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Education Secretary hopes to improve communication with tribal lands |
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Friday, 26 August 2011 15:42 |
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Education leaders on one South Dakota reservation say they're working in crisis mode. But tribal leaders on the Rosebud Reservation had the opportunity to share their concerns with U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan as he toured the area and held a roundtable discussion at an elementary school.
Black Hills FOX Reporter Zach Nugent has the story.The issue has no singular solution how to improve education in Indian Country. The first step though, opening the lines of communication. Noem says, "We're here with open arms and open hearts." Friday education leaders and residents of the Rosebud Indian Reservation had the opportunity to meet with and share their concerns with U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and several other national, state and local representatives. Duncan says, "It's just an amazing conversation, and I just have so much respect and admiration for the adults here who work so hard to improve the quality of education, and I just feel this tremendous sense of urgency." This urgency stems from problems that many would associate with inner-city schools the inability to recruit quality teachers, a lack of funding, and students struggling with issues such as family problems, teen pregnancy, and drug and alcohol addiction. Duncan says, "I just, I think that's why I'm so passionate about this. I do feel the challenges here are very similar to the challenges I've seen all my life, and there's no one easy answer. I think we have to continue to invest in education. We have to continue to get great adults to be teachers and principals." But that's not necessarily an easy task. Noem says, "First you need to start valuing the culture that is here and recognize how important that is to the tribes, how important it is that we educate their children and that they educate their children in a manner that's respectable to their tribes and to their history." Duncan says, "I just feel a huge sense of urgency. I just think the children here deserve more than they received." In Rosebud ... Zach Nugent, Black Hills FOX News. |
