28-05-2025
Grand Forks district to offer stoles to Native graduates next year; parent group still seeks beading on caps
May 27—GRAND FORKS — The Grand Forks Public Schools Native American Parent Committee voted Tuesday to formally ask district administration to consider allowing Indigenous students to wear
traditional beadwork on their graduation caps.
The meeting came after students were notified beadwork on their mortarboards would not be allowed at their graduation ceremonies this year. It's a longstanding district policy that no adornments are allowed on graduation caps, but parents say students have worn Indigenous beadwork without issue in years past.
According to some in attendance at Tuesday's meeting, the notification came too late for some families who had already begun beading their students' caps — a prayerful cultural practice often done by older members of a family for their younger loved ones. Eagle feathers on graduation caps, allowed explicitly by state law, will still be permitted.
Assistant superintendents Catherine Gillach and Matt Bakke and Central High School Principal Jon Strandell were on hand for the meeting. Gillach said the district intends to introduce stoles for American Indian students next year that families may bead however they want. The district had intended to provide the stoles to families this year, but ran out of time to have them delivered.
Gillach emphasized that the district wants to find a way to celebrate and honor its Indigenous students' cultural heritage, but that by hypothetically allowing some groups to decorate their caps and not others, the district runs the risk of violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. At minimum, she said, the district will have to proceed cautiously.
"We don't want to be the judge and the jury at the end," she said. "Like this expression is OK, and this one is respectful, this is not."
Chad Ward, Native American liaison for the district, said there's nothing wrong with the stoles proposal, but that the district's response to the issue has left many Native American families feeling like something important is being taken away from the ceremonies. He described the profound impacts of colonization and assimilation on Indigenous families, and that beadwork is an important way for many Indigenous people to practice their culture in their day-to-day lives. For many, it holds great significance to incorporate the beadwork into a day as important as a graduation.
"At the end of the day," Ward added, "with all due respect, this is Indian Country."
In an hourlong dialogue, Indigenous parents discussed the significance of beading the cap specifically.
Jayme Davis, a state representative from Belcourt, noted that many Indigenous families choose to bead the graduation cap because it is the symbol of graduation and the completion of a major milestone in the students' lives, much more so than the stoles.
"Stoles don't equate the visibility that the cap has. That for me, is the difference between the stole and the graduation cap, is that meaning," she said. "And to me — just for me — if this were coming down, it would say to me, 'Yeah, you can be Native, but not too Native. We don't want it too visible.'"
"... It's not just a racial thing, it's a political and cultural thing, and it's specifically for us, because we are the first peoples of this land," Davis continued. "So we're exercising this right, this sovereignty. We're not necessarily asking for privilege to do this. It should be a right for us."
Following the NAPC vote, conversations about beading on caps will continue at the district level, Gillach said.
Immediately following the NAPC meeting, the full Grand Forks School Board heard an update on Native American student graduation rates in the district.
The district is on track to meet and surpass a graduation rate goal set during the 2022-2023 school year, according to Superintendent Terry Brenner. That year, the four-year graduation rate for Native American students in the district was 46%. The district hoped to see that number rise to 80% by September 2028.
Last school year, the four-year Native American graduation rate was 73%.
Brenner credited the improvement in large part to programs and practices instituted by Ward as the new Native American liaison and funded by the NAPC, including celebration ceremonies for Indigenous students completing kindergarten, fifth grade, eighth grade and 12th grade. Other interventions, such as counselor tracking of earned credits, credit recovery options and a partnership with UND to match GFPS students with Native American student mentors, were also highlighted as successes.
There are still questions in the data, Brenner noted. Across district campuses, while 73% of Indigenous seniors are on track to graduate based on credits earned, only 42% of freshmen, 54% of sophomores and 53% of juniors are on track. (For comparison, when looking at the total student body across campuses, 77% of freshmen, 81% of sophomores, 83% of juniors and 84% of seniors are on track to graduate.)
Why do so many Indigenous students appear to spend most of their high school careers not on track to graduate, only to suddenly catch up as seniors? The answer is chronic absenteeism, said district Chief Academic Officer Amy Bartsch. Some 58% of Native American freshmen in the district are considered chronically absent, Bartsch said.
Bartsch called chronic absenteeism a "community issue that we all have to rally behind to support our families to make school accessible to all," and Gillach noted that the School Board has discussed issues of transportation in the past. But she also said the district needs to consider how to ensure the school environment itself is conducive to the success of its Indigenous students. Those conversations are already happening at the campus level, she said.
"Are we representing our students well enough in the curriculum?" she asked. "We work really hard on relationships, and yet we recognize there are some discrepancies between kids reporting that they feel safe and welcome, and feeling like they truly belong."
In other news:
* The district is poised to "open the virtual doors" to Grand Forks Virtual High School next school year, according to Gillach. Registration for the fully online program is now closed, and a pilot group of 26 high-schoolers are currently enrolled. They include 13 from Central High School, 11 from Red River High School, two homeschooled students and 10 students currently on Individualized Education Plans. The district has hopes to expand the program in future years.
* Lizette Miller, secretary at Community High School, was recognized as the district's Classified Employee of the Year. Community Principal Terry Bohan presented her with the award. Two additional district employees were also recognized as the Certified Employees of the Fourth Quarter. Behavior analyst Brittney Hansen was presented with the award by Special Education Director Elisa Diederich, and Viking Elementary literacy specialist Lisa Spicer was presented with the award by Viking Principal Jolyn Bergstrom.
* Discovery Elementary School was recognized as the school of the week during the meeting's "celebrating success" portion. The elementary school is celebrating 10 years since its opening.
* District Business Manager Brandon Baumbach presented the general fund financial statement for July 1, 2024, through April 30, 2025. During that time, total general fund revenue was $113,584,932 and total general fund expenditures were $94,337,173, resulting in revenue over expenses of $19,247,760.
