Robbinsdale Ojibwe class taught by non-speaker angers community (fwd link)

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Robbinsdale Ojibwe class taught by non-speaker angers community

Tuesday, August 25 2009
By Robert Desjarlait,

On April 29, five American Indian students walked out of their Ojibwe language
class at Robbinsdale Cooper High School.

“We were tired of the class”, said Ashlee Lemon  (Ojibwe) , an 11th grade honor
student, “We were tired that our substitute teacher wasn’t teaching us Ojibwe.”

The walkout was a culmination of events that began in January 2009. At that
time, Shirley Kampa (Manitou Rapids Ojibwe First Nation), the language
instructor, left her position due to medical reasons. After Kampa put in for an
extended leave at the beginning of the second semester, the position for a
replacement was posted. The job position title and classification level was
listed as “teacher.”

Rebecca Garay-Heelan, Office of Indian Education, said the form was very
generic, “A more detail position description should be written to ensure that a
qualified Ojibwe certified staff is hired.”
She added, “What the district provided is lacking all the info for people to
apply.”

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