Crookston Public Schools Native American Education Program is excelling especially at Highland Elementary where Math Proficiency is 40.1 percent above the state average and Reading Proficiency is 39.7 percent above the state average. Any school that has more than ten Native American Students must have a Native American Education Program both by State of Minnesota Statute and Federal Law.
Program Coordinator Dave Emanuel said Crookston was recognized as the #1 school in the State of Minnesota at this year’s Native American Education Conference. “When I went to the Minnesota Native American Conference this year we were recognized as the #1 school in the State of Minnesota,” said Emanuel. “The kids have their grades up and have the highest academic rating for any Indian American group within the State of Minnesota. That was pretty cool that our kids are doing so well. Across the board, the kids are really excelling so just a fantastic job by the kids.”
Attendance is a big part of the program’s success. Through grants, Emanuel has been able to secure funding for the students to ride the Tri-Valley bus for free to get to school if they are late, overslept or are unable to get to school for any reason. The grant also provides transportation for parents to get them to parent-teacher conferences, music programs, plays, and other activities. “With some of the grant money I’ve started an initiative for my Native American kids if they’ve overslept, are late for school, I don’t care I have the ability to call the Tri-Valley bus and they’ll go to the house pick them up and bring them to school whether it’s Washington, Highland or the High School,” said Emanuel. “The other thing is a lot of my kids are in the poverty level and a lot of the parents don’t have transportation. So they weren’t able to come to parent-teacher conferences, music programs, the other activities, plays and so forth. I can also use that money to get the parents here for the conferences, for the events. That has now involved them in our school and made them feel welcome.
Students are not only excelling academically but many participate in an after-school program two days a week as well. Participation is growing in athletics, music and recreation programs thanks to partnerships waiving fees and donations of instruments for the students. The students in the program are learning to run a small business by operating the Highland Elementary greenhouse and will sell their plants in the coming weeks. “This year we took over the greenhouse,” said Emanuel. “We had a little problem with one of the thermostats going out one weekend and when I walked in it was over 120 degrees. I taught them if you’re starting a business all the steps you have to take from financing to buying your product, pricing your product. If you sold everything this is what you’d make but you have to take into account some get damaged, which was ironic because that’s exactly what happened.”
The students also put on a play for Parent Engagement night in March. “I asked the kids if they wanted to put on a play and they were like – yeah, absolutely – so what we did was ‘Rough-Face Girl’,” said Emanuel. “That is the Native American story of Cinderella. The kids absolutely loved it. We practiced and made our own costumes and backdrops. The kids each had a special drop whether it was working on the backdrop or being a runner, everybody got involved. The kids had a blast, the parents loved it and it sounds like our reviews were pretty good too. The kids want to do that again next year, so I don’t know what play we’ll do, but we’ll be putting another play on.”
For more on the Native American Education Program tune in to Focus on Education Saturday at 8:45 a.m. on KROX.
