12 Michigan’s Efforts
During my research on this subject I was fortunate enough to speak with Senator Jeff Irwin, a member of the Michigan State Senate and an enrolled member of the Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians. The above quote was in response to a line of questioning from me about a recent bill he has cosponsored in the state senate which would strongly encourage schools in Michigan to include curriculum about Indian Boarding School histories. The quote above was more specifically in response to a question I asked about why it has been so difficult to get this bill passed.
The bill in question was first introduced in 2022 by Senator Wayne Schmidt as Senate Bill 0962, which aimed to, “strongly encourage inclusion of learning objectives concerning Indian boarding schools,” (MISB0962). After failing to qualify for a hearing in the Committee on Education and Career Readiness, the bill was reintroduced as SB 876, without any evident alterations. In order to avoid the issue of the “local control” model preventing any real change this bill stipulates that in addition to the requirements for, “accreditation under section 1280 specified in that section, if the board of a school district wants all of the schools of the school district to be accredited under section 1280, the board shall provide to all pupils attending public school in the district a core academic curriculum in compliance with subsection (3) in each of the curricular areas specified in the state board recommended model core academic curriculum content standards developed under subsection (2),” (SB876). Regarding teaching of Indian Boarding School history, the bill states:
“The state board is strongly encouraged to ensure that the recommended model core academic curriculum content standards for history for grades 8 to 12 include learning objectives concerning Indian boarding schools. The state board also shall ensure that the state assessment program and the Michigan merit examination are based on the state recommended model core curriculum content standards, are testing only for proficiency in basic and advanced academic skills and academic subject matter, and are not used to measure pupils’ values or attitudes…. ‘Indian boarding schools’ means entities that had or have as their purpose the cultural assimilation of Indigenous children through the forceful relocation of these children from their families and communities to distant residential facilities where the children’s American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian identities, languages, and beliefs were to be forcibly suppressed. It is the intent of the Legislature that the amendatory act that added this subsection serve as recognition of the following:
(a) That many Indigenous children spent the entirety of their
childhood in school systems without seeing their parents or
families for many years.
(b) That Indigenous children have suffered physical, sexual,
cultural, and spiritual abuse and neglect and have experienced
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