Recently the Bemidji school board approved the hiring of two full-time Ojibwe language teachers to begin this upcoming 2025-2026 school year. The decision allows the school district to expand Ojibwe language instruction into three elementary schools. The high school already offers an Ojibwe studies curriculum.
Superintendent Jeremy Olson said American Indian students make up 27 percent of Bemidji area schools’ student body.
He said the Ojibwe language positions will be funded over the next two years through a Native Language Revitalization Grant, awarded by the Minnesota Department of Education.
“Of course, the state’s not promising anything beyond that term of two years,” he said. “But what’s supposed to happen is they do believe that that’s ongoing funding, and we should have a fairly good shot at renewing that application as well.”
Olson added, “As sure as you can have things in this day and age, we do believe that is a sustainable program as well.”
Board vice chair Todd Haugen said he was a “big supporter” of adding the positions.
“I don’t think many people realize how many students we have in our district that are Ojibwe students. It’s a very large number, and of course, the number of Ojibwe people in our region being between these three large reservations right in the center of all these,” he said. “And the current emphasis on people learning this language and preserving this language, I think this is a really, really important thing for our district to do.”
However, board member Anna Manecke, the only member to vote against the positions, expressed concerns surrounding a lack of curriculum for the new classes and previous budget cuts.
“We've already taken away a library position, and now we're going to take away more via music and art. It’s hard to continue to see some of this stuff,” she said. “And I feel like those three electives [including physical education] are very inclusive to all. And so also, you know, it makes me uneasy thinking about the potential staff or program cuts coming next spring.”
Manecke added that although the positions are grant-funded by the government, taxpayers are still footing the bill.
Olson said new instructors will develop the curriculum for the classes, which the school board would then approve.
“We want to, of course, treat this content with the same level of rigor as we would with any of our content,” Olson said.
