A Community Perspective

Five individuals from my “school community” were interviewed to get their perspective on the relationship between the school and the community. The quality of this relationship is used as an indicator of how they perceived the school to be doing in terms of the Circle of Courage and SchoolPLUS models. Each person’s involvement within the school varied. Three had children in the school and two did not. All five were employed in either the community or the neighboring town. An educational psychologist, an office manager, a gas station attendant, a health care worker and a receptionist in the medical clinic were all interviewed in their places of work.

Of the five people interviewed, the educational psychologist seemed to have the most positive view of the school as having a caring and respectful community environment. She indicated that she always felt welcome in the school. Staff members always stopped to talk with her in the hallway, invited her into their classrooms to show off their students’ work, and felt comfortable enough to tease and joke with her. The school and the educational psychologist seem to have a very strong working relationship as well. They are working together to assess the needs of each of the individuals in the school in order to more fully meet their needs and insure student success.

Three of the other four people interviewed also felt welcome in the school—one because she “is related to most of the people in the school”. The individual who did not feel welcome perceived the environment to be unfriendly.

When asked to discuss their children’s experience in the school, the parents had mixed responses. The first parent had one child attending a part time program who was enjoying school. Her second child was discontinued and moved to another school because of bullying. This parent did not feel that the teacher addressed her concerns thus pulled her child out of the school. The second parent indicated that her child liked going to school. In fact, she was very excited about the upcoming school carnival. Bullying was not a problem for her child, but she suggested it might be a problem for other students. The third parent had a very negative opinion of the school. Her child, who is in Grade Four, does not like going to school because the other students are mean to her—name calling being one example mentioned. The mother indicated that she would like to remove her daughter from the school, but policy did not allow it because they lived on-reserve. This parent also expressed concerns regarding the school discipline policy. She made reference to the Principal when suggesting that there was an overall lack of consequences for inappropriate behavior.

In terms of parent and community involvement in the school, there appears to be very few opportunities. Field trips were the only activity mentioned for which parents were able to volunteer. Attending parent/teacher interviews, the annual Christmas concert, and the carnival were the functions for which the parents and community were invited into the school. Outside of the regular school day however, the gymnasium is used to host a variety of community gatherings such as funerals, mini pow-wows, youth dances, and community “gym nights”.

Although an attempt to develop partnerships has been made, the actual degree of which is somewhat limited. The most obvious partnership is between the school and the health clinic. The health clinic, which is attached directly to the school, has a dentist which sees students regularly. As well, there is some programming for teachers/students in terms of workshops on a variety of health related topics such and diabetes, bullying, and nutrition.

The unique features of the community seem to be reflected in school programming to a certain degree. A traditional feast “kicks off” the school year and a language teacher delivers some programming that stresses the importance of the Dakota culture. In addition, Elders are occasionally asked to come into the school to speak with the students.