Article #3 in a Series >>>>> Dramatic Changes at the Minneapolis Public Schools

Reduction of Staff at the Minneapolis Public Schools Department of Indian Education 

As is the case with the Department of Teaching and Learning and the Office of Black Student Achievement, the Department of Indian Education is chronically ineffective.  But unlike those two other bureaucratic entities, the Department of Indian Education is mandated by the Minnesota Legislature. 

Thus, the hope is that the remaining members of a staff that has now been drastically reduced will adeptly follow the lead offered by the academically substantive educational program of Interim Superintendent Rochelle Cox and impart to MPS American Indian/Native American students the knowledge and skill sets that they need to overcome the challenges brought by a brutal history, reverse decades of cyclical familial poverty, and give indigenous students the chance to thrive on their own cultural terms and in contemporary American society.

This department consisted of 15 staff members at the end of academic year 2021-2022;  now reduced to eight members focused on the new academically substantive curriculum of Interim Superintendent Rochelle Cox, current staff membership is as follows  >>>>>

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Jennifer Simon (Cheyenne River Lakota), Director

Diana Leaskas, Account Specialist

Christina Wilson (White Earth), Family Engagement Specialist

Alexis Dauenhauer (Standing Rock), School Success Program Assistant

Patrick Engrav (Bois Forte), School Success Program Assistant

Braden Canfield, Social Worker

Matthew LaFAve (Fond Du Lac), Ojibwe Language Teacher

Shiela Zephier (Oglala Sioux, Turtle Mountain), Dakota Language Teacher