Montana: Advancing American Indian Children through Primary School Education.

As a compassionate response to requests from tribal elders, the De La Salle Blackfeet School has been created to provide primary education and academic motivation to the tribe’s children.

Now in its 23rd year, De La Salle Blackfeet School (DLSBS) continues to bridge the Blackfeet, Lasallian, and Catholic communities to unite a family of prayerful people. The emergence of De La Salle Blackfeet School marked a long overdue compassionate response to the needs of the Blackfeet Community. DLSBS’s education approach focuses on fostering community collaboration and support. We seek to educate all of our children and families to uphold justice, heal traumas of colonization, and build a future where all people are respected. Most importantly, this work is accomplished through the accompaniment of our students’ growing their own sense of identity, self-confidence, and power to shape their communities. The story of De La Salle Blackfeet School underscores the importance of community agency and our accompaniment in protecting and celebrating the Blackfeet People’s heritage, transcending the limitations and traumatic effects imposed by history.

Nestled in a remote part of Montana a quarter of a century ago, Little Flower Catholic Parish Council and Pastor, along with Blackfeet tribal elders from the larger community, voiced their concerns about the well-being of their children. Their children were buried and struggling to find a path for their future because of the challenges that stemmed from generations of conflict, complex identity issues, and community struggle resulting from the colonization of their ancestral lands. It is nothing short of miraculous that the Blackfeet People continue to work towards their success in the face of the historical destruction of critical resources, their massacre at the hands of U.S. Army officials, the establishment of the reservation and boarding school systems, the introduction of alcohol and a western mindset favoring an individualism foreign to the Nitsiitapii (“The Real People” in the Blackfeet Language). 

De La Salle Blackfeet offers a quality, dynamic education with small, culturally responsive classes promoting interactive experiential learning. Students are equipped with iPads and Chromebooks for modern instruction, and the extended school days (8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.) are filled with engagement and enthusiasm. Students often arrive at our school with learning gaps as large as two to three grade levels, and by the time they graduate, they exhibit remarkable academic progress, reaching or exceeding grade level benchmarks. Instead of their peers’ nearly 50% dropout rate at other schools, 100% of DLSBS alumni graduate from high school, with 75% of these students pursuing post-secondary educational opportunities.

To educate others about the realities of tribal life, especially within the Lasallian World, DLSBS initiated the OKI-NI-SOO-KA-WA (“Come and See”) Blackfeet Immersion Program. This program invites student groups of 10-14 people for a one-week experience, during which participants tour Blackfeet cultural sites, engage in discussions with tribal leaders, and support DLSBS students while sharing their own dreams. The program not only exposes volunteers to the rich culture and heritage of the Blackfeet but also transforms the participants who live in and experience this dynamic educational environment.

Despite its success, DLSBS faces financial challenges. Unfortunately, the local community does not have the capital to support the school because of lack of employment opportunities and isolation from large urban centers. So, the school requires the assistance of a larger caring community of Lasallians and others to provide school supplies and individualized technology, facilities maintenance and improvements, meet transportation needs, provide educational and social-emotional support, and provide adequate compensation to teaching staff. The donations you provide our school ministry has a demonstrable and immediate impact on the lives of our students and the larger Blackfeet Community.

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