Bayfield School District was awarded an $11,227 grant from the federal government’s Office of Indian Education Title VI Rural and Low Income School Initiative, which it will use on a new tutoring program for Native American students.
The district will hire licensed teachers to provide academic tutoring after school begins in September, and bus drivers to transport students home after tutoring sessions.
These services will come at no cost to parents.
“Historically, this is the first time we’ve applied for and been awarded any funding like this,” said Karen Rodberg, director of instructional services with the district. “We’re planning on 45-minute sessions twice a week between September and December.”
The move to provide Native American students with academic tutoring was decided by the Bayfield School District Native American Parent Advisory Committee.
Rodberg estimated that the district has about 80 Native American students, but those numbers fluctuate at the start of each new school year.
“We have Native Americans from 12 or 13 tribes throughout the United States at our schools,” she said.
Rodberg said the district has not yet hired its tutors, but a prerequisite for each tutor is cultural proficiency training.
The number of tutors that the district hires will depend upon how much interest is shown in the program, she said. Similarly, the days tutoring services will be offered has not been chosen.
“I will take a survey on which days of the week work best for families when we receive enough interest,” Rodberg said. “We will build this program even with minimal interest.”
Tutors will help K-12 students with any subject in which they experience difficulty, Rodberg said.
The program’s goal is to help students excel in their coursework at the beginning of the school year, so that they will be more successful throughout the year.
“Some of our Native American students are performing below that of their non-native peers in literacy skills and mathematics,” Rodberg said. “We want to put them on equal footing with their peers and catch them up.”
mrupani@durangoherald.com
