Office of the Director
The Office of the Director provides strategic leadership and oversight for the Bureau of Indian Education. It ensures alignment with the mission to deliver quality education to Indigenous students while supporting Tribal sovereignty and cultural preservation. The office sets policy, manages resources, and fosters partnerships with tribal governments, federal agencies, and other stakeholders to improve outcomes for all BIE schools and programs.
Bureau of Indian Education Director
Tony Dearman, a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, has served as the Director of the Bureau of Indian Education since November 2016. As director, he provides strategic leadership and oversight for the BIE. He ensures alignment with the mission to deliver quality education to Indigenous students while supporting tribal sovereignty and cultural preservation through policy creation, resource management and partnerships. Dearman brings more than two decades of experience as a teacher, coach, and administrator in BIE operated and tribally controlled schools.
He began his career in education in 1993 as a science teacher and coach at Sequoyah High School, a boarding school operated by the Cherokee Nation in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. He served as the principal at Sequoyah High School from 2004 to 2005. In January 2006, Dearman accepted the leadership role of Superintendent at Riverside Indian School in Anadarko, Oklahoma. Riverside is an off-reservation residential school operated by the BIE serving fourth through twelfth grades.
From 2008 to 2009, he was the acting Education Line Officer for the Seattle, Washington, office and worked with nine tribally controlled schools and one BIE operated off-reservation residential school. From 2009 to 2010, he served as the Education Line Officer for the BIE New Mexico South office, working with four tribally controlled and five BIE operated schools.
In 2010, Dearman returned to Riverside Indian School as the Superintendent. During Dearman’s tenure at Riverside, he participated in developing and planning a new academic high school building and two residential dormitories. He remained in this position until November 2015, when he was selected as the Associate Deputy Director of BIE Operated Schools. While serving in this position, he assisted in implementing reorganization and reform to improve student services. As Associate Deputy Director, he oversaw 17 schools, four off-reservation residential schools, and one peripheral dormitory across eight states.
Dearman earned an Associate of Arts degree from Bacone College in Muskogee, Oklahoma. He received a Bachelor of Science in Education and a Master’s in School Administration from Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.
