Page images
PDF
EPUB

-5

information, the Council voted unanimously to recommend to the Secretary that the Department not fill these positions until after the permanent Director of OIE is selected. Mr. Shedd later reported in mid-February at a meeting of United South and Eastern Tribes that there would be sufficient funds to fill one branch chief job in mid-May and another in early summer with the remaining positions having to wait to be filled in October. On February 23, 1989, the Chairman of the Council sent a letter to the Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education reflecting the Council's position on this

matter.

It should be noted that Secretary Cavazos responded on February 2 to the Council's January 4 letter by stating that Department Officials do not believe that the Council has any statutory role for advising on internal management or personnel issues related to OIE or any other office of the Department. He noted the one exception relating to "the Council's role in nominating a Director of OIE." In a follow-up letter on February 23, 1989, the Council requested a meeting and a desire to establish a cooperative and open relationship with the Secretary. The Secretary replied on April 26 but did

not respond to the request for a meeting.

February 23 letter to the

Assistant Secretary recommending

There has been no response to the that the 7

mid-management personnel be selected by the new OIE Director.

In late April and early May, the Acting Director of OIE (who was also an applicant for the permanent OIE Director position) conducted very hastily scheduled interviews for the mid-management jobs with one applicant reportedly

6

being told in the morning of an afternoon interview and another applicant having reported being first telephoned 30 minutes before the interview was scheduled and held. Since the Department had waited since February 14 when these vacancy announcements had closed, it seemed a little strange to fill them just prior to what was thought to be the conclusion of the process for selection of the new OIE Director. The Council had taken a position in January that the OIE mid-management staff should not be selected by an acting director; that the selection process for the permanent director should be expedited; and that filling these mid-management positions should be the new director's first order of business. The Council felt that the best way to get the Office of Indian Education off to a good start under Indian preference is to begin by the top staff being selected by the new director with the attendant allegiance to that director.

On February 2, 1989, the Council submitted comments on a draft vacancy announcement for the OIE Director position. Although we commented on the Indian preference provisions, which were the same as in the previously announced mid-management vacancies, no changes were made in these provisions in the final director's vacancy announcement. The vacancy announcement for the position was posted on February 21, 1989, and closed on March 31, 1989. The position is a Senior Executive Service (SES) position, and the Executive Resources Board rating panel met on April 19, 1989. A NACIE Member served on this panel. There were initially 25 applications, of which 11 were found by the Office of Personnel to be at least minimally qualified, so the rating panel scored these 11 applications. However, on May 2, the Council was

- 7

advised that 5 additional timely filed applications had been found, of which 3 were at least minimally qualified and had to be scored by the panel. Scoring of these were done by express mailing of copies of the applications and faxing back of the scores. Shortly after May 18, 1989, the Office of Personnel provided, at the Council's request, the names and applications of the candidates who were rated highly qualified by the Executive Resources Board rating panel. Office of Personnel had previously provided the applications of three candidates who were rated as best qualified and one candidate who was found to be SES reinstatement eligible. The Council moved quickly to schedule a meeting. Pursuant to section 5342(b)(6) of Public Law 100-297 and the provisions of the NACIE Charter, the Council's Search Committee met in closed session on May 22, 1989, and the full Council met in closed session on May 23, 1989, to consider candidates for the position of Director, Office of Indian Interviews of the 6 candidates were conducted on May 23, 1989, and the same 11 questions were asked of each of the candidates. Ten of the current 14 Members of the Council were present for the interviews. Council Member did not participate in the interviews or selection because she had been interviewed by one of the candidates (Acting OIE Director) for one of the mid-management positions. Acting Assistant Secretary Daniel Bonner also interviewed the candidates on May 23. On May 24, 1989, a letter, containing the names of the Council's 3 nominees, was submitted to the Secretary of Education. The letter ranked the nominees in order of preference, giving the top choice and first and second alternates, respectively.

Education.

One

The Council received from Acting Assistant Secretary Bonner a written acknowledgment of the Council's submission of the list of nominees. Subsequent to this written response, Mr. Bonner and I spoke on several occasions regarding the selection process, and he advised me that he sent his recommendation for OIE Director to the Secretary on June 14 but did not tell me who he recommended. On June 26, he advised me of the name that the Secretary had sent to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) for clearance, and this was the individual listed as first alternate on the NACIE 1ist of

nominees. While it now appears that all of Indian country has since learned this information, Mr. Bonner and I agreed not to make the name of the Secretary's choice public until such time as the individual is cleared by OPM because there have been situations in which OPM determined that the selected individual did not meet Senior Executive Service qualifications.

Mr. Chairman, this is where the selection process has broken down. I understand that there has been some opposition to the Secretary's choice for OIE Director and that various investigations have been underway. The Department's Office of Inspector General has called me on several occasions regarding the individual selected but recently called for the telephone Perhaps, there is some movement now

numbers of the two other NACIE nominees.

to change the Secretary's choice. The Council recommends that the director be placed as soon as possible so that he or she can select the top management staff and the Office of Indian Education can move toward becoming fully staffed and fully operational.

union and

The Department did not change its negative position regarding sharing of policy statements with the Council on Indian preference issues, and the Indian preference and non-Indian preference memoranda of understanding with the labor personnel manual instructions were provided to Council representatives, together with everyone else, on September 29, 1989, at a general meeting held for employees. It should be noted that expectations of non-Indian staff within OIE had apparently been raised regarding promotions even after enactment of the Indian preference provisions requiring the Secretary to "give a preference to Indians in all personnel actions within the Office of Indian Education." Consequently, there has been hostility by non-Indian employees towards implementation of Indian preference and reported threats of lawsuits to block its implementation. I understand that morale in OIE is not at its highest. This is understandable with many of us advocating Indian preference and non-Indian employees reportedly unsure of their futures, although there is a one-time non-Indian preference to assist them in securing jobs outside of OIE. However, Mr. Chairman, it is obvious to me that affirmative action has not worked for Indians in OIE with only four Indian permanent employees there.

The Council staff has helped in the dissemination of the vacancy announcements for the director, the initial announcements for the seven mid-management positions, education specialist positions, and most recently senior program specialist positions. The mid-management positions were reannounced due to complaints that the overall dissemination was not broad enough and complaints that Indian people with many years of experience working

« PreviousContinue »