Attendance in Cook County High School Ojibwe classes has “skyrocketed” this year, Grand Portage Education Director Haley Brickner reported to the ISD 166 school board at its October 25 meeting, held in Grand Portage.
Brickner thanked the school board for approving the inclusion of one quarter of Ojibwe language for all eighth graders this year. Brickner said she was glad the Ojibwe program is progressing but thought more could be done to help Native students feel welcome.
Regarding concerns expressed a year ago by the Grand Portage Parent Committee of Cook County Schools (PCCCS), Brickner said, “A lot of things have improved. Some haven’t.”
Brickner shared a written report by the parent committee, which stated, “We believe that continued efforts to improve communication and collaboration between Grand Portage and the district are crucial. Such efforts are intended to provide a better educational experience for our children and ensure that they are safe and treated fairly when they are at school.”
Brickner suggested that the district, which has over 100 Native American students out of a student population of 466, consider putting an Indian education director in place to work with the administration on incorporating Native American culture into the classroom and curriculum. “I think the population of Native students justifies a position like that,” she said. She said that the idea would need to be brought to the Grand Portage Tribal Council and that Grand Portage and ISD 166 could negotiate who would employ and pay for a person in that role.
Brickner is Grand Portage’s overall education director, Lena Santos is ISD 166’s student advisor, and Carolyn Higgins, Michael Chmelik and Ojibwe teacher Tom Jack provide tutoring in the school’s Anishinabe Student Center. Brickner’s suggestion would add a piece that is not being filled by the other positions currently in place to support Native students.
The parent committee report stated, “There is a growing body of research that points to the lack of cultural relevance in education as one of the leading contributors to the low achievement of American Indian students.” Examples of how Native students are impacted include discontinuity between values and norms at home and values and norms at school, lack of cultural relevance in teaching, curriculum, and school atmosphere making it difficult for students to engage, and failure to incorporate cultural considerations in testing and assessment, which can highlight student weaknesses while masking student strengths.
“It is not enough to implement surface level initiatives, such as doing Native American arts and crafts—efforts must be made to infuse Native culture throughout all aspects of school life in order to validate the culture at a social and psychological level,” the report said. “Such a culturally competent environment would serve to benefit all students, not just Native Americans.” The parent committee recommended the formation of a standing school board team dedicated to this issue.
Brickner said the parent committee had some concerns about the credit recovery program. She pointed out that some Native students had been placed in the new online credit recovery program for classes they had not yet attempted while also being placed in traditional classes they had already failed. The parent committee asked for more collaboration between Grand Portage education staff and ISD 166 administration before student schedules are set.
Brickner asked the board to consider offering incentives to ISD 166 staff for attending professional development training that addresses issues involved in working in a multi-cultural setting.
Brickner also encouraged the administration to consider “an additional layer of intervention” for students whose parents are excusing excessive absences from school, a problem that is leading to academic problems for some students. She said she did not want the school to avoid dealing with this issue out of fear of stepping on people’s toes and reminded them that Lena Santos is in place to help the school deal with it.
The parent committee expressed appreciation to the district for the presence of Superintendent Beth Schwarz and school board member Deb White at the Local Indian Education Committee’s meetings throughout the year.
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