— TAHLEQUAH – A former Sequoyah Schools administrator says he is concerned that the Cherokee Nation administration is steering the institution away from academics to strengthen its athletic department.

Former Sequoyah Dean of Academics Dr. Geary Crofford said the selection of Leroy Qualls as the new superintendent is a strong indication that earning state championships is more important than maintaining high scholastic standards.

Tribal executives say that’s not true and that they’re aiming for a total package of excellence.

Crofford said he believes that Principal Chief Bill Baker’s administration has opted to turn the clock back to 1999, when the school was “over $1 million in the red, barely filled half the seats at sporting events, and was known as the school of last resort under the leadership of Gloria Sly, Leroy Qualls and the Joe Byrd administration.”

“The Baker administration has [removed] administrators who helped effect these positive changes and replacing them with Leroy Qualls, a coach, as superintendent, and others yet to be determined,” he said. “These changes were part of a thinly veiled political vendetta disguised as a reorganization.”

Crofford maintains that the educators who were laid off recently would have qualified for any new jobs created under a reorganization plan.

“Some of these employees had worked for Sequoyah for years before the more descriptive job titles were adopted, and thus would fit the new job titles. None of them have been rehired,” he said.

“Also, to wait until June to notify these employees is simply unacceptable. It gives little chance to find new jobs for the upcoming school year.”

Qualls coached basketball in the Hulbert Public School district as well as in Tahlequah. Most recently, he was the director of Indian education for the Tahlequah district. Qualls declined to address Crofford’s claims and referred questions to the tribe’s executive branch.

Baker said the changes in the school’s administration should not be viewed as intent to move from its path of academic success.

“To say Sequoyah Schools has come a long way since its early days as a boarding school for Indian children would be a gross understatement,” he said.

“Many of our elders still have painful memories of their days at Sequoyah, being forbidden to speak the Cherokee language and enduring attempts to force them to turn their backs on their Cherokee heritage.”

Today, the landscape of Sequoyah couldn’t be more different, Baker said.

“It is a model school, producing the brightest young Natives in the country. This is a shift that has happened over many years and many administrations,” he said. “As far as we have come, however, there is still farther to go and improvements to be made. I am confident that any changes made under my administration will only serve to continue the upward mobility that has made Sequoyah Schools the respected institution it is today.”

Rob W. Anderson writes for the Tahlequah Daily Press.