How Leech Lake Schools Support Students Through Pandemic’s Constant Change 

Host Leah Lemm (Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe) explores how Indian Country in MN is responding and adapting to the current pandemic health crisis.

Today on the show, Host Leah Lemm looks at how schools are supporting their students under seemingly constantly changing conditions, especially given how internet access has been crucial for distance education for learners and educators of all ages. 

Leah checks in Kim Dickson (Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe) the Learning Center Director at the Leech Lake Tribal College. Kim shares how schools on Leech Lake are supporting their students, especially when it comes to internet connectivity and distance learning.

Reporter Melissa Townsend talks with Dan McKeon, the School Director at the Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig School in Bena, MN, on Leech Lake as well. Dan shares how the Leech Lake reservation school is meeting the challenge for its 220 students from 115 households in an area of rural northern Minnesota where there are spots with absolutely no internet access.

Plus, the 2020 National Tribal Broadband Summit took place in late September. We hear from summit speaker Joni Buffalohead of Indigenous Pact, who highlighted the inequities in internet access and the wide-reaching effect that has in Indian Country.  You can hear all the National Tribal Broadband Summit speakers on the in U.S. Indian Affairs’ YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/bia4432.