Two Important Messages for all friends of the Lakota Waldorf School worldwide!
1) #Giving Tuesday is coming November 30th!
So we are writing ahead to earnestly ask you to please remember the Lakota Waldorf School during this celebration of global giving. Our need is to raise $25,000 – a critical goal that ensures our capacity tobring the power of Indigenous Waldorf Education to children living on one of the poorest Indian reservations in the United States.
2) COVID-19 teaching restrictions on the Pine Ridge Reservation have changed since last year.
Many of you have inquired about the ongoing impact of the pandemic on our work. So, a brief update is provided below on the status of COVID-19 restrictions and our activities since the opening of our 2021-2022 school year.
Update on COVID-19 Teaching Restrictions
Last school year, due to the pandemic, LWS educational activities were limited to home learning packages, distance learning via zoom, one-on-one tutoring, and irregular periods of hybrid schedules combining classroom and home activities.
Then, at the beginning of this current school year, all schools on the Pine Ridge Reservation were allowed to open with restrictions for live classroom session. But this fluctuated as spikes in COVID cases caused all schools to abruptly close several times this fall.
Fortunately, by October, the situation calmed down and COVID restrictions were adjusted by the Oglala Sioux Tribal Education Committee for schools in the Pine Ridge Reservation. We are now allowed on-site teaching five days a week in classrooms limited to 8-10 people (students and teachers combined). Of course, standard pandemic precautions such as mask-wearing and hand sanitation procedures are still in place.
Without a doubt, the pandemic brought unprecedented disruption to the developmental growth and learning progress of students at LWS and everywhere. But we remain flexible and focused on moving forward in re-establishing the healing rhythm of our indigenous Waldorf curriculum. And most important, we have not lost focus on our unique and impactful mission of providing Lakota children, Grades K-8, with the power of an indigenous Waldorf Education – that is an education that interweaves a Lakota language and culture program with the wonders of Waldorf’s age-appropriate and experiential pedagogy.