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The
junior high school, with an enrollment of 77 this year, has seen
two consecutive years without a student dropping out, down from
a 9 percent rate.
And Bagley
says he’s already seen big strides.
“Presently,
the situation here is great compared to last fall,” he says. “Skipping
classes was epidemic. It’s not now.”
He attributes
the success to a core group of dedicated teachers and a calculated carrot-and-stick
approach by the administration.
“We
came in slow; we learned the area,” he says of himself and junior high
principal Mark Fritz, also in his first year. “We didn’t start making
changes until the second quarter.”
One of those
has been to gradually begin enforcing the attendance policy. Students who miss
18 days of class will no longer simply be ushered on to the next grade level.
Bagley hopes to lower the number of allowed absences to 10, but he doesn’t
plan to push too hard.
Like all who
want to raise the standards of education on the reservation, he walks a fine
line. Ask too little, and nothing will change. Push too hard, and kids will simply
drop out. So, for now, the goal is simply to send a message that students are
expected to be present.
“This
being the first year, we’re going to go a little softer,” he says.
Another strategy
uses the powerful draw of sports. The school randomly tests athletes for drugs,
Bagley explains. Those who test positive lose eligibility to participate in sports.
Recognizing their leverage, this year school administrators began a program in
which athletes who knew they would test positive were given the chance to self-refer
for drug testing at the beginning of the season.
Those who
self-referred and tested positive were allowed to participate. After 20 days,
during which the athletes received counseling, they were tested again. If their
drug level was lower, they remained eligible. Another test was conducted 10 days
later. If the test came back clean, the student kept playing. Students can take
advantage of the self-referral program one time during their high-school career.
Out of 60
athletes in the winter season, 42 self-referred. Twenty-two remained eligible.
Lame Deer
High has also introduced an alternative school this semester for those students
not making it in the high school because of attendance, disciplinary issues,
or academics.
The alternative
school is isolated from the main building. It has a smaller student-to-teacher
ratio, and the curriculum, except for physical education and a culture class,
is entirely computer-based.
“If
they want to work on biology all day or if they want to work on math all day,
that’s fine,” says alternative school instructor George Riedel. “All
we ask is that they stay on task.”
For some,
like Armand Jefferson, the alternative school is a chance to catch up. Jefferson
fell behind when he moved to France, where his father performs as Sitting Bull
at EuroDisney. Jefferson says the idea
to go to Europe came to his father in a vision. Jefferson’s two years in
France were great, he says, but taking classes in French set back his American
education. In alternative school, Jefferson, 19, will be able to graduate this
semester instead of spending another whole year in school.
For others,
like Shane Sandcrane, the alternative school is a last chance.
“They
screw up here, they’re gone,” says Riedel. “They’re history.
They get expelled.”
Riding home
with home-school coordinator Morton Otherbull after being kicked out of class
for disciplinary reasons, Sandcrane knows he may be history. It’s the fourth
time this semester Sandcrane has been sent home. Otherbull doesn’t need
to ask directions to his house.
“I’ll
probably get kicked out now,” Sandcrane says. “My mom’s going
to be mad.”
But Sandcrane
figures that after some punitive yard work, he might still get in some fishing.
The day need not be a total wash.
Otherbull
drops off Sandcrane in Ashland, 20 miles away. Sandcrane lives a stone’s
throw from another school, St. Labre, but
gets up early to catch a bus to Lame Deer. He was kicked out of St. Labre in
6th grade for disciplinary issues.
“Oh
Shane,” sighs Otherbull as he drives off, leaving Sandcrane to plead his
case to his mother. “I don’t know what’s going to happen to
him.”
Otherbull
is one of two home-school coordinators. Taking sick or misbehaving kids home
is half of the job. The other is tracking down the kids marked absent in first
period and, if possible, getting them to school. Sometimes that means a phone
call, sometimes a trip to their home. Sometimes the coordinators will show up
at the school with a car full of kids who just didn’t get up for school,
Bagley says.
But since
the problems often start at home, part of the solution will have to be there,
too. To that end, school administrators are working with Lame Deer police and
the prosecutor to begin prosecuting the parents of students who miss 10 consecutive
days of school.
Targeting
parents will probably earn the school a few enemies, but Bagley considers that
a price worth paying.
“Parents
have to be held accountable,” he says.
This isn’t
the first time new policies have been instituted. Many times before, new principals
have come in with big plans. Like Bagley, some have made good progress. But then
they leave, seeking better pay, a bigger city, or easier working conditions,
and that progress erodes as yet another first-year principal tries to learn the
ropes and earn the trust of students.
The story
is the same this year. Junior high principal Mark Fritz won’t return next
year. He has accepted a higher-paying job at a school in Wyoming. In early April
Bagley has yet to decide. He is obviously vexed by the question.
“I don’t
know. I mean, we’ll see,” he says. “If I don’t stay,
it’s not because of any problem I have. But I have a 14-year-old son. I
have to do what’s right for my son. If I do leave, I just hope they get
someone in here who really cares about the kids.”
Weeks later,
Bagley comes to a decision. He’ll take a job in West Yellowstone. And Lame
Deer is again looking for someone who’ll care about the kids.
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