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Central
gets funding for Indian learning center
RAPID
CITY -- A grant from the Bush Foundation will fund a new learning
center for American Indian students at Central High School
this fall.
The
Rapid City School District was notified in mid-July that it
had been awarded $449,490 for programs aimed at reducing drop-out
rates and increasing attendance and graduation rates at Central
High School.
Spread
over two years, the grant will provide $209,158 the first
year to create the Lakolkiciyapi (pronounced la-coal-key-chee-ya-pea)
room at Central.
Lakolkiciyapi
means "Natives working together toward a common cause,"
according to Art Zimiga, director of Title 9 and Indian Education
for the school district.
Zimiga
said the center will be a place where Indian students and
their teachers can develop new learning strategies to help
the students succeed in high school.
Each
year, between 200 and 300 Indian freshmen start high school
in Rapid City, Zimiga said. Four years later, only 35 to 45
graduate from high school.
"That's
not acceptable," he said.
Zimiga
said the Lakolkiciyapi room will help students develop the
skills they need to be competitive with other students and
in society.
The
60 Central freshmen selected for the program will be identified
by teachers and counselors as students whose academic achievements
do not match their ability levels.
The
students will be divided into two groups of 30. Each group
will spend half a day in the Lakolkiciyapi room working on
the same core curriculum used with other ninth-graders at
Central. The rest of the school day will be spent in traditional
classrooms.
"This
room will not be a dumping ground for kids who are misbehaving
in class," Central High School principal Pat Jones said.
"It is an alternative approach to helping reduce the
dropout rate for one of our at-risk populations, that being
our Native American students."
Parents
will be expected to support their child's participation in
the program.
According
to Jones, three teachers and a teaching assistant will staff
the room. Each teacher will be certified in at least two of
the four core subject areas of math, science, English and
social studies.
"Along
with the regular curriculum, life and social skills will be
addressed to help provide these students with more tools to
succeed," Jones said.
Also,
he said, the new setting will help the students develop their
own sense of community within the high school.
Through
a community outreach program, the students will have an opportunity
to learn what skills employers are looking for in employees
and to explore career opportunities, Zimiga said.
Though
the project's focus group is Indian students, Zimiga said
the center will also be available to non-Indian students.
During
the second year of the grant, the district will receive $240,332
from the Bush Foundation.
Zimiga
said he hopes to match the grant with other funds to create
"drop-in" learning centers throughout the community
that would use the Lakolkiciyapi concept to attract dropouts
back to school.
The
Bush Foundation is a private grant-making organization established
in 1953 by 3M executive Archibald Bush and his wife, Edyth.
The foundation funds nonprofit organizations in the areas
of arts and culture, health and human services, education
and ecological health in the region that includes Minnesota,
North Dakota and South Dakota.
http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/articles/2003/08/04/news/local/news05.txt
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