 Return to Juvenile Justice Main Page
Rosebud Sioux file complaint against Winner School District for targeting tribal youth
<
by Ruth Steinberger
Published originally in Nativetimes.com
Winner, SD The Rosebud Sioux Tribal Council has filed a complaint with the US Department of Education alleging that the Winner School District, located in Tripp County South Dakota, uses disciplinary procedures that target tribal youth and expose tribal youth to the court system for reasons that are inconsistent with normal use of law enforcement in schools.
The complaint, filed by Sherrie Red Owl, the Director of Rosebud Sioux Tribal Education, on behalf of the Rosebud Sioux Tribes Department of Education, was dated March 18, 2002.
The complaint states that the suit is filed, ‘On behalf of all Indian parents and Indian students enrolled in the Winner Middle School and High School in Winner, South Dakota…does hereby complain to the Office for Civil Rights that the policies and practices of the Winner School District constitute ongoing, systematic discrimination against Indian students, in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.’
The complaint demands investigation into school system practices, ‘Particularly with regard to school discipline and the District’s aggressive and racist practice of seeking the arrest and prosecution of Indian students for minor school misconduct.’
Tripp County borders the Rosebud Indian Reservation. The administration of the school system has never included an Indian administrator and there are no Indians on the school board.
Winner School Superintendent Mary Fisher claimed earlier that the school uses a disciplinary matrix suggested by the US Department of Education and that the school system does not target Indian youth. Fisher also claimed that the drop out rate of Indian youth form the Winner School District was not excessively high. However, the complaint notes that the Winner School District has a shockingly high drop out rate, referred to as a “push-out” rate because it is a problem noted when minority youth are targeted and are unable to remain within a school system. Winner School District is over 25% Indian youth. That figure remains fairly consistent throughout grades one through seven. During grades 8-12, roughly 80% of Indian youth will either be transferred to schools on the reservation, placed in other schools or will drop out. Called a “push out rate”, this excessive drop out rate reflects a possible situation in which Indian youth are uncomfortable or are targeted by racial harassment. Schools on the neighboring Rosebud Reservation have less than a 10% drop out rate. Last year 40 out of 51 Indian students in grades 8-12 left the Winner School District. While Indians represent 25% of the younger students, less than 2% of those who graduate are Indians.
Indian parents allege that discipline of Indian youth, even for minor infractions, is severe. Parents and the complaint itself allege that if an Indian youth is deemed to have committed an offense against a white student the likelihood of legal action is drastically increased, even if the legal action must be brought about for an offense unrelated to the incident. If the child has been targeted by a white youth by verbal abuse, threats or actual violence, the white youth is not likely to even be reprimanded. According to the Office of Civil Rights (OCR) of the Department of Education, the Winner School District has never come into compliance with a significant portion of their racial harassment policy that was to be in place by July 1, 2000. Two follow-up letters highlighting the non-compliance have been issued since that time. The failure to have a comprehensive policy in place for addressing racial harassment of students by other students was one of the problems highlighted in the letters from the US Department of Education to Winner School District. According to parents, certain actions by school officials are alleged to amount to possible obstruction of justice.
The complaint states that the practice of ‘Calling for the arrest of Indian children for minor misconduct is such a matter of fact part of the way white educators in Winner “educate” Indian children that a 12 year old child was arrested at the request of the school principal for “refusing to sit where he was told”, and for “making noises”.
It is the hope of the Rosebud Tribal Council that the complaint with the US Department of Education will end the targeting of Indian youth within that system.
home : mission statement : contact : site map : search : store : links
DLN coalition : DLN issues : DLN nation : related issues Any reprints are under the Fair Use doctrine of international copyright law : See http://www.dlncoalition.org/fair_use.htm.
|
