U.S. Department of the Interior

Office of the Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs

For Immediate Release: Jan. 31, 2003	Contact: Nedra Darling
	202-219-4152

Media Advisory

Acting Assistant Secretary Aurene Martin to Visit
Wingate High and Baca Community Schools

WASHINGTON - Acting Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs Aurene M. Martin will visit New Mexico on Tuesday, February 4, 2003, to inspect two Bureau of Indian Affairs-operated schools - Wingate High School in Ft. Wingate, N.M., and Baca Community School in Prewitt, N.M. - that are on the Bureau's list of schools slated for replacement within the next few years.

The first stop on Assistant Secretary Martin's tour will be Wingate High School, one of four boarding schools directly operated by the BIA and one of seven schools in the Bureau's FY2004 budget request scheduled for replacement. Her next visit will be to Baca Community School, a BIA-operated K-4 day school, whose new facility is already under construction. She will personally inspect conditions at both sites and meet with the schools' students, parents, faculty and tribal officials.

The Assistant Secretary oversees the BIA's school system, which comprised of 185 elementary and secondary day and boarding schools on 63 reservations in 23 states serving 47,909 students.

WHO:      Aurene M. Martin, Acting Assistant Secretary - Indian Affairs

WHAT:   Martin will visit Wingate High School and Baca Community School, on the Navajo Reservation in                 northwestern New Mexico, to view existing facilities, inspect new school construction and meet with                 students, school and tribal officials.

WHEN:   Tuesday, February 4, 2003:
                9:15 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. (local time): Wingate High School

• 9:30 a.m.: Meeting with tribal and school officials in auditorium.
• 10:00 a.m.: Tour of campus.
• 11:30 a.m.: Lunch at school (reporters invited)
• 12:30 p.m.: Depart for Baca Community School
• 1:15 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. (local time): Baca Community School
• 1:15 p.m.: Meeting with tribal and school officials and other guests.
• 1:30 p.m.: Tour of campus and classrooms.
• 3:00 p.m.: Tour new school construction site.

WHERE:  Wingate High School
                  Directions from Albuquerque:
                  I-40 West approximately 125 miles.
                  Turn South on Exit 33, State Road 400, and go 2.5 miles to high school.
                  Turn right at first set of buildings.

                  Directions from Gallup, N.M.:
                  I-40 East approximately 13 miles.
                  Turn South on Exit 33, State Road 400, and go 2.5 miles to high school.
                  Turn right at first set of buildings.                   

                 Baca Community School
                  Directions from Albuquerque or Gallup:
                  Take Exit 63 off of I-40 (exit is 11 miles East of Thoreau and 19 miles West of Grants).
                  When exiting, go North to Hwy. 66 (approximately one-quarter mile).
                   School will be on the left (school is adjacent to I-40).

-DOI-

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