Group Aims To Offer Tribal School In Area
A goal, which has been ongoing for more than a decade, took a big step with a community meeting regarding a tribal school in Poplar last week.
“This has been a life-long dream, by not only me, but my father,” Ramey Escarcega-Growing Thunder told the audience of about 60 residents.
She explained that the project has received a three-year fellowship, which starts at the end of August. The project has some land, but officials have discovered that additional land is needed for the potential school in Poplar.
“We need to get land and go from there,” Growing Thunder said. “One day, we will have a tribal school for our children.”
Growing Thunder said the group wants to train students so they can go to college and to reinforce the philosophy of coming back to their Native community.
“Prayer is going to power this school,” Growing Thunder said. “Not only our prayers, but those of our ancestors as well.”
Her PhD research has led to a K-12 blueprint as a guiding model. “The sky’s the limit. Keep the tradition alive,” she said.
Rain Escarcega-Turcotte will serve as the school’s superintendent after recently receiving her superintendent degree. She has 10 years of teaching experience and has earned two master’s degrees.
“It’s very important for our students coming up,” Turcotte said of the school.
Potential classes will include Dakota language, Nakoda language, cultures and core subjects like reading, math and writing.
Local officials of the Fort Peck Tribes Language and Culture Department are being guided by a team of 25 experts from the Native American Community Academy’s Inspired Schools Network. The goal of the network is working with fellows who are committed to Indigenous communities to establish schools throughout the country that will create strong leaders who are academically prepared, secure in their identities, healthy and ultimately transforming their communities.
Derrick White, director of school development and sustainability, explained the group has its origins in Albuquerque, N.M., when some residents wanted something different for students rather than the public school systems. Aims included a space to grow with identity, being holistic healthy and offering academics that prepare them for life.
White said the graduation rate in that area improved from 45 percent to 75 percent. The non-profit organization now has 13 schools nationwide including in the states of Minnesota, South Dakota, Colorado, California and New Mexico. He said being community-led is one of the most important things for the project.
He said most of those schools are charter schools. The decision needs to be made whether to have a charter school through the state, tribal or be independent.
White explained schools usually start with kindergarten and first grade. As the students move up in grades, more grades are added throughout the years. The schools meet accreditation standards set by the state. Attendance will be free because of Montana state payments per students and grants.
“This is the first of many sessions,” White said of the meetings.
