{"id":20748,"date":"2022-02-04T12:34:24","date_gmt":"2022-02-04T17:34:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/News\/?p=20748"},"modified":"2022-02-04T12:43:15","modified_gmt":"2022-02-04T17:43:15","slug":"montana-free-press-northern-cheyenne-tribe-copes-with-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2022\/02\/04\/montana-free-press-northern-cheyenne-tribe-copes-with-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Montana Free Press: Northern Cheyenne Tribe copes with COVID-19"},"content":{"rendered":"\"Byron<\/a>
Lame Deer High School Principal Byron Woods: \u201cI\u2019m principal, vice principal, secretary, and attendance clerk right now.\u201d Photo by Jill Van Alstyne \/ Montana Free Press<\/figcaption>\r\n
\u2018Survival mode\u2019 in Lame Deer<\/div>\r\n
COVID hit Lame Deer Public Schools hard, amplifying long-standing staffing shortages, disrupting routines, and giving administrators, teachers and students new lessons in resilience.<\/div>\r\n
Friday, February 4, 2022<\/div>\r\n
By Jill Van Alstyne<\/div>\r\n
Montana Free Press<\/DIV>\r\n
montanafreepress.org<\/A><\/DIV>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nLAME DEER, Montana — Two miles south of this southeastern Montana town, Lame Deer High School is nearly hidden among snowy, pine-topped hills. Cows graze nearby, and the school\u2019s unofficial dog sits patiently on its haunches, waiting for a friendly custodian to feed him.

<\/p>\r\n\r\nWalk inside and you will be greeted by the Northern Cheyenne emblem \u2014 a diamond with four protruding lines representing the morning star \u2014 set on a bright teal background. The walls are painted with the \u201cMorning Star\u201d team name and Native artwork. A student-decorated tipi anchors the commons.

<\/p>\r\n\r\nYou will no longer be greeted by the high school secretary, Carmelita Onebear-Williams<\/a>, who died at age 57 from COVID on October 31 after a short absence from school, according to the principal.

<\/p>\r\n\r\nOnebear-Williams is one of five Lame Deer high school and elementary school staff who have died from COVID, according to administrators and staff. In addition to Onebear-Williams, a special education teacher, PE teacher, K-12 attendance\/truancy officer and custodian have died from COVID, as has a school board member. The high school also recently lost a Cheyenne language teacher to another illness.

<\/p>\r\n\r\nIn this tribal community where many people are related, these and other deaths have deeply affected residents, school staff, and students.

<\/p>\r\n\r\n\u201cEveryone just called her Carmie,\u201d junior Shandiin Kaline said, remembering Onebear-Williams while giving a visitor a tour of the school. \u201cShe really connected with a lot of the students. I used to have really bad anxiety, and she helped me with that.\u201d

<\/p>\r\n\r\n\u201cWe would see her every year and every day. She kind of really did everything,\u201d said Chauncey Oldman, a junior. \u201cWe have no nurse here, and she played that role, too.\u201d

<\/p>\r\n\r\n\u201cShe was an auntie to all, getting after the students, chasing them to class, making sure they were OK, just being there for them,\u201d said Carmie\u2019s co-worker, Cheyenne language teacher Victoria Bearcomesout. \u201cShe would even walk around the school from one end to the other to make sure there were no kids hiding out.\u201d

<\/p>\r\n\r\nIn taking lives, COVID has caused emotional loss and amplified chronic staffing shortages at Lame Deer\u2019s public schools. As of Jan. 25, 14 elementary and 12 high school positions in the district are advertised on the Montana Office of Public Instruction\u2019s jobs website<\/a>. The elementary school currently employs 14 teachers and seven staffers, and the high school employs 17 teachers and 14 staffers.

<\/p>\r\n\r\n \"Marcy<\/a>

Marcy Cobell, superintendent of Lame Deer Public Schools, in her office: \u201cA lot of [students] live with their grandparents. We had to be cognizant that if we opened our schools, kids could bring it home to their grandma.\u201d Photo by Jill Van Alstyne \/ Montana Free Press<\/figcaption>\r\n\r\n

<\/p>\r\n\u201cWe normally don\u2019t operate on survival mode, but I feel like we have [been] because of the pandemic, switching to online learning, the deaths in the community, and staff shortages,\u201d elementary Principal Sherry Foote said. A Turtle Mountain Chippewa member whose husband and children are enrolled Cheyenne, Foote has been the school\u2019s principal for 12 years.

<\/p>\r\n\r\n\u201cIt\u2019s nobody\u2019s fault,\u201d she said in a professional tone, with a hint of fatigue. \u201cWe were just faced with extreme challenges.\u201d

<\/p>\r\n\r\nEven amid those challenges, students are claiming what normalcy they can. In the classrooms and halls and gyms of Lame Deer\u2019s two schools, they are learning and laughing, chatting with friends, playing basketball, cell-scrolling, or napping on their desks.

<\/p>\r\n\r\nLife and school go on.

<\/p>\r\n\r\n

COVID AND THE COMMUNITY<\/div>\r\n\r\nDespite aggressive measures taken by the tribe and the school district to prevent viral transmission, as of mid-January, 51 people on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation have died from COVID-19, according to the tribal government website<\/a>. About 6,000 tribal members live on the reservation.

<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\nThe passing of Northern Cheyenne elders has devastated the community, according to Bearcomesout.

<\/p>\r\n\r\n\u201cBecause of the COVID, we have lost a lot of our Native speakers,\u201d she said quietly. \u201cIt is just so saddening to lose our elderly. They are the keepers of our wisdom and knowledge.\u201d

<\/p>\r\n\r\nThose losses make it even more urgent to teach Cheyenne culture and language to the younger generation, said Bearcomesout, one of some 300 fluent Cheyenne speakers remaining. \u201cOur language is dying out, and we really need to do all that we can to start the healing process with this generation within the school system.\u201d

<\/p>\r\n\r\nPrincipal Foote said school officials began to understand the extent of COVID\u2019s impact while applying for grants. \u201cThat\u2019s when we started realizing that the majority of our students had lost one, two, or three people to COVID within their family dynamic,\u201d she said.

<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \"Victoria<\/a>

Victoria Bearcomesout, a Cheyenne language teacher for more than 25 years at Lame Deer elementary and high schools: \u201cOur language is dying out, and we really need to do all that we can to start the healing process with this generation within the school system.\u201d Photo by Jill Van Alstyne \/ Montana Free Press <\/figcaption>\r\n\r\n

<\/P>\r\nStudents and school staff have also been affected by COVID-induced school closures from March 2020 to March 2021 and sporadically since, following tribal guidance.

<\/p>\r\n\r\nThe switch to remote learning was motivated by responsibility to protect multi-generational families from COVID, according to district Superintendent Marcy Cobell, an enrolled member of the Blackfeet tribe.

<\/p>\r\n\r\n\u201cA lot of [students] live with their grandparents,\u201d she said. \u201cWe had to be cognizant that if we opened our schools, kids could bring it home to their grandma.\u201d

<\/p>\r\n\r\n\u201cGoing remote was quite challenging,\u201d Foote said. \u201cYou have to have Internet. You have to have a landline. We had to do learning packets and deliver them. It was a learning curve for a lot of our teachers.\u201d

<\/p>\r\n\r\nHigh school Principal Byron Woods, a non-Native from Spokane whose wife is Cheyenne and who has worked at the school for 13 years, said remote learning did not work well for students.

<\/p>\r\n\r\n\u201cKids need that structure of in-person school. They need that social atmosphere and that routine,\u201d he said. \u201cThe kids were getting suicidal and lonely and depressed.\u201d

<\/p>\r\n\r\nWoods said the passing rate dropped to 50-60% due to lack of student participation, which created a backlog of core class credits that students need to graduate.

<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n \"Marissa<\/a>

Science teacher Marissa Spang and her students at Lame Deer High School: \u201cMy philosophy is connecting who students are with their responsibilities in caretaking for the community and the land,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m able to create science learning for Native kids that is culturally meaningful. I feel like I\u2019m in the right place right now.\u201d Photo by Jill Van Alstyne \/ Montana Free Press<\/figcaption>\r\n\r\n

<\/P>\r\nCarol Bauer, who had taught kindergarten at Lame Deer since 1999, said remote learning was also ineffective for younger children, and that when school reopened, it was difficult to teach students with everyone wearing masks.

<\/p>\r\n\r\n\u201cWhen a kid can\u2019t see your face, you can\u2019t communicate,\u201d she said. She retired last year partly because of remote learning.

<\/p>\r\n\r\n

STAFF SHORTAGES<\/div>\r\n\r\nIn addition to Bauer, four other elementary staff members retired and two moved away last year. The vacancies are being covered by new hires, restructured positions, and a combined first- and second-grade class, Foote said. Employees are filling in where needed, such as the secretary managing the student information system and federal reports and the custodian doing double duty in the cafeteria.

<\/p>\r\n\r\nThe elementary school\u2019s all-Native student body of 282 still needs a kindergarten teacher, first-grade teacher and culture teacher, as well as a guidance counselor, assistant principal, attendance clerk and nurse.

<\/p>\r\n\r\nDown the road, the high school staff is also stretched thin.

<\/p>\r\n\r\n\u201cI\u2019m principal, vice principal, secretary, and attendance clerk right now,\u201d Woods said while sitting at his desk fielding phone calls about water system repairs and new student enrollment.

<\/p>\r\n\r\nWith 315 students in grades 7-12, the all-Native high school is looking for an assistant principal, librarian, four teachers and three special education teachers, plus teacher aides, substitutes, bus drivers and monitors, coaches, a custodian and a social worker.

<\/p>\r\n\r\nAdministrators said regional job fairs have not been successful in attracting employees and noted that the area\u2019s low socio-economic and rural nature may reduce its appeal. Local residents don\u2019t apply for different reasons, they said, such as applicants lacking computer access, having \u201ca lot on their plate already,\u201d or being unable to pass background checks due to minor offenses committed in their youth.

<\/p>\r\n\r\n\u201cI think that we always struggle with filling positions,\u201d Cobell said.

<\/p>\r\n\r\n

A TRIBAL TOWN<\/div>\r\n\r\nHome of the Northern Cheyenne tribal government, Lame Deer is a scrappy collection of buildings set in unexpected hills that rise from the plains 100 miles east of Billings. The town\u2019s population of nearly 2,000, distributed between town and scattered neighborhoods tucked into the hills, doesn\u2019t reveal itself at a glance.

<\/p>\r\n\r\nThe people who live here and their ancestors have suffered and survived years of trauma, from the tribe\u2019s forced removal by the U.S. government to Oklahoma in the 1870s to wildfires<\/a> in recent years and a continuing plague of poverty<\/a>. Yet residents find inspiration in their resilient history, especially in Chiefs Little Wolf and Dull Knife (also known as Morning Star) who helped bring their people back from Oklahoma.

<\/p>\r\n\r\nThe words \u201cOut of defeat and exile they led us back to Montana and won our Cheyenne homeland that we will keep forever\u201d are printed on tribal documents and T-shirts.

<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n \"Lame<\/a>

Students Brihanna Whiteman, left, and Greyson Littlehead relax in a reading nook at Lame Deer Elementary. Photo by Jill Van Alstyne \/ Montana Free Press<\/figcaption>\r\n

<\/P>\r\nMarissa Spang, who grew up in Lame Deer, decided to return to this homeland after earning degrees at Dartmouth and the University of Washington. Seated in her classroom during a lunch break, she shared her story of becoming a high school science teacher.

<\/p>\r\n\r\nInitially, \u201cI didn\u2019t see myself identifying in STEM as a Indigenous woman,\u201d said Spang, who attended Lame Deer, Colstrip and St. Labre schools, and who said she is one of five Native teachers in grades 7-12.

<\/p>\r\n\r\n\u201cI was interested in becoming a teacher, but I was not interested in all the hoops\u201d to obtain a Montana teaching certificate, she said. Her mother \u2014 who works at the school \u2014 talked her into applying for a provisional teacher license that allows her to teach while completing the required credits.

<\/p>\r\n\r\nSpang creates lessons that integrate Indigenous and Western knowledge and emphasize outdoor learning and biocultural restoration, such as restoring black-footed ferrets and prairie dogs to the local landscape.

<\/p>\r\n\r\n\u201cMy philosophy is connecting who students are with their responsibilities in caretaking for the community and the land,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m able to create science learning for Native kids that is culturally meaningful. I feel like I\u2019m in the right place right now.\u201d

<\/p>\r\n\r\nSpang returned to the whiteboard when her students filed in along with another class whose teacher was absent. No substitute was available, so the responsibility fell to Spang.

<\/p>\r\n\r\n

RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION<\/div>\r\n\r\nTo help fill vacancies, the school district has looked abroad.

<\/p>\r\n\r\nSijo Varghese of Kerala, India, is one of three international teachers hired this school year. The other two are from the Philippines.

<\/p>\r\n\r\nBecause Varghese only recently moved to the U.S., his living room in teacher housing is sparsely furnished. He courteously offered food and drink while discussing his reasons for coming to Lame Deer, far from his wife and three children in India, with whom he Skypes daily.

<\/p>\r\n\r\nIn addition to the money (Lame Deer teachers make $45,000 to $70,000 annually, according to the superintendent), Varghese was drawn to Lame Deer by the opportunity \u201cto experience and explore,\u201d he said. In the U.S. on a J-1 visa, he teaches math and physics. He holds two bachelor\u2019s and two master\u2019s degrees in math and education and is working on a Ph.D. He has taught for 22 years in India and Maldives.

<\/p>\r\n\r\nHe said he finds his greatest satisfaction in helping students with academic deficits achieve.

<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n \"Sijo<\/a>

Math and physics teacher Sijo Varghese stands in front of teacher housing in Lame Deer: \u201cIf you give students the proper care, you will see wonders.\u201d Photo by Jill Van Alstyne \/ Montana Free Press<\/figcaption>\r\n

<\/p>\r\n\u201cI have students who do not know how to add, subtract, multiply, and divide. I am the product of a good school system. I should give something back,\u201d he said.

<\/p>\r\n\r\n\u201cIf you give students the proper care, you will see wonders.\u201d

<\/p>\r\n\r\nLame Deer teachers emphasize project-based learning, including a student-written newspaper, student-built picnic tables and a barbecue pit for the community, and student-created media such as \u201cThe Spirit of the Horse\u201d video<\/a>, in which students and elders explain how horses help people heal.

<\/p>\r\n\r\n\u201cThe sky\u2019s the limit here,\u201d Woods said. \u201cIt\u2019s a great place for people if they have a passion to share, build a cool program, and do awesome projects.\u201d Research and writing skills grow out of these activities, he said.

<\/p>\r\n\r\nKindergarten teacher Bauer also emphasized experiential learning.

<\/p>\r\n\r\n\u201cI wrapped them with crafts, songs, nursery rhymes \u2014 we just did so many physical things,\u201d she said. \u201cTo be paid for something that you love to do is awesome.\u201d

<\/p>\r\n\r\nHowever, federal and state testing mandates curtailed those activities, which hastened her retirement, she said. Kindergarteners were required to learn to read and take computerized tests at a developmentally inappropriate age, according to Bauer.

<\/p>\r\n\r\n\u201cWhy would they want to do that to kids? They would get frustrated as well as me. Some of them would cry,\u201d she said. \u201cI had to grieve the loss of kindergarten.\u201d

<\/p>\r\n

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