Photo courtesy Watonga Public Schools / Facebook

Across many parts of the U.S., Native American students miss school at rates higher than the national average.

KLCC’s Brian Bull talked to one educator in Oklahoma, who’s worked to bring down absenteeism and truancy in her community.

Hollie Youngbear (Cheyenne Arapaho) works as the Watonga Schools Indian Education Director.

“I retired two years ago, but they couldn’t find anybody take my place, so I stepped back in and the school let me come back to work three days a week.”

Youngbear says her district’s absenteeism rate is the lowest in Oklahoma. She says she knows all the families and has come by to pick up absent students from challenging home environments.

“Parents who have drug problem or alcohol problems, and they just don’t get their kids up on time. I go out to the homes and pick them up, take them to school. You know, just work with the parents to get them to school.”

Youngbear adds that the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes also help with school supplies, class fees, and rewarding good grades and attendance.

Special programs also help students avoid trouble.

“They have ‘tradition, not addiction’, and they come in and meet with the kids every month and talk about, you know, not smoke or drink or vape.”

The tribal jurisdictional area for the Cheyenne-Arapaho has generations of families, some who were subjected to the boarding school system.

Besides the attempts at assimilation and abuse many encountered, Youngbear says this also may have caused challenges when some boarding school alumni started families.

“They never knew how to actually parent when they got out of school, and so if you don’t know how to parent, then you might not want your kids to go to school. It wasn’t a priority. I guess you could say.”

Youngbear’s advice to school administrators who may be dealing with absent Native students is to work with families, and try to get counselors or education directors from Indian education backgrounds.

“You know, have good grades, and lead them on the path to maybe go to college or vo tech or, you know, just keep ‘em motivated.”

Other challenges that can affect Native American attendance include racism, poverty, or lack of support services.

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— WA State Office of the Insurance Commissioner (@WA_OIC) July 17, 2018

The state of Washington is helping Native Americans access health care after decades of barriers.

Eric Tegethoff has more.

Health insurers have made it difficult for tribal members to get care covered, despite state and federal laws that bar this.

Vicki Lowe is head of the American Indian Health Commission, which has led efforts to remove hurdles for Native Americans.

She says health insurers would try to make tribal clinics charge out-of-network rates and wouldn’t honor their referrals.

However, the Washington State Office of the Insurance Commissioner has come out with guidance to prevent this.

“Not only will tribes have more money to help pay for services for their tribal members, tribal members will get care in a more timely manner. So those two things just are really important, and insurance companies have been a barrier for that for decades.”

Washington is among the first states to move forward with guidance for insurers and also enforcement of the law, so that insurers will stop putting up roadblocks for tribal members to get care in the state.

Todd Dixon is the tribal liaison for the Office of the Insurance Commissioner.

He says one reason for releasing the guidance was that the agency has seen an uptick in complaints – the number one complaint typically coming from billing managers at clinics.

“It says, ‘Hey, we have an enrolled member. He or she was seen at our clinic. We billed the insurance company. They said we’re out of network and so we’re only paying 60%.’ And then they send a bill to the enrolled member. It’s not how it works.”

The Insurance Commissioner’s office has been sending notices to insurers who violate protections for Native Americans.

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