School incident draws tribal attention

Nearly 40 people turned out for the Carlton school board meeting Monday, many of them upset by allegations of a threat of violence against a Native American student.

In a news release Monday, Carlton Indigenous Student Council leader Ayeden Diver alleged a white male student held a knife to the throat of a female Native American student before spring break in March and that the perpetrator received only a partial-day suspension as punishment. Diver also submitted a letter to the school board in March, asking for a response to the alleged incident.

A number of Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa band members - including tribal chairman Kevin Dupuis - spoke out Monday in support of Diver's call for policy changes to protect students within the Carlton school district from acts of violence.

Diver started the public comments by reporting on a meeting March 31 with Peterson and Engstrom. She objected to having to meet with the two men alone, when she had requested others to be there.

"I requested to have the whole Indigenous Student Council, [present] and it was denied ... they should have let me have an advocate in the room," she said.

She said the two administrators told her they might not do things differently, and that any response would depend on the situation. Diver declared that such a response would not be endured.

"If it's too inconvenient for administration to do something different, myself and other students cannot accept that response ... we demand change," she said.

She concluded by thanking the other audience members for coming out to support her.

"We hurt as a community, and we heal as one," she said.

While acknowledging an incident took place, school administrators denied assertions in Diver's letter in a follow-up interview. Asked if the male student had held a knife to the throat of the female student, principal Warren Peterson said, "Not true."

Superintendent John Engstrom also stated that particular claim was "not correct."

Beyond that, the two administrators declined to further discuss the incident, saying they were bound by confidentiality rules involving student records and discipline.

The district's response to the alleged threat of violence wasn't the only thing audience members were unhappy about.

Janis Fairbanks rose and addressed the board.

"Here is the young lady saying that she was called in with two white male administrators by herself and not told what it was about," Fairbanks said. "She should have had somebody in there with her. Even doctors don't see women alone."

Several speakers pointed to long-term problems.

"Nothing has changed, it's getting worse, [the] bullying in school," Rita Ojibway said. "I'm looking for positive change."

Ricky Defoe welcomed school improvements such as a spirit pole outside and curriculum changes before turning to concerns.

"We are born into a society that's very violent," he said. "Every institution in this society has failed Indigenous peoples."

Defoe pushed for accountability and education. "Ignorance is a precursor to violence," he said.

Colleen Bernu open-enrolls her child in another district. She called attention to students who had voted with their feet.

"Those who are not present speak louder than those who are here," Bernu said. "The kids have articulated to you that they don't feel safe here."

She pointed to the history of the school district.

"We should do better than this. I am part of Fond du Lac. I chose to move here. And the first thing that I heard was that this district has had conflict with our community on the reservation since the [Bureau of Indian Affairs] decided to merge our school in Sawyer with this district," she said. "We're going on 55 years."

Audience members were respectful throughout, and mostly held to board chairwoman Julianne Emerson's request to keep remarks under three minutes. Emerson was likewise conciliatory. "The one thing I would like to say is thank you for being here tonight," she said. "Advocacy is important and we are here to listen to you. And we appreciate that you came to do that."

To Ayeden Diver she said: "It takes a lot of courage to stand up [and speak] and I look forward to working with you."

Engstrom apologized to Diver for the way their meeting was conducted.

"[W]e could have done better there," he said. "That was an error in judgment on our part. I own that."

He went on to caution anyone discussing the incident on social media, "because the events as they were described on social media were different from the events as we understand them to be and everyone has rights."

He acknowledged a larger problem.

"I am profoundly sad when people feel like they haven't been heard or the situation wasn't handled correctly. I agree," he said.

Later in the meeting, the board approved a response to the Local Indian Education Council's (LIEC) annual compliance overview. The Native American parent committee found nine items of noncompliance at the Carlton School District.

The district responded to all nine, including the following:

To the suggestion of a lack of documented financial commitment the board responded that "Indian Ed (IE) is $10,000 over projected revenue with no plans to make cuts to IE programming even as we face cuts across all levels of the district."

It was acknowledged that Language and Culture classes were not meeting goals because an employee with a "very unique skill set" left the district.

There has been no increase in the number of Native American teachers, because there have been no Native American applicants for any of the positions in question.

The LIEC requested data regarding standardized testing, pass/fail rates, and grad rates. The district promised to provide that data if individual students are not identified. The district noted that all Native seniors have graduated for the last two years, and all current upperclass students are on track to graduate. This trend should allow for 100-percent graduation for four years in a row.

From now on, every LIEC meeting will have up to three agenda items related specifically to noncompliance issues.