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Editorial: Outrage over trip to NIEA convention
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Filed Under: Education | Opinion

"It must have been a brilliant, potentially life-changing program at this year’s National Indian Education Association convention. Surely, all the answers to the Great Education Questions were there.

And in the coming year, we can expect dropout rates to plunge, and graduation and achievement rates to soar among Robeson County’s Lumbee students.

How else to explain why the Robeson school system and the Lumbee Tribal Council spent tens of thousands of dollars to send a delegation of 32 people to the convention?

Oh, now don’t be cynical with your answer. It’s not possible that so many people jumped on the junket just because the convention was in Hawaii. Is it?

OK, sorry, we’re cynical. And we’ve got company on the Tribal Council and on the school board. More than cynicism is in order here. A big serving of outrage is appropriate — one of the poorest counties in North Carolina just spent more than $40,000 to send 17 people to the posh Hilton Hawaiian Village Beach Resort in Honolulu. The Lumbee tribe sent a 15-person delegation, including 10 members of the Tribal Council. The tribe hasn’t released a breakdown of its own expenses for the trip, but it’s reasonable to assume they’re pretty close to the school system’s."

Get the Story:
Editorial: Robeson trip to Hawaii convention ought to inspire outrage. (The Fayetteville Observer 11/1)

Relevant Links:
National Indian Education Association - http://www.niea.org

Related Stories:
JOM funds paid for trips to NIEA conference in Hawaii (10/30)

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