Pencils, Shoes and Food: Pine Ridge Principals Help Children Face Daunting Odds
Monica Whirlwind Horse, Marnee White Wolf help impoverished kids triumph.
Oct. 19, 2011 — -- For the children of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, educators can often be a guiding light amid the darkness that poverty and alcoholism bring into the lives of many students here.
For Robert Looks Twice, 13, a star student who aspires to be the country's first Native American president, Monica Whirlwind Horse has been that light.
"The principal's like my mom," Robert said, adding that her daughter Danielle is like a sister to him.
Whirlwind Horse has been the principal at Rockyford School in Porcupine, S.D., for seven years now. Before, she worked for a decade as a special education and literacy teacher at the school. "It's their second home actually. They are here more than they are at home," she said.
Like most families on the reservation, her life has been tragically affected by alcohol. Three years ago, the night before her son's 23rd birthday, he was killed by a drunk driver who swerved off the road. Her son's name was also Robert.
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Rockyford is a public school run by the state. Funding is tied to student performance so the school has to meet government benchmarks for "adequate yearly progress," which is no easy task. "We all face the same kind of obstacles in our paths, attendance, test scores," said Whirlwind Horse.
The school has implemented incentives to motivate students. "Perfect attendance earns them field trips," said Whirlwind Horse, who is proud of her students' progress. "Every year we are going up in test scores."
But the odds are stacked against Native American children. According to the principal, students face cultural barriers on standardized tests which are designed for middle class students whose lives are not comparable to life on the reservation.
Unlike most schools across the country, Rockyford provides each student with the needed school supplies as the families cannot afford them. Pencils and paper notebooks are often donated from church groups.
"People have good hearts and they want to help our kids and we are grateful for that," said Whirlwind Horse, remembering how once an organization donated brand new coats and "it was like Christmas, the kids were so excited."
The principal and the school staff often buy out-of-pocket and anonymously shoes for students who wear one pair year round. Whirlwind Horse says the school has sent letters to well-known sports brands and professional basketball teams sharing their need, but has gotten no response.
According to Whirlwind Horse, the students' need start back at home. Children live on dilapidated government housing fighting the constant pressures of multi-family living. Students are unable to get the sleep they need or find a quiet corner to get school work done.
Most face long bus rides -- 30 minutes to an hour -- to school. That time, Whirlwind Horse said, could be spent catching up on schoolwork. She said she'd love to get iPads for her students so they could do just that, but it's just one of a long list of needs and wants that she struggles to meet.
Marnee White Wolf, 74, the principal at Wounded Knee District School, knows the dire needs of the children on the reservation all too well. One of her students is Louise Clifford, a young girl with a tough home life but a brave spirit who found some of her biggest supporters at Wounded Knee.
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