The grade schoolers learn the words for flowers and plants, months of the year, numbers and colors, in English and also in Dakota. High school kids learn general American history — and also all about the Dakota War of 1862, and the largest mass execution in American history, and the tribe’s own Trail of Tears.
For the first time in more than a century, Santee Dakota kids attending the public school on the Santee Reservation in northeast Nebraska are being taught the tribe’s history, its language, its culture.
And it has sparked something resembling a renaissance in this historically low-performing school, school leaders say. Students are attending school more often. They are more engaged. And they are graduating. All of them.
What’s happening at the public school on the Santee Reservation in northeast Nebraska is a story worth telling, which is why I’m thrilled that freelancer Tim Trudell told it for the Flatwater Free Press.
Check it out, and you’ll learn something fascinating (and also a bit controversial) in the present, and also something horrific and so important about the Santee Dakota’s past.
A Lil’ Water Help: “Our Dirty Water,” our series detailing Nebraska’s nitrate-in-water problem, is set to continue soon. In the meantime, we could use your help. Have you received a letter in the mail that the water in your town is high in nitrate, or unsafe to drink? Have you seen a notice or sign warning of unsafe water posted in Nebraska? Shoot us a photo at [email protected], and we will likely use it in an upcoming story.
You Guys Are The best: We set a ridiculous goal in early November. We wanted to sign up 250 new donors during our year-end fundraising drive.
This drive has a very specific journalistic purpose — we want to hire more reporters and photographers, do more investigative journalism and more feature stories from all over Nebraska.
So it’s important, for sure. But the goal? Ridiculous. Too high. Impossible for a small outfit like ours. Really, really sill…
As of Dec. 1, after a flurry of activity on Giving Tuesday, we have received gifts from 317 new donors. And another 300 Nebraskans chipped in for a second or third time. Add up all their donations and then match them — both local champions and the national NewsMatch campaign pledged matching funds — and we count a whopping $84,000 and counting. I can’t even fathom the reality of those numbers as I type them.
These donors are you. You are supporting nonprofit journalism here in our home state. You are powering our push to get bigger and cover more important stories in Nebraska. You really are the best.
News on FFP getting bigger and better, coming really soon…
In the meantime, if you want to re-up your 2021 donation, or help us get to, screw it, FIVE HUNDRED new donors by year’s end, you can do so right here.
Thanks to our sponsor: This week it’s the Platte Institute, which partnered with us early on to build a public payroll database that allows you to easily look up how much Nebraska state employees are paid. We’ve partnered again to add new data on salaries to employees of the five largest counties in the state. We appreciate all viewpoints, and we appreciate the Platte Institute for supporting transparency in government. Learn more about the Platte Institute here.
Questions wanted: As always, our reporters are looking to dig into questions that just cry out for an answer. Complete this form or reach our newsroom at [email protected].
Sincerely,
—Matthew Hansen, Executive Editor
Here’s what we’re into this week: News from around Nebraska
Every week we like to share great Nebraska journalism, no matter who made it. Here’s what caught our eye this week:
- U.S. Senator Deb Fischer (R-Neb) has been working for years to increase the amount of ethanol that can be put into the fuel that we put into our cars. This story from the Nebraska Examiner’s inexhaustible Aaron Sanderford, an important story because it’s about corn in the Cornhusker State, suggests that she’s making bipartisan headway… in part by lining up a highly unlikely ally. The oil industry.
- Speaking of corn… big swaths of the Great Plains and the country are in a serious drought, and it’s sparking new thinking on how we’re going to have to adapt as Nebraska gets hotter and drier. Elizabeth Rembert, a fine young reporter from Nebraska Public Media, talked to experts about how we may have to eat, farm and use water differently.
- Remember that Omaha streetcar that was gonna be funded using no Omaha taxpayer money? Wellll… probably. Maybe. Most likely. The World-Herald’s city hall reporter Jessica Wade is all over this one.
- And finally: Several Nebraska news organizations have done their own reporting on our nitrate-laced water, following up on our series, and we commend them for it. I have pulled out two examples. One, from the Norfolk Daily News, showing that some of the board members of one NRD are not wild about our reporting.
And my personal favorite: Enterprising student reporters at the University of Nebraska at Kearney saw our reporting and did something really smart. They tested the water in the UNK dorms, and wrote about the results.
Matthew’s Rule of Thumb: Whenever anyone tells you that the next generation is bad, ignore that person.
