Lac Courte Oreilles Band joins immersion school with BIE school


Preston and Niizhoo Sullivan from the Lac Courte Oreilles Band in Wisconsin sing at the White House Tribal Nations Conference on December 3, 2014. Photo from Department of the Interior / Twitter

The Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa in Wisconsin has merged its language immersion school with its Bureau of Indian Education school.

The tribe was worried about the future of Waadookodaading, the Ojibwe immersion school, due to funding problems. But a solution was found -- add the program to the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe School.

"The federal government put millions into getting rid of our language and culture. This partnership marks a historical shift as federal funds will now be used to bring our language back," Chairman Michael Isham told Northland's News Center.

Two students from the immersion school, brothers Preston and Niizhoo Sullivan, performed for President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden at the White House Tribal Nations Conference last month.

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Struggling LCO language immersion school merges with LCO tribal school (Northland's News Center 1/19)
LCO tribe fights to save language immersion school, facing deficit (Northland's News Center 1/18)

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