LABEL: FREMONT COUNTY

LANDER (AP) - Fremont County commissioners refused to endorse a charter school on the Wind River Indian Reservation because they don't believe it will boost educational or career opportunities for Native American students.

At its peak, the Four Winds Charter School is expected to house 250 students in grades 9-12 whose needs aren't being met by traditional schools, according to Dallas Myers, the school's newly hired principal.

But first, Four Winds needs a schoolhouse.

Myers approached commissioners to request endorsement of a $300,000 Community Development Block Grant from the state to begin phase one construction - installation of a sewer line.

He told commissioners it will be difficult to secure the grant without their approval.

"Why don't you fix the broken schools that are out there (on the reservation) instead of building a new one?" Commission Chairman Doug Thompson asked.

Myers responded by saying that had been attempted earlier this year, that the Arapahoe school district had considered incorporating St. Stephen's School.

Absorbing the school, which is run by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs, which would have resulted in increased funding for St. Stephen's. However, the plan did not materialize.

He told Thompson the job of traditional schools is to prepare students for college - a reality, he said, that doesn't exist for many reservation students.

"We need to prepare them for the world they'll face," he said.

The vocational and cultural focus of Four Winds would be more relevant, Myers said, and could help reduce the high dropout rate on the reservation, which hovers around 60 percent.

"I believe this will benefit these students more than a traditional high school will," he said.

"I applaud you, but you're a dreamer," Commissioner Gary Jennings said. "I'm opposed to it, and I'll tell you why: Because this is the latest in a long line of ideas that have gone nowhere."

"You're only treating the symptoms. We keep throwing money at problems. We're going nowhere, except we're spending millions of dollars."

Responded Myers: "The problems aren't going to get better unless we give it a shot. We can't just do nothing."

He said although Four Winds will have a vocational focus, students will still be required under the federal No Child Left Behind Act to make adequate yearly progress in core academic areas - science, social studies, reading and math.

The vocational fields would include construction, health and human services, metals and woods, and business. Job apprenticeship programs most likely would be part of the curriculum, Myers said.

He suggested students help refurbish and construct low-income housing units for senior citizens. The Northern Arapaho Tribe has a 400-person waiting list for such homes, he noted.

Thompson still wasn't convinced.

"You said the majority - 80 percent - come back to the reservation," he said. "Until the reservation decides it's going to have a market-based economy, those jobs (for which Four Winds would train) won't be there. The only jobs you're going to get are government jobs.

"Unfortunately, that's what most of the reservation has. It needs an economy to give people those jobs."

Myers agreed that the reservation economy is limited in scope and opportunities.

"A high school diploma doesn't mean much to students when they're going to do the same thing with a diploma that they'd do without one," he said.

Myers said he has talked to state-tribal liaison Ivan Posey and Burl Gies of the state Department of Workforce Services about increasing economic opportunity on the reservation, giving Four Winds and other reservation school graduates something to fall back on.

"There's plenty of truck-driving jobs and a lot of small business opportunity out there," he said.

Myers added that the proposed Arapaho casino, under construction outside Riverton, will provide many opportunities for tribal members.

He said courses related to culinary arts and casino hospitality will be offered when the casino becomes a reality.