Still Here | Tribes fight to be seen in Idaho classrooms
About this series
Reporter Carly Flandro set out to answer this question: What most helps Native American students succeed?
She logged more than a thousand miles to visit four of Idaho’s five reservations from the Kootenai Reservation (near the Canadian border) to the Fort Hall reservation (adjacent to her hometown of Pocatello). Carly talked with tribal officials, school leaders, teachers and students.
Two answers emerged:
- Students need more Native American teachers in the classroom ...
- And more Native American perspectives and voices in the curriculum.
This series takes a look at the people and organizations who are cultivating those two ingredients for student success. At stake: elevating students who are too often overlooked and ensuring they have equitable access to bright futures.
These stories were supported with a generous grant from the Education Writers Association.
Here’s the reporting by the numbers:
Miles traveled: 1,265
Reservations visited: Fort Hall, Coeur d’Alene, Nez Perce, Kootenai
Schools visited: 9
Classrooms visited: 11
Shoshone-Bannock
Shoshone-Bannock (Newe)
Get to know the tribes: 
- Their own bison herd: The tribes own a bison herd of about 500, keeping alive a connection to an animal with great cultural and historical significance.
- Bareback horse racing: Every year, the tribes host an “Indian Relay racing” event to honor a sport that originated with the Shoshone-Bannock people; it involves a rider making three laps around a racetrack, jumping bareback onto a new horse each time. Three other team members keep horses calm, catch the incoming horse, and prepare the next horse for the rider.
- Cultural event of the year: The relay races are just one part of the annual Shoshone Bannock Indian Festival, which also includes dancing, drumming, parades, traditional games, an art show, a rodeo, bull riding, and a buffalo and salmon feast.
- Visit the Shoshone-Bannock tribes’ website for more information.
Local schools, by the numbers:
- Shoshone-Bannock Jr./Sr. High: About 150 Native American students attend this 6-12 grade school, which is one of two Idaho schools run by tribal governments. It is located on the Fort Hall Reservation.
- Chief Tahgee Elementary Academy: 126 students (all of whom are Native American) attend this K-7 charter school located on the Fort Hall Reservation. The school focuses on Shoshoni language and cultural immersion.
- Blackfoot school district: According to the State Department of Education, 394 Native American students attend these schools, making up about 10% of the district’s student population. The district's records show it has 600-650 Native American students, comprising about 16% of the population.
- Pocatello-Chubbuck school district: According to the SDE, 420 Native American students attend these schools, making up about 3.5% of the district’s student population. The district's records show it has 846 Native American students, comprising about 7% of the population.
Nez Perce
Nez Perce (Nimiipuu)
Get to know the tribe:
- Chief Joseph: When the U.S. government forced the Nez Perce to move to the existing reservation, Chief Joseph led his tribe on a long trek to Canada to escape. However, they surrendered in the Bear Paw mountains of Montana, just 40 miles from Canada. “I will fight no more forever,” he said. His people were sent to reservations in Oklahoma, then Washington. The tribe is now located in north Idaho.
- Saving the Snake River: The tribe’s Salmon Orca Project is dedicated to restoring the Snake River by removing its lower dams. The goal: protecting salmon and other fish — and the orcas who depend on them.
- Energy self-reliance: Nimiipuu Energy, a tribally-owned energy cooperative, is working on creating a cross-country, tribal network of alternative energy sources. Along with Project 5311, they aim to replace the energy “Bonneville Power claims the dams provide.”
- Tribal hemp farms: The tribe supports hemp farmers growing within the reservation boundaries. They aim to “create a viable hemp system that promotes tribal sovereignty and provides business opportunity to tribal farmers and land owners.”
- Visit the Nez Perce tribe’s website for more information.
Local schools, by the numbers: .
- Lapwai School District: According to the State Department of Education, 387 Native American students attend these schools, making up about 76% of the district’s student population. The district's records show it has 479 Native American students, comprising about 92% of the population.
Coeur d’Alene
Coeur d’Alene (Schitsu’umsh)
Get to know the tribe:
- American heroes: Coeur d’Alene tribal members have served in every major U.S. conflict since WWII: “Brave men and women of our tribal families have landed on the shores of Normandy, and served in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan.”
- Cleaning up the Coeur d’Alene watershed: In 1991, the tribe filed a lawsuit to force restoration of the Coeur d’Alene watershed, where the mining industry dumped 72 million tons of waste into the water over a hundred-year period. Today, the Silver Valley is “the nation’s second largest Superfund site.” The tribe is among the entities leading cleanup efforts: “We do it not just for the Coeur d’Alene Tribe, but for everybody.”
- A casino, farms, and wellness center: The tribe owns the Coeur d’Alene Casino Resort Hotel, which employs about 500 people and generates about $20 million in profits annually. The 6,000-acre tribal farm produces wheat, barley, peas, lentils, and canola. And the tribe’s wellness center includes a medical facility that “has evolved to be a national model for both Indian health care and rural health care.”
- Visit the Coeur d’Alene tribe’s website for more information.
Local schools, by the numbers: .
- Coeur d’Alene Tribal School: All of the school’s approximately 100 K-8 students are Native American. This is one of two Idaho schools run by tribal governments. It is located in DeSmet, on the southern end of the Coeur d’Alene Reservation.
- Plummer-Worley School District: 159 Native American students attend these schools, making up about 46% of the district’s student population.
Kootenai
Kootenai (Ktunaxa)
Get to know the tribe:
- Montana/Canada connection: The U.S.-Canadian border “split the Kootenai people into seven communities — the Kootenai tribe of Idaho, as well as bands and tribes at several locations in British Columbia and Montana.”
- Saving the sturgeon: The Kootenai River white sturgeon was listed as an endangered species in 1994. The Kootenai Tribe of Idaho, state and federal agencies, and the Bonneville Power Administration, have worked to recover this species. The tribe also has its own sturgeon hatchery.
- A 1974 war for land and services: In 1974, the then 67 members of the tribe declared war on the United States, which had threatened to sell the tribe’s land even though it had not signed a treaty. The war was peaceful, non-violent, and lasted only a few days. The government allocated 12.5 acres to the tribe, provided roads, a sewer, and city water, and access to education, employment, and social development funding.
- Visit the Kootenai tribe’s website for more information.
Local schools, by the numbers:
- Boundary County School District: The district has 37 Native American students, making up about 2.6% of its population.
Shoshone-Paiute
Shoshone-Paiute (Numu)
Get to know the tribe:
- The 101 Ranch: The tribes own and operate a cattle and crops ranch, known as the Wilson/101 Ranch. The property totals 938 acres and includes a ranch house, outbuildings, corrals, a barn, feedlot, and holding corrals.
- Wetlands and a reservoir: The nearly-290,000 acre Duck Valley Reservation includes more than 22,000 acres of wetlands and the Wildhorse Reservoir, built in 1936 for irrigation. Today, the tribes maintain several camping areas at the reservoir.
- Rainbow trout fisheries: Anglers can try their luck at Lake Billy Shaw, Mountain View Reservoir, and Sheep Creek Reservoir. The Owyhee River is also open to fishing (fishing permits are required for all).
- Visit the Shoshone-Paiute tribes’ website for more information.
Local schools, by the numbers:
- Owyhee Combined School: This K-12 school serves 277 Native American students, who comprise about 92% of its student population. The school is located on the Duck Valley Reservation and serves Idaho students and tribes.
‘Urgent disparities’ persist in Native American education, and state efforts to help have been underwhelming
The data shows alarming achievement gaps, but progress toward closing them is minimal — or nonexistent.
Idaho schools offer piecemeal efforts to upend decades of Native American miseducation
Some are at the forefront, innovating new approaches. Others lag far behind, with little more than a fourth-grade unit on tribes.
Boarding schools’ complicated legacy still haunts Native American communities
SPECIAL SERIES: Tribes, teachers, and federal agencies are working to undo that history and make classrooms a place where Native Americans are seen and celebrated.
A U of I program propels Native Americans into classrooms and redefines what a teacher looks like
It’s a vital step for students and for education, proponents say.
Native American principals, a rarity, create schools where tribal students are seen and celebrated
But education's complicated history with tribes means those leaders are few.
Idaho had six federal Native American boarding schools — here’s what we know about them
SPECIAL SERIES: A new federal report provides maps and details of the schools for the first time.
By the numbers: Achievement data for schools on or near Idaho reservations
Test results may say more about school systems than about students.
Boarding schools, treaties, and tribal sovereignty: What students should know about Native Americans
Leaders in the Indian Education community have been striving to improve Idaho's curriculum. But those efforts can stir controversy.
Idaho’s few Native American teachers infuse their classrooms with culture
Spend some time in the front row.
Photo Gallery: A field trip to a reservation breaks through an invisible wall
Students who usually learn about Native Americans from books had the chance to experience Shoshone-Bannock culture firsthand.
Video Gallery: Pocatello powwow celebrates that “Native American people are still here”
Elementary students share their vibrant culture with peers.
