Bismarck Public Schools makes amends with IPAC, agrees to Memorandum of Understanding

The district and committee conclude mediation process, continue to work together

Bismarck Public Schools and the Indigenous Parent Advisory Committee are moving forward after a breakdown in relations led to an internal investigation.

At a meeting on Jan. 11, 2023, the prior school administration issued what former IPAC chairperson Billi Jo Beheler referred to as an “order of no contact” between the IPAC and Sashay Schettler, the Local Education Agency liaison for the federal Johnson O’Malley Program and Title VI Indian Education Program. Schettler defined it differently; she said there was a decision that “no BPS staff would be required to meet with IPAC until an apology was issued.”

Indigenous Parent Advisory Committee members said in the Jan. 31 meeting they had requested a director’s report, financial expenditures of grants, and grant objective updates, among other items. The requests resulted in the district initiating an investigation. IPAC board members said they only received the requested grant information one week before the recent IPAC gathering, more than a year after their request. 

Board members said they received no communication and felt silenced during the ensuing delay. 

The investigation was concluded on April 13, 2023. IPAC officers received an email regarding the decision on April 25. During the time of the investigation, BPS staff and IPAC board members remained disconnected. Billi Jo Beheler, the former IPAC chairperson, said in an email that “following the conclusion of the investigation, the IPAC was notified on April 28, 2023 that BPS wanted to continue the professional working relationship between the BPS Indigenous Education Department and the IPAC by moving forward with mediation.” 

Schettler, the Indigenous Education director at BPS, said she wanted to help restore the connection. “The mediation process came about as a result of some difficulties in the relationship between the district and the IPAC, so the district was looking for ways to improve that relationship,” Schettler said.

During the time of the investigation, IPAC lost access to meeting minutes and notes held in the district’s Google Docs. “Their accessibility was turned off while we were in the investigation, and then after we went through mediation, it was turned back on so that they could access it,” Schettler said.

Hollie Mackey, an associate professor of educational and organizational leadership at North Dakota State University, and Carmelita Lam, a grant coordinator at the University of Mary, served as third-party mediators during the process. Mackey was brought in so she could look at the situation from an outside perspective and figure out the best way to move forward productively. After a comprehensive evaluation of the situation, Schettler said Mackey and Lam gave some recommendations. 

“We worked with them to find the source of some of the miscommunication and work on how we would build that relationship out moving forward,” Schettler said.

When the mediation process concluded in the fall, IPAC members began working to set up their first meeting in a year and a half. IPAC convened on Jan. 31 to voice concerns about how the investigation affected operations and called for more representation to reflect the Indigenous student population in the district. 

They agreed to work together to create a Memorandum of Understanding. BPS staff and IPAC council members met on Feb. 9 to begin outlining the bones of what the MOU would look like. Schettler said the MOU will articulate how BPS and IPAC will serve Bismarck’s Indigenous community. In addition, the memorandum will define the roles and relationships of the district and the committee and list how they’ll interact and solve the conflict together.

“One of the main pieces of the MOU was to highlight the investment that the district has made and renew the commitment that we have to Indigenous students and families, then make sure that we’re creating sustainable processes together,” Schettler said.

Steven Koontz, the director of community relations, and Schettler told Buffalo’s Fire in an interview that BPS wants to move forward with IPAC “in a good way.” Addressing previous concerns of representation, Schettler credits BPS and IPAC’s advocacy to growing the department and demonstrating the need to support the district’s Indigenous students. 

The Indigenous Education Department has grown from one person to a whole team. BPS added its first two cultural response coordinators in 2018 and 2019. Now, BPS has three cultural response coordinators, an Indian Education Director and a Curriculum and Instruction Specialist. Koontz said he is excited to watch the department continue to grow and adjust to better assist the district’s Native families. 

“I think we mainly just want to emphasize that the work that goes on to support Indigenous families with our Indian Education program occurs on a day-to-day basis,” said Koontz. “All the things that happen at individual building levels with different students and our cultural response coordinators really serve the population.”

Fostering a positive relationship and collaborating with IPAC is essential to assisting the district’s students. “I’m just really hopeful and excited for this renewed commitment,” said Schettler. “The systems that our Indigenous students operate in… are instrumental with parent input.”

Beheler, who is also the co-founder and executive director of Oun, a non-profit community development organization, said working with the IPAC is some of the most rewarding advocacy work that she’s ever done. The former IPAC chairperson thanked her committee colleagues Alicia Hegland Thorpe and Natasha Gourd, who served as the former secretary and vice chairperson, respectively. 

“I would like to express my gratitude for the opportunity to have served our Indigenous children, families, and community,” wrote Beheler in an email. “We must always remember that having the appropriate individuals in positions of leadership is of utmost importance. Adequate representation that is truly representative of families and children is essential to the achievement of success for the future generations.”

Though Beheler and the other former IPAC officers have concluded their five-year term, she still plans on regularly attending meetings and participating as a parent. Heather Demaray, a mother of three and citizen of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, was elected as the new IPAC chairperson during a Feb. 28 meeting. 

“We extend our best wishes to the newly elected members of the IPAC, and we are confident that they will continue the good work and have a positive impact on our school district,” Beheler wrote.

Dateline:

BISMARCK, N.D.