A r c h i v e d I n f o r m a t i o n

   FOR RELEASE                             Contact:  David W. Thomas    May 31, 1995                                       (202) 401-1579

Ed Simermeyer Named Indian Education Director

U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley today announced the appointment of Ed Simermeyer as director of Indian education in the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE). The program helps schools address the special learning needs of the nation's American Indian and Alaska Native students.

Since 1988, Simermeyer has served as acting associate director in the Office of Planning, Evaluation and Legislation, Indian Health Services Division, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

"Mr. Simermeyer has extensive management experience and has been deeply involved with a wide range of issues of concern to American Indian and Alaska Native children," Riley said. "We look forward to his leadership in the program and in the community."

Simermeyer will lead the Indian Education Office in efforts to provide support to school districts and promote system-wide reform. He will work closely with local school districts, nationwide, as well as with tribal organizations, Indian education organizations and the National Advisory Council on Indian Education.

From 1986-1988, Simermeyer managed the Indian Health Service's national program of evaluation, policy analysis, and health services research in HHS' Program Evaluation and Policy Analysis Division.

From 1980 to 1985 he worked at the Education Department in the Office of Bilingual Education and Minority Languages Affairs, as well as in the Office of Indian Education.

Simermeyer served in the U.S. Department of Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs from 1975 to 1979 as a teacher and administrator at several sites within the federal Indian school system in Arizona, including Tuba City, Shonto, Pinon and Chinle. Simermeyer is a member of the Coharie tribe of North Carolina.

He holds a graduate degree from New York University. Married, with four children, Simermeyer presently resides in Baltimore.

He will assume his new position June 5.