“We were just faced with extreme challenges.”Įven amid those challenges, students are claiming what normalcy they can. “It’s nobody’s fault,” she said in a professional tone, with a hint of fatigue.

A Turtle Mountain Chippewa member whose husband and children are enrolled Cheyenne, Foote has been the school’s principal for 12 years. “We normally don’t operate on survival mode, but I feel like we have because of the pandemic, switching to online learning, the deaths in the community, and staff shortages,” elementary Principal Sherry Foote said. We had to be cognizant that if we opened our schools, kids could bring it home to their grandma.” Photo by Jill Van Alstyne / Montana Free Press Marcy Cobell, superintendent of Lame Deer Public Schools, in her office: “A lot of live with their grandparents.

The elementary school currently employs 14 teachers and seven staffers, and the high school employs 17 teachers and 14 staffers. 25, 14 elementary and 12 high school positions in the district are advertised on the Montana Office of Public Instruction’s jobs website. In taking lives, COVID has caused emotional loss and amplified chronic staffing shortages at Lame Deer’s public schools. “She would even walk around the school from one end to the other to make sure there were no kids hiding out.” “She was an auntie to all, getting after the students, chasing them to class, making sure they were OK, just being there for them,” said Carmie’s co-worker, Cheyenne language teacher Victoria Bearcomesout. “We have no nurse here, and she played that role, too.” She kind of really did everything,” said Chauncey Oldman, a junior. “We would see her every year and every day. I used to have really bad anxiety, and she helped me with that.” “She really connected with a lot of the students. “Everyone just called her Carmie,” junior Shandiin Kaline said, remembering Onebear-Williams while giving a visitor a tour of the school. In this tribal community where many people are related, these and other deaths have deeply affected residents, school staff, and students. The high school also recently lost a Cheyenne language teacher to another illness. In addition to Onebear-Williams, a special education teacher, PE teacher, K-12 attendance/truancy officer and custodian have died from COVID, as has a school board member. Onebear-Williams is one of five Lame Deer high school and elementary school staff who have died from COVID, according to administrators and staff. You will no longer be greeted by the high school secretary, Carmelita Onebear-Williams, who died at age 57 from COVID on October 31 after a short absence from school, according to the principal. A student-decorated tipi anchors the commons. The walls are painted with the “Morning Star” team name and Native artwork.

Walk inside and you will be greeted by the Northern Cheyenne emblem - a diamond with four protruding lines representing the morning star - set on a bright teal background. Cows graze nearby, and the school’s unofficial dog sits patiently on its haunches, waiting for a friendly custodian to feed him. LAME DEER, Montana - Two miles south of this southeastern Montana town, Lame Deer High School is nearly hidden among snowy, pine-topped hills.

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