintain that the admis-
SIGN of so or more Indian children
coming from ali classes of homes
and environments into the Juneau
j Public Schools would be a discrimi-
nation against the white children
and would actually lower the educa-
tional standards which the Juneau
Public Schools have long maintained
and which we believe have been The
highest of any school in the Terri
tory
las you probably know, the law
vests the School Board with author
ity to conduct the public schools.
The onlv duty of the Common Coun-
Gil is to furnish us with funds and
with the equipment and school
buildings; hence, although the Ju-
neau Common Council has always
! freely cooperated with us in school
affairs, the responsibility for con-
Quoting the Juneau Public Schools
rests upon us and not upon the
Common Council
Frankly, we do not see how your
policy is at all cooperative or cal
culated to cooperate either with
the white or Indian citizens Of Ju-
neau or with our Board"
Merger Inevitable
The proposal presented by Ryan
on his trip to Washington, D. C
/ in 1896 on behalf of the Terri
tory, to the Office of Indian AT
fairs, and which he later outlines
at a specially arranged appearance
before U. S. Senate subcommittee
en- Interior Department appropria-
tons, was that endorsed by the
Territorial Board of Education in
a resolution.
That resolution accepted as in
evitable and desirable that the two
school systems would merge intc
enc under Territorial jurisdiction
and pointed to the single school
system as an ultimate goal-but a
goal that could he achieved only
on a basis of cooperative respon-
sibility of the Territory and Fed
eral government. The proposal
offered that the Territory would
accept into its schools pupils oil
the government schools as rapidly
as ANS officials saw fit to turn
them over.
Although acknowledging that
the Territory is not in a position
to bargain and that the trend Of
past years would see most native
pupils entered in Territorial schools
within another 10 years, the Boards
resolution asked that the Feder-
al government share the most OF
educating children Of one-fourth
or more native blood On an esti-
mated pupil cost per year of 5000
approximately the same in ANS
and Alaska schools, exclusive OF
capital OUTLAWS, the Office of In
dian Affairs was asked to contract
with the Board of Education fol
yearly tuition payments of $l0c
per native pupil attending Terri
ltcrial schools.
To that end, the OLA was asked
to insert an item in its proposed
budget of 100000 to cover an esti-
mated 2,Co0 native pupils in Terri
toiial schools during the year
1946-47
OLA Officials Opposed
That item was included III the
budget against the wishes of OLA
education administrators and only
upon explicit instructions Of
Assistant Secretary of the interior
C. C. Davidson. Ryan said here
today that he is confident, although
he cannot prove it, that the item
was stricken by the Bureau Of
Budget only because high Indiar
Office officials did not desire il
and made no attempt to justify il
before the Budget. Bureau.
That, Ryan said, is the only pro.
pcsal. for unification of the two
school systems that he has evel
made, and it is that propose
that he is supporting now and, a
the instruction of his Board, viii
continue to support before Con