Dave Archambault, Sr. Still image from TEDx Talks / YouTube

State votes to search alternatives to Indian school model
By Dave Archambault Sr.
www.nsweekly.com

PIERRE –– On March 9, 2016, in a historic landslide vote, South Dakota’s State House Legislators voted 60 to 8 in favor of allowing Gov. Dennis Daugaard to use his budget to fund three Indian public schools in searching for and implementation of alternatives to the conventional K-12 schooling model.

Previous to this on Feb. 3, the Senate side voted 34 to 1, so together, both Houses enacted the landmark Indian schooling legislation. The idea and offering of an alternative schooling achievement bill by the Governor and now supported by State legislators, in a vote of 94 to 9, is beyond remarkable. It is unprecedented, but even this is an understatement.

Marilyn Ferguson, the noted author, wrote, “Our past is not our potential, in any hour we can choose to liberate the future.” The vote and action of S.D.’s State legislature certainly represents a positive step in the consideration of educating Indian students.

Former Vice Chairman of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, Richard Tuffy Lunderman says, “We know right now, and for years, that what we are doing in schools for Indian children is not working. We absolutely know this from the cold hard facts that the data shows annually. This data is indisputable. Everybody absolutely knows this. Everybody – the BIE, NCA/AdvancED, Institutions of Higher Learning, Boards and administrators of all our public and BIE grant schools know this, yet what do we do about it?”

Lunderman often quotes Albert Einstein who said, “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

Soon the South Dakota Department of Public Instruction will be announcing the particulars of how the “Request For Proposal’ will be handled. This means public schools in S.D. that have a majority of Indian students, will soon be eligible to apply for $600,000 in funding, designed to be spent over a three year period. The schools selected would be representing an acknowledgement of the data, and are thereby theoretically taking the position that they are committed and ready to explore and implement systemic schooling changes in behalf of their Indian students.

This enlightenment action and funding in no way is an indictment against administrators or teachers. These hard working school personnel are doing exactly what they’ve been mandated to do by federal and state laws. In fact, nobody enjoys failure, and in general the vote and action by the State is a statement about an apparent mediocre way to motivate students, not just Indian students.

Read the rest of the story on the all new Native Sun News website: State votes to search alternatives to Indian school model

(Contact Dave Archambault at joebuckinghorse@gmail.com)

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