6-1-00

Mary Brayboy,

This letter is written to attach to the Title IX IEA grant application to clarify my signature that appears on the grant application. I am a current board member of the Ketchikan Gateway Borough School District and a father of five Native children in the school district.

The district does not currently have a parent advisory committee "selected" by the native parents. The district administration did try to create an appointed parent committee, but a quorum was not available to have an election of officers.

With the deadline of the grant upon us, the Office of Indian Education was notified of this situation. Barbara Gentry advised the school district administration to advertise a public meeting for Native parents, review the grant at that meeting and have the parents vote and sign that they approve the grant application. The meeting was held 5-31-00 and the grant states it is to fund 6 tutors. Signatures were collected at the meeting (on the form that the parent committee would usually sign) with the understanding that there would be a cover letter explaining the situation and that the signatures did not represent a parent committee and reflected those at the public meeting. You will find such a notation by my signature. I want to ensure there is no misinterpretation and that the district was following the direction of Barbara Gentry.

As a board member I felt it inappropriate for me to sign this document but did so at the encouragement of the district curriculum director, on the basis that I was a Native parent. However, having signed the document I need to clarify that my signature does not represent a stamp of approval of the process and I will commit to seeing that a bonafide parent committee and officers, "selected" by Native parents does get established in the near future. My signature only reflects agreement with the grant application that states we will fund six tutors to help our native students. Once a parent committee is in place I am confident there will be increased dialog and a working relationship with the school district to further refine the use of the tutors to the maximum benefit of Native students.

I hope you consider this grant knowing that all efforts to improve the process and parent involvement will occur this year so that we can further improve the academic achievement of our Native children.

Sincerely,

Dr William Pfeifer
2901 Baranof Ave
Ketchikan, Alaska 99901

907-225-9090
family@ptialaska.net

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