(upbeat music) - [Announcer] This is a production of South Dakota Public Broadcasting.

(upbeat music) - Hello and welcome to South Dakota Focus.

I'm Jackie Hendry.

One of the best ways to build a better future for South Dakota is to learn from our past.

Later this hour, we'll dive deep into the ongoing process of adapting the state's social studies standards.

We'll hear from Lakota parents and educators on the importance of shared understanding.

We'll hear from the State Secretary of Education as she reflects on the process.

And we'll learn how teachers in the state's largest school district are working to build a more successful future for Native American students.

But first, it's been a busy fall in the state's capitol.

A special legislative session included a long debate on new voting district boundaries.

And for the first time in state history, lawmakers voted to start impeachment proceedings against a constitutional officer.

SDPB's Politics and Public Policy Reporter, Lee Strubinger, joined me here in our Vermillion Studio for the update.

(upbeat music) Lee, you've been following this redistricting process really from start to finish.

Tell us about the process that you watched unfold in Pierre.

- Yeah, so it was a truncated process this year because census data came in late to the pandemic.

So lawmakers really didn't have as much time as they have in the past to really put these maps together.

And one of the things that was different this time in addition to the shortened time period was the Senate voted to form their own redistricting committee.

And then, so the house had their own redistricting committee as well.

And at least in the last two redistricting cycles they've come together as like a joint committee and hash out a map and they usually have just one map that both chambers kind of vote on.

But this year the Senate had their own map and the house had their own map.

And so what we saw over the course of several days was kind of each chamber sort of, I guess, negotiating if you will, between the two maps.

And then on the third day they finally came together and voted on one.

- Between those two committees, did one of them come out the winner or get more of what they wanted?

- Sure.

I think that kind of depends on who you ask.

I think the Senate will tell you that this is a map that was negotiated between the two chambers.

You know, what committees came in with the maps, that committees came in with look a little bit different than what was ultimately decided on.

And that is the result of some negotiations that took place during the special session earlier this month.

If you ask the house, the house might tell you that, you know, the Senate was really leading the charge on this and really kind of ignoring what the house wanted.

And if you take a look at the vote total in the house, more Republicans voted against the map that got ultimately approved than voted for it.

So the eight or so Democrats that were in the house really helped, you know, push this map across the finish line in that chamber.

- Wow, that's really interesting in such a Republican dominated state legislature.

Have you ever seen something like that before?

- I haven't but I've also never personally witnessed a redistricting effort.

I think walking into it, everybody said that this was gonna be, you know, a hard thing to accomplish.

And, you know, ultimately when it came down to it, you know, it took an extra legislative day for lawmakers to really come together to finally settle on a map.

At the end of the second legislative day for that redistricting special session, they were close to having a map and the house Republicans were really taking a look at that and deciding on it.

And then, you know, kind of tragically, the majority leader of the house there had a medical emergency and he was, you know, taken out of the capitol to a nearby hospital and that just put everything on pause.

It really just kind of shook everything up and, you know, the house decided we're gonna call it for a day and come back again the next morning.

And then ultimately on that next morning following that, the majority leader wasn't in the capitol, but a map was ultimately voted on.

I've since talked with the majority leader and he's recovering well.

But it was a tense and very interesting three days.

- Geez, drama at every turn almost.

- Yeah.

- I've been so interested in your reporting as far as North Rapid, the neighborhood of North Rapid goes, as far as what district that neighborhood falls in and that's been a source of a lot of kind of consternation in this process.

What happened there?

- So North Rapid ended up ultimately in District 32 which kind of encapsulates, I would say kind of the Eastern part of the city but what is also known as kind of like South Rapid.

So it goes from this community, the new District 32 goes from this community called Lakota Homes all the way down to the Robbinsdale neighborhood.

And so that kind of keeps it all in like a very sort of contiguous district, if you will.

There were some folks there that wanted to make some changes as to where North Rapid kind of was but it ultimately ended up in this district.

And some of the people that I've talked to were skeptical about it but once it happened they just, you know, couldn't believe it.

So, this is the first time in decades that North Rapid has kind of been a part of its own single legislative district as opposed to being split up between two or three in the surrounding Rapid City area.

- Interesting.

One more dramatic piece from that special session was deciding whether or not to bring articles of impeachment against Attorney General, Jason Ravnsborg.

What can you tell us about how that panned out?

- Yeah, so it wasn't quite bringing impeachment articles against the Attorney General, Ravnsborg.

What they did was they voted to form a committee to look at the investigation materials that were compiled following the fatal crash that took the life of Highmore resident, Joe Boever.

So the committee has already met at least once.

And they're just going to pour over these investigative documents.

I think one thing of note during debate on that was there was an amendment to make those investigative materials open to the public.

Because keep in mind, this is the first time that lawmakers in the State of South Dakota have ever brought impeachment articles against a constitutional officer.

So they're setting a lot of precedent here.

And one of the decisions that they made was, we're gonna, you know, keep it as transparent as possible.

I think you could make an argument that the public really does wanna see what's in those investigative materials.

However, they added an amendment to it that, you know, would obviously, they would take out any sort of confidential information, but they're also gonna take out what they call non-relevant information.

It's kind of unclear what that looks like, but regardless, I think we'll be seeing some from the report of the fatal car crash that involved Attorney General, Ravnsborg.

- Interesting.

SDPB's Politics and Public Policy Reporter, Lee Strubinger, thanks for visiting the Vermillion Studio and for your work.

- Great to be here.

Thanks for having me.

(upbeat music) - Another occasion that brought throngs to Pierre this month was the passing of former Governor, Frank Farrar.

He was known as both the boy wonder and the elder statesman in his life.

Farrar was the youngest person elected to be the state's attorney general.

And he served as governor from 1963 to 1969.

Here's a clip from an archived interview he did with SDPB as he reflects on his time in office.

(upbeat music) - In a way it was kind of an explosive 60s.

We were building roads.

We were expanding our university campuses.

We were progressive in getting new industry.

There was a lot of things going on.

We had the Apollo moon shot which was, did a great shot in the arm for the United States people.

Apollo 10 and Apollo 11 came out in 1969.

So there was a lot of activity and a lot of action.

And really, the only big negative was the Vietnam War.

And of course, a negative to South Dakota was that we were still losing our youth.

And what we were trying to do is balance agriculture with other industry so that we'd have jobs for them and they would stay here if they had a job.

(upbeat music) - Decades later, the challenge of keeping young people in the state continues.

A Congressional Report says South Dakota suffers one of the nation's highest rates of brain drain.

That's when large numbers of highly educated people leave a state.

Some of that drain happens at South Dakota Mines in Rapid City.

Graduates with science and engineering degrees can't always find a job or help starting a business within the state.

Elevate Rapid City is an economic development organization.

It partnered with the university, the city and other private businesses to provide a space for innovation.

SDPB's Arielle Zionts has the story.

(upbeat music) - [Arielle] Elevate Rapid City recently celebrated the grand opening of the David Lust Accelerator Building in downtown Rapid City.

Tom Johnson is CEO of Elevate.

He explains how the Accelerator program works.

- So if you build the infrastructure for these entrepreneurs, they will stay 'cause all these wraparound services that we provide entrepreneurs that we can give them access to as well.

So it's an ecosystem, if you will, of providers and services that Elevate can access.

And we make sure that anybody that's in that incubator, or even if you're not in the incubator, if you're just in the Rapid City and you need help, we'll help find it for you.

- [Arielle] The so-called business incubator will provide office, lab and meeting space for new startups.

It's also the permanent home for economic development agencies that serve as a resource to those startups.

Elevate Rapid City, the Governor's Office of Economic Development and the Ellsworth Development Authority are in the front of the building.

The back is a flexible space with room for up to 25 startups.

The startups can rent for up to five years as they raise capital and develop their business.

They can also receive advice and learn about funding opportunities from the economic development agencies.

One incubator success story is Property Meld.

The founders wrote their business idea on a napkin in Baltimore.

One of the founders with a mine's graduate and they returned to Rapid City after learning about the Ascent Innovation Center, the predecessor to the new startup building.

Property Meld started to grow.

Elevate's Tom Johnson shares what happened next.

- Then they graduated out of the incubator into a downtown space, grew into 40, 50, and now they're building a new space in downtown that's gonna be about a $14 million corporate headquarters.

Next year we anticipate they'll have about 100 to 160 jobs all because of an incubator, all because of an idea.

- [Arielle] The new building's unique look is intentional.

Peter Tan is one of the architects.

He says the building needed a wow factor to attract entrepreneurs.

- Not just an ordinary building, a building that inspires people to creativity, inspires people to come up with good ideas, but also a building that was truly Rapid City, that was unique to Rapid City, that took some of the most unique things about Rapid City, that was hyper-local as well.

- [Arielle] Meeting rooms have wallpaper of the Badlands and kaleidoscope-like patterns of agate rocks.

A mural and sunshades are decorated with a topographic map of the city.

Rapid City donated 4.3 acres of land that Elevate hopes to fill with other buildings.

The plan is to create a tech startup campus.

Mayor Steve Allender supports that idea.

- Yeah, I think Rapid City should be known as the Silicon Prairie.

It is, there is a way of life here, a quality of life that I don't think is easily found in other places.

And we have the right business climate, we have the right overall environment for innovation and entrepreneurs and that's what's important.

- [Arielle] Elevate Rapid City CEO, Tom Johnson, agrees.

- Rapid City has something that nobody else has in the world which is those Black Hills.

World-class mountain biking, world-class hiking.

We've got a cool downtown.

Our big beer pub scene is hopping.

Our coffee house scene is kicking.

So we're starting to see a lot more people interested in coming to Rapid City.

So we needed that infrastructure 'cause if they got here and they didn't have facilities like this, they might go somewhere else.

- [Arielle] Johnson says Elevate will continue to have close relations with South Dakota Mines and provide internship opportunities for students, all part of a strategy to keep top talent in town.

I'm SDPB's Arielle Zionts in Rapid City.

(upbeat music) - As we just learned, some challenges have decades of precedent.

That's true in business, and it's true in education.

Although the past is complicated and sometimes painful, it's critical that we learn from it and shape a better future.

That's our big story tonight.

South Dakota educators and policymakers are continuing to adjust the state's social studies standards.

The process sets minimum requirements for educating South Dakota students.

But conflicting ideas about the role of Native American history and culture in those standards has delayed that process.

In September, hundreds marched in Pierre to protest what they called the eraser of their legacy.

(upbeat music) (drums sounding) - [Jackie] It was the Oceti Sakowin March for Our children.

Protestors who gathered worried their people's heritage is invisible.

Sage Fast Dog marched in Pierre.

He grew up in Soldier Creek on the Rosebud Reservation.

He wonders how many people in Pierre know the history of this land's first people.

- How many even understand in this community, what is Oceti Sakowin?

What is an Oceti?

What is Sakowin?

You know, it's like a stove, it's a number.

- [Jackie] In English, Oceti Sakowin usually translates to Seven Council Fires.

It's a name for the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota people of this region.

Fast Dog is an educator and a father, that's why he's here.

- It's easier to ignore somebody when they're not there.

But when we're in the front and we're saying, we should have an equal opportunity and we deserve to be in the classrooms.

- [Jackie] The march was designed to push back against changes proposed by the Department of Education in new social studies standards.

A work group, including Native American educators, submitted recommendations to the department earlier this year.

That version included two dozen direct references to the Oceti Sakowin.

But most of the references were removed in a version the Department of Education released for public comment.

For example, the work group recommended that fourth graders should be able to explain how reservations and other US policies affected the Oceti Sakowin people.

The Department of Education replaced that standard with, "Describe the influences of various cultures on South Dakota communities."

(protestors singing and drumming) On a rainy afternoon, demonstrators marched from the Missouri River to a park near the Department of Education offices.

Several speakers including high school students, condemned the changes.

Hochocawin Chasing Hawk from Dupree High School says most of what she knows about her history came from her grandparents.

- When I was in the sixth grade, I had to teach my own class about the Dakota 38 history because none of my English teachers knew what it was.

I was the one that had to teach everyone about what happened.

- [Jackie] She's talking about the 38 Dakota men hung in Minnesota in 1862.

It's the largest mass execution in the nation's history.

Kansas Clifford from Little Wound High School in Kyle acknowledged her ancestors from many different backgrounds, Lakota, Slavic, Irish and more.

- I am their legacy.

I stand here with inherent rights to their complete, unblemished and factual history as residents of the state.

The proposed South Dakota social studies standards and the diminished focus on indigenous history and contributions is reprehensible.

History is meant to stand as a fact, a factual account.

But more importantly, it's meant to be lessons we learn from.

Our state has many lessons to learn from past events and those realities are harsh.

- Those harsh realities have been making headlines.

This summer marks the discovery of hundreds of indigenous children's remains at boarding schools in Canada.

US Secretary of the Interior, Deb Holland, announced an initiative to examine the history of American boarding schools.

Here at home, the Rosebud Sioux tribe reburied the remains of nine children who died at Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania more than a century ago.

The founder of Carlisle Indian School once described the goal for educating native students as, "Kill the Indian, save the man."

Federal and private boarding schools operated throughout the country for decades.

Many students suffered abuse.

And there are people alive today who were forced to attend a boarding school.

The relationship between Western education systems and Native American communities is complicated.

And that was a key theme in Pierre.

- [Jackie] Nick Tilsen is CEO of Indian Collective, a group focused on building indigenous social power.

He says things must change.

- They tried to kill us.

They tried to assimilate us.

They tried to use education as a weapon.

And now we're reclaiming that power.

We're reclaiming that through our language.

We're reclaiming that through our culture.

And we're reclaiming that through our ceremonies.

- [Jackie] The South Dakota Education Equity Coalition was one of the organizers of the March.

Sarah White announced the coalition's list of demands.

They included tribal consultation in education policy and requiring education on regional tribes.

But that's not all.

- On behalf of the South Dakota Education Equity Coalition and our coalition partners, we are demanding for the resignation of Governor Kristi Noem.

(crowd cheering) We are demanding for the resignation of Secretary of Education, Tiffany Sanderson.

(crowd cheering) We are demanding for the resignation of Tribal Relations Secretary, David Flute.

(crowd cheering) And we are demanding for the resignation of Director of Indian Education, Fred Osborn.

(crowd cheering) - [Jackie] White says the Oceti Sakowin people must become visible.

Faith Spotted Eagle is an elder from the Yankton Sioux tribe.

She blames Governor Kristi Noem for changing the history standards.

She sees it as a strategy to ignore Native American people.

- Erase and replace is the logic of settler colonialism.

You have to supplant, replace native people and you have to exterminate their presence.

If these other kids don't learn about us, we're exterminated.

They don't have to learn about us.

She knows erasing our history is a form of damage control.

- The governor's spokesman didn't respond to a request for comment about the calls for resignations.

But hours after the march, Governor Noem posted a video on Twitter.

She explains the regular cycle of education standards updates.

- It's not something that I've been a part of, although I've been pretty clear that I want an honest and a true accounting of our history.

I think that we as Americans, as South Dakotans should celebrate our history that lift up those leaders that led us through challenging times, but also acknowledge our failures and where we can do better and to learn from them.

That includes our Native American history.

And I think it's important that all of our students learn that history in a true and honest way.

- Noem points out the Department of Education's draft includes more references to Native Americans than the current standards.

- The proposal that we're bringing forward now to these public hearings increases Native American history and culture references from six previously to 28 today.

- [Jackie] The Department of Education draft that inspired the March in Pierre mentions indigenous Native Americans nine times and the Oceti Sakowin three times.

But the frustration is about more than numbers.

Chairman Peter Lengkeek of the Crow Creek Sioux tribe says the relationship between tribes and the state needs work.

- It's gonna take some understanding.

It's gonna take an open heart and an open mind, you know, on both parties to come together and figure something out because what we're doing now isn't working, you know.

And how long are we gonna keep doing something that's not working, you know?

I was always told that that's the definition of insanity.

- [Jackie] There are separate education standards that do focus on the history, culture and sovereignty of native people.

They're called the Oceti Sakowin Essential Understandings.

The standards were officially adopted by the Board of Education Standards in 2018 and recommended to be required.

But the material is not explicitly required by statute.

That means each school district can make its own decision.

Sage Fast Dog taught in the Todd County School District before launching a Lakota immersion school.

He says it's up to educators to make all students feel welcome.

- That's what America was founded on.

That's what they said it was, right?

That's what we're supposed to be living here for.

That's what we're supposed to be lifting up that flag for.

But if it's just for one class, for one people, then it's hard for the other people to come and grab that flag and stand up there.

Even though my ancestors, they fought in World War I without being recognized as citizens, but yet they fought, they held up that flag.

And I don't know how many residents understand that.

(upbeat music) - After the march in Pierre, the Department of Education announced it would delay the first public hearing on the proposed social studies standards for about a month.

The department had already received more than 500 comments online.

But before that rescheduled hearing, Governor Noem announced the review process for the social studies standards will start over.

The governor's statement said in part, "Our kids deserve to learn both America's and South Dakota's true and honest history taught in a balanced context that doesn't put our children against each other on the basis of race, sex, or background.

More work needs to be done to get this right, and we are committed to seeing that process through."

The next draft of standards will be released for public comment in August of 2022.

Secretary of Education, Tiffany Sanderson, says the controversy surrounding the department's proposed standards was the result of misunderstandings and miscommunication.

But she says it's a good opportunity to reflect on how the process can be improved for the benefit of all students.

She joined me recently in SDPB's Sioux Falls Studio to discuss the process and to give an update on the use of the Oceti Sakowin Essential Understandings.

(upbeat music) I think the last many people heard about the social studies revision process was that there was a draft from the Department of Education and some folks disagreed with that draft.

Can you tell us a bit kind of from your perspective where that, where you were in that process?

And explain for folks what that process entails.

- You bet.

So, as you said, we had put out our proposed standards for social studies for consideration, for the public's comment and for the Board of Education Standards consideration.

And that's something that the department is tasked with by statute, South Dakota Codified Law, to do in a regular routine, every seven years each content area goes under review.

And this last summer was the time for social studies to be looked at and considered again.

We had a work group that came together over the course of the summer and put their recommendations together, educators, professional historians, South Dakotans to weigh in on what should student learning look like in social studies.

And the department kept 90% of what was recommended to us and did make some revisions.

And through that revision process there was misunderstanding and miscommunication and that's where the concerns arose at the end of the summer.

And so we're at a point now where based on the concerns that were expressed, miscommunication that happened through that process recognized we need to get this right and we need further consideration to do that.

So, now we're restarting that process.

And, the final product will be delayed a year.

We're talking about our kids learning here and so it's really important we get that right and bring people back together to reconsider what our standards are in social studies.

- Can you explain why it's important to completely start over with the process?

- You bet.

So going forward, we'll be looking to start with being very clear about the content in our standards.

Again, what knowledge we expect our students to have, what skills related to the disciplines of social studies.

So social studies covers geography and economics, it covers history and government.

That's a wide a breadth of knowledge for our students to have in their tool belt is as they go through their K-12 experience and graduate and onto their lives as adults.

And so, we wanna make sure that we get it right for our students.

And we're talking about an extended period of time and student learning.

We wanna make sure that South Dakota values are represented in those standards and that we have a cohesive body of work that ensures our students understand everything from how our country was founded to how South Dakota government operates and how we work with our tribal governments and sovereign nations in South Dakota, and the people and places that have helped to shape our story over time.

- What do you sense was the root of that miscommunication?

- Sure.

So I heard a couple of things.

One of the things that I heard from people was that we were taking away the Oceti Sakowin Essential Understandings, which is not the case.

The OSEUs as we call them or the Oceti Sakowin Essential Understandings are a separate set of standards focused on Native American culture and history in South Dakota.

Those standards will stay in place.

They are on our routine revision cycle.

They were last updated in 2018.

And so in a couple of years, that revision process will be underway again.

But they help our students to learn everything from oral tradition and sovereignty and treaties to language and culture of our native peoples here in South Dakota.

I also heard that we were erasing Native American history through the revisions that were made.

Again, that's not the case.

In 2015, which is the last time the social studies standards were revised, there were only a half dozen references to any kind of Native American history or to tribal governments.

In the proposal version we actually quadrupled that in the references and expectations for student learning.

So as we go forward in this process and in redoing our standards, we absolutely have to incorporate Native American history and our tribal governments.

They are a part of our rich story here in South Dakota.

And so I wanna make sure that people understand we are not trying to erase any sort of history there and we're not taking away the OSEUs as we go forward either.

- [Jackie] The Oceti Sakowin Essential Understandings were officially adopted by the State Board of Education Standards in 2018.

State statute doesn't explicitly require them.

And there's been confusion on how much teachers actually use the material in the classroom.

Joe Moran is the interim director of the division of data and research at the Department of Education.

Earlier this year, when he worked in policy and strategic initiatives, he told me the department didn't know how broadly the standards were being implemented.

- We are working and trying to understand in scale what exactly is happening in terms of the capacity to implement the Oceti Sakowin Essential Understandings.

We don't currently have an exact metric on that.

- That was in February.

Where does that process stand?

Are we any closer to knowing how much those are used?

- Hot off the press, in fact.

(panelists laughing) And Joe has really been a champion to help us understand how are OSEUs being implemented.

And the partnership between the Department of Education, Native American educators, the Department of Tribal Relations has really been important in both the implementation and understanding how OSEUs are currently used in South Dakota.

This fall, we surveyed school districts.

We had 700 responses to that survey, which was a great response rate with questions.

We asked questions around, "How are you using OSEUs?

Are you implementing them?

Are there quality resources to help you support student learning around Native American history and culture?"

From the 700 responses that were received, we learned that about 45% of our teachers are implementing them in the classroom currently.

And so that answers question number one, right?

Are they being used?

Nearly half of our teachers are implementing OSEUs into their curriculum, which I think is fantastic.

It's a good starting place, and obviously gives us a lot of room to help support additional teachers going forward.

Back in 2007, the legislature in South Dakota put some really important pieces in place.

We established in codified law the Office of Indian Education in South Dakota.

We put in law that all teachers, pre-service teachers, those studying to become teachers, take a Native American class to learn history and culture.

So as they transition into South Dakota classrooms, they have some background in that area.

It also established the Indian Advisory Council to help guide and provide advice on Native American education in South Dakota.

And, this is really important and we said, "Let's develop curriculum and resources to help support implementation."

No other area, content area in the state, in law is there a place to say let's develop curriculum.

Normally that's left to local school districts to decide as they talk the difference between standards and curriculum, but with the OSEUs that has helped to put a framework together for teaching history and culture.

And we have developed with indigenous educators and elders throughout the state resources to actually implement those standards in the classroom.

So there's a lot to celebrate.

And now as we look ahead, a lot more that we can do to help support that education.

- Right.

Do you, I don't know if you would know this offhand from the surveys but, you know, was there any discussion in there about how do we get above that 45%?

What are some of the hindrances for people that aren't using them?

- Sure, I think there's two things and neither one is surprising, but confirmed with the data that we got.

One is just confidence in teaching history and culture.

So professional development for teachers is one area that we'll continue to support.

Currently, there's the Wolakota Project, which is a set of curricular resources and videos to help implement OSEUs in the classroom.

And there's the Milwaukee Project, which is a support network for teachers and schools who are implementing OSEUs.

So continuing to bolster that work will be important as we go forward.

- Were you surprised by the reaction to the drafted standards that came out in August?

- To an extent, yes.

When we talked earlier and talked about miscommunication and misunderstanding, that was the biggest point of surprise I think.

But it's also a good time to reflect and say, "We can do better as we go forward."

And so restarting the process is the opportunity for people to come back together, to have more clarity in the process and to make sure that our South Dakota values are represented through the standards that we have going forward.

- Because this is part of a cycle.

- Yeah.

- And you mentioned that this has been an interesting opportunity to reflect on things.

What would you take away from this experience that you would pass on to a future secretary of education who is going through this revision process?

- That's a great question.

What I love about this moment in time is that people care and they want to make sure that their voices are heard.

And if we're talking about social studies standards, that's the deal, right?

You know, we want civic engagement and this is a full demonstration of what people coming together and saying, "Let's do the best possible thing we can for our kids."

I think that's what this is all about.

And so in terms of advice for a future secretary, what we've seen through this process is what has been a traditionally education focused process is now a very, very public discussion, which it's meant to be in the first place.

But moving outside of the traditional education practice and making sure that what we share for our educators makes sense for the public, for parents, for community leaders.

And so opening to that broad discussion is a real positive in this process.

- And kind of in closing, I'm curious if there's a message you would like to share for folks that were angry about the drafted standards or felt hurt by that process, What would you want to say to those people?

- Please engage in the process as we go forward.

In no way were any pieces of history or culture intended to be erased in this process, that's simply not true.

So as we go forward, the commission will include voices from many backgrounds in South Dakota, and we'll include Native American tribal voices.

We want to make sure that as we go forward the standards reflect our country and our state.

And please engage if it's not in the commission, in the public comment and the hearing process, and know that those standards are just one piece of the full education puzzle.

And so, training our teachers is another important element and ensuring that they have resources to implement in the classroom will continue to be a priority for the department, both at the Department of Education and for Tribal Relations.

(upbeat music) - Secretary Sanderson says the public won't have to wait a full year to get an idea of the next proposed standards.

She says the department will release an outline of the standards before the new work group dives in.

To see our full conversation, including discussion of Native American graduation rates and success stories, visit sdpb.org/news.

We've learned tonight there's room for growth in Native American education in South Dakota.

But in some districts that growth is already underway.

In the state's largest school district, a 20-year-old program has its first coordinator and two passionate educators look forward to the future.

(upbeat music) - My name is Anna Brokenleg and I was born and raised here in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

I am an enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux tribe.

And I've been teaching in the Sioux Falls School District for around 14 years, I guess now.

- Anna Brokenleg is working on special assignment with the Office of Indian Education.

She oversees the Native American Connections Program across all schools in the Sioux Falls School District.

It's a brand new position, one of the latest signs of the program's growth.

The Native American Connections Program is meant to combat an ongoing trend.

The four-year high school graduation rate for Native American students in South Dakota consistently hovers around 50%.

The program is based on the idea that students who feel a positive connection with their school are more engaged and more likely to graduate.

It started 20 years ago and is now available throughout the school district.

In middle and high school, there are full-time staff positions for the Native American Connections Program.

- A component for both our middle school and our high school programs is case management.

So teachers get an opportunity to meet with students one-on-one, sometimes in small groups, just kind of getting to know them, building relationships, getting to know their families.

- Those relationships are meaningful.

Last year, Whittier Middle School's Ann Robertson was named the District's Teacher of the Year based on nominations from colleagues and students.

It was a special honor considering the difficult 2020 school year.

What keeps you going?

- The kids.

(laughs) They are so energizing.

I mean, when they come to school, they come sometimes in the face of so much turmoil.

And that resilience and that energy and those smiles are, they keep anybody going.

(laughs) - What are we going to see in class today?

- Today, you're gonna be in my sixth grade classroom.

And sixth graders are learning the stories from a book called the (foreign language) "Sons of the Wind."

- [Jackie] Robertson says the collection of Lakota stories shows her students a time in the 1800s when holy men preserved traditional knowledge by ensuring it could be read in English.

- Yesterday one of my sixth graders asked that question, the story that we were talking about, she said, "Are these stories that have been handed down?"

And I said, "Yes, for probably thousands of years."

- Robertson was part of the team that wrote the curriculum for the Native American Connections Program.

It was a three-year process where curriculum development was just a couple of lessons ahead of the class.

Have you seen an impact since then?

- It's so interesting for kids to be able to know things that nobody else really knows.

And families have that same feeling that their kids are learning things that they didn't know about.

And we know because of things like boarding schools and adoptions and things like that, we've got a lot of families that have completely lost all of that connection.

And so for children to be able to learn that and go home and talk with it about their parents is wonderful.

- [Jackie] While the Native American Connections course is focused primarily on native students, Anna Brokenleg says there's a desire for more.

- There's been a big push too for just acknowledgement and of the tribes in South Dakota.

So like we got tribal flag decals.

We have some out here in our entryway.

We have those in every single one of our elementary buildings and also all of our middle schools.

And we have a lot of buildings who have chosen as a building to purchase actual flags as well that they include in their series of flags in their buildings.

- Acknowledgement seems so simple.

Why is that important?

- I think we have to be mindful of the fact that we really do live and exist here on the ancestral lands of the Oceti Sakowin people and other tribes as well.

There is an importance to understanding the place and where you live, right?

It's history, it's culture.

And that's something that has been a gap in education for not just kids, but most adults for a very long time.

Most adults, if you ran into them on the street, probably couldn't tell you how many reservations we have in our state.

And so having that kind of acknowledgement and awareness for kids from the beginning and to have their parents know that that's something that schools feel is important and valued is something that's really important for everybody.

- There's a desire from some to see the Oceti Sakowin Essential Understandings woven throughout all South Dakota classes.

They see it as a matter of respect, recognition and well, understanding.

And Robertson is a member of the Indian Education Advisory Council that reports to the Department of Tribal Relations.

She talks about a meeting with the state's previous secretary of education.

- A year or so ago when Dr. Jones was at our meeting, he made it very clear that the understandings are not an option, they're something that we should all be doing.

So I think for teachers, it's just a matter of exposure and training.

- What are some of the obstacles to that?

- It's exposure and it's training.

And I think there's a reluctance sometimes on the part of teachers, certainly not out of malice, but more out of, just out of not knowing and being afraid that they may do something wrong.

- [Jackie] Robertson encourages teachers to start their research with verifiable information.

But she says it's important to leave room for nuance in their teaching.

- I think the other thing is helping kids understand that you can have multiple versions of a story or an event and have them all be correct.

And being able to teach kids how to hold that and not say, if it's not this, then it's not right, is a win.

And I think it is for all of us.

- [Jackie] As the Native American Connections Program continues to grow, Anna Brokenleg is excited for the future.

- I have two daughters of my own, one who just started school here in the Sioux Falls School District.

And it's really exciting to see the kinds of things in programming that she will have the opportunity to be a part of that I didn't even have an opportunity to be a part of when I was growing up.

And I think as native people we've always kind of talked about that and thought about that whole concept of seven generations and looking to the future and how we build and support our youth.

And so, that's just something that's always been important.

(upbeat music) - There are two distinct issues at play when we talk about Native American education.

One is improving the likelihood of success for native students.

The other related issue is improving knowledge and understanding of native people among all students.

Statewide policy is the minimum.

The details come with your local school board.

We'll continue covering this issue.

And if there's a piece of the puzzle we're missing or another big story you want us to look into, send us an email.

As we mentioned earlier this hour, former South Dakota Governor Frank Farrar, died recently at the age of 92.

During a memorial service at the capitol building in Pierre, mourners heard stories of an elder statesman, an iron man, a pilot and a proud South Dakotan.

Governor Kristi Noem and former Governor Dennis Daugaard tell us the story.

(upbeat music) - Now you might wonder how he had the time to take on so many different businesses.

Well for one, he had his pilot's license.

One of the memories that the family was sharing with us earlier today was that he actually built his first aircraft.

And on the side he rode experimental, on the side of it as well, giving everybody fair warning.

And that, and Pat was not willing to ride in that aircraft.

He logged 19,000 hours in the air.

And he found it a much more efficient way to get across the state to conduct his business and get things done.

One day I remember Beth who works for me and I were standing at an airport and we saw a man land a plane, climb out and come walking across the tarmac.

And I said, "I wonder who that is, he's all alone."

And she said, "Well, that's Governor Farrar."

And that was him.

(piano music) - I remember one meeting like that, it was in Milwaukee.

And during the course of the meeting, I got up one morning to go for a walk, trying to get my exercise and I saw Governor Farrar running.

And then later, the meeting was over, and we were at the airport and the state plane was there to take me home.

And Ron Hulk, the chief pilot said, "You know, we really need to wait because we've got heavy weather here."

It was raining and the winds were pretty heavy gusts.

And so I said, "Well, you're the boss, safety first.

We're gonna wait."

About a minute later, a small plane took off.

(audience laughing) No rough weather was gonna delay Frank Farrar.

(audience laughing) There he went to visit a bank in Illinois.

Governor Farrar had grit.

You can't be a marathoner without grit.

Beyond his grit though, no one loved life more than Frank Farrar.

And no one lived life more actively than he.

(piano music) (upbeat music) - Grit, determination and stamina.

These are characteristics many South Dakotans claim.

And maybe we learned them from watching the buffalo roam.

60 buffalo from Wind Cave National Park are now grazing on the Rosebud Reservation.

It's part of the park's effort to thin its bison herd, while also contributing to tribal food sovereignty initiatives.

SDPB's Lee Strubinger has more.

(upbeat music) - [Lee] There's been a bison herd at Wind Cave National Park since 1913.

14 original animals came from the Bronx Zoo in New York.

Three years later, the park got six more bison from Yellowstone National Park.

Every two years, Wind Cave thins its bison herd as the population grows.

The park likes to keep the herd size at about 500 head, but occasionally dials it back to anywhere from 350 to 400.

Greg Schroeder is the Natural Resource Manager for the park.

- Here they're not stressed.

You know, they won't be stressed by lack of food or lack of water, so that's a real comfortable number for this landscape.

- [Lee] Schroeder says every two years they need to reduce the herd size because bison are good at reproducing.

Wind Cave officials round up the herd.

And this year they're using a new corral.

He says it's to create a low stress environment.

- So anytime the bison see us especially in close proximity, we're a stressor, you know, we're a predator to them.

And so in this, there's only a few places where we actually want the bison to see us.

And so those would have open walls, see through walls basically, and the rest are all solid closed walls.

- [Lee] When the bison move into the corrals, they're given two forms of identification, a microchip and an ear tag.

That helps the park monitor each animal.

They take hair and blood samples that allow DNA archiving for genetic studies.

The new corrals help with that process.

- Not only did it improve the safety of the workers out here with the bison, but it also improved the safety for the bison themselves to kind of work with their natural behavior and use that to our advantage.

- [Lee] The park gets rid of 80% of it's bison two years old and younger.

Every fifth bison stays in the Southern Black Hills.

This year, they're calling about 120 bison from the herd.

But 60 animals will go to the Wolakota Buffalo Range.

That's a 28,000 acre grassland on the Rosebud Reservation.

The project is run by the Rosebud Economic Development Corporation, which hopes to bring in a Buffalo processing plant.

The Rosebud Bison Range was established last year and there are about 500 animals on the grounds already.

The Wind Cave bison arrived on October 22nd.

TJ Heinert is a range manager.

He says the buffalo were stressed coming off the trucks from Wind Cave, but quickly settled down.

- So within an hour, they're already eating the hay and drinking water and just kind of grazing through the hay that we provided in the corral and then they relax.

They lay in it and sun bathe and just kind of be a buffalo.

They start to relax and enjoy the land.

- [Lee] Currently, the bison are on a fenced pasture of 8,500 acres.

- They're just doing what they do.

They go out and graze and they move, that's another interesting thing about buffalo, they don't just sit in one spot and graze it to the ground.

They like to really travel and eat.

And I always tell people that's kind of the saying goes is, "Where The Buffalo Roam."

- [Lee] Heinert says this herd mixes bison from across the Great Plains, including animals from the Badlands and Theodore Roosevelt National Parks.

The genetic mix will keep the herd healthy.

The bond between Lakota people and the bison is described as sacred.

The bison provided food, shelter, clothing, tools and ceremonial items.

European and American settlers hunted the animals to near extinction.

That disrupted indigenous ways of life.

Heinert says managing a buffalo herd is hard to explain.

- It's really powerful and a meaningful feeling that you get when you actually see your relatives coming back home.

And to be part of the project and witness this happening right in front of my eyes and seeing it every day, you feel that power like no other, it's a connection.

- [Lee] Rosebud officials say Wolakota expects to harvest between 300 to 400 animals a year, and to set aside 10% for tribal members.

That will increase access to affordable bison meat while re-introducing traditional foods into modern day diets.

(buffalo grunting) Heinert says they hope to have 1500 bison on the Wolakota Range by next year.

I'm SDBP's Lee Strubinger.

(upbeat music) - Relationships are central to Lakota life, and that tradition is continuing in new ways.

On the Cheyenne River Reservation, The Rez Runner Program began in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The free service brings supplies to elders in the community at no cost.

SDPB's Richard Two Bulls explores how this service also preserves the cultural identity and history of the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe in this month's installment of Good Neighbors.

(upbeat music) - [Richard] The Rez Runner Program gives the elders of the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe the ability to maintain their independence.

The program provides many essential services from delivering food, checking their mail or simply visiting.

In a way, the program means being good neighbors.

Emmanuel Red Bear is a retired Lakota language and history teacher who uses the program.

He translates good neighbor into Lakota.

(speaking foreign language) - Like, you know, it's kind of like good.

(foreign language) means close.

(foreign language) we live, we live close together.

Living alone, I do things for myself.

Teacher comes in and brings my medicine but I have to kind of build up my strength myself.

So if this program didn't exist, they wouldn't have checked my mail and I would have had to pay somebody to go do that for me.

- [Richard] Red Bear started using the program after being diagnosed with cancer.

- When I first came back from the hospital, they were there to build my ramp.

I didn't have a ramp coming into my house.

So I waited a few days at the Super Eight Motel and they finally finished my ramp into my house.

And, since then The Rez Runner Program would check on me.

- [Richard] When the COVID-19 checkpoints ended, a surplus of workers needed new jobs, that meant an opportunity to address an ongoing need.

Lori Mike is the Elderly Program Support Director and says the program supports a vulnerable part of their community.

- We started doing assessments with some of the elders that we knew.

And we were at first just going to do their errands, check mail, stuff like that.

And when we started getting into, calling the elders and stuff, there was a different need.

At that time it was heavy lifting, it was mowing, it was all kinds of other things that they needed.

And after we started getting going, it's just taken off like wildfire because there is a need for our elders.

There is a need to keep them safe and people to care about them.

- [Richard] And it's not only about today's elders.

- You know, none of us are getting any younger and I sure hope that we set up a bar and a standard for the generations to follow that our elders need to be catered to.

A lot of that history needs to be preserved and they're fragile.

And you just need the right people and we have that, plenty of those right people that are passionate about helping the elders.

- [Richard] Linus Chasing Hawk is one of those people that take pride in helping their community.

- It's awesome because everybody comes in and everybody just enjoys what they do because you go there and then when you get to go to the elder, they sure appreciate it.

They'll come out and talk to you and tell you stories.

And just, I think it's just a seeing somebody new there or somebody to visit, so that's usually, we get there and have the elder and he's up there talking and keeping you there.

- And we have a big reservation but everybody knows everybody.

So, when we did start losing some of our elders and community members, it's people that you know, it's people that you care about.

And if it's not somebody you personally know, it's somebody that you do personally know their relative.

- [Richard] Jessica Four Bear overseas many of the tribe's programs including The Rez Runner Program.

- From my perspective, I like how we are kind of reverting back to pre-reservation era where we lived in a camp style life setting and we looked after each other's children, we looked after each other.

We made sure everyone was fed, we made sure everyone was ready for winter, ready for summer, ready for ceremony season, just getting ready throughout the seasons with each other.

Same thing here, we're just looking after the elders to make sure that they're being taken care of.

- [Richard] The program is helping the elders to stay safe from the pandemic, but also with anything that they need to continue to be able to share their stories and pass down invaluable knowledge from an era that is no longer.

This is what it means to be a good neighbor.

- It is modern day.

We still wanna keep those traditions and customs alive by watching out for our elders and making sure that they're taken care of because they took care of us when we were growing up, so now it's our turn to take care of them.

- [Richard] I'm SDPB's Richard Two Bulls in Eagle Butte.

(upbeat music) - A small piece of the Oceti Sakowin Essential Understandings is the phrase, Mitakuye Oyasin.

It translates to, all my relatives, and is a reminder that we are all related.

That's all we have time for tonight.

If there's a story you want to see on South Dakota Focus, you can send us an email or find me on Twitter, @JackieHendrySD.

I'll see you again on Tuesday, December 28th, when we'll hear stories about faith, forgiveness and friendship.

Until then.

I'm Jackie Hendry, thanks for watching.

(upbeat music)