Our Day to Day
Signs of Transformation
Little Flower Academy
Building from Within
On the Blackfeet Reservation, the Amskapi Piikuni have carried generations of love, laughter, and cultural knowledge. That spirit survived boarding schools meant to “kill the Indian and save the man,” decades of disinvestment, and grief that moves through generations like storms across the plains.
In 2001, Blackfeet parents decided to act. They partnered with the Catholic Church and the De La Salle Christian Brothers to build a school—not as an outside fix, but as a place that honored Blackfeet identity while giving children a strong academic and spiritual foundation. They focused on grades 4 through 8, the years the community saw as most critical. That choice shaped everything the school would become.
Today, we serve 65 in a community of roughly 15,000. Every student qualifies for Free or Reduced-price Lunch, and the regional per capita income is just $13,701. Most children arrive in 4th grade already behind, and the community struggles with meth and opioid addiction.
But this is also a place of joy, resilience, and strength. The tension between hardship and hope shows why community-led solutions matter. The Blackfeet face real challenges—but they are defining success on their own terms.
Brother Dylan Perry
Principal, De La Salle Backfeet School
Based on an interview with Br. Dylan; reported and written by Elisabeth Kawe, Indigenous Wellness, Headwater People
RESPONSIVENESS HAS BEEN PART OF DE LA SALLE FROM THE START
We listened to what families needed. Our vans began picking students up directly at their homes rather than at traditional bus stops.
These practical adjustments, rooted in trust, help explain why attendance has climbed to 95%. That number means more than showing up—it shows we are building a school students want to attend and families trust.
We also practice peacemaking and restorative approaches with staff and students, part of the deeper work of truth and healing: 23 years after our founding, healing is happening—not through a school “saving” children, but through a partnership that strengthens families, honors culture, and walks alongside a community that knows where it wants to go.
For us, success looks like giving students and families the skills to heal and helping the community heal from trauma.
Day to Day, It Looks Like Loving Kids
What does loving kids look like every day? It means supporting them academically, emotionally, and within their families.
I think of one 8th grader struggling with learning differences and behavioral challenges while grieving the loss of a parent. Instead of punishing the student, our teachers sought to understand—and to connect the family with support.
With new therapeutic resources from the Better Way Foundation, we connected the student with a therapist who is also a school psychologist. In a joint meeting with the therapist, parent, and staff, something shifted. The parent gained a clearer picture of their child’s learning and emotions, turning frustration into understanding.
Witnessing that moment—and hearing how it empowered the parent—was remarkable.
Stories like this are not isolated. They reflect what we aim to build: a school where love and support are not earned through academic performance but grounded in shared humanity.
Signs of Transformation
By investing in relationships with students and families—centering repair, healing, and growth—we are seeing both immediate and long-term change.
By investing in relationships with students and families—centering repair, healing, and growth—we are seeing both immediate and long-term change.
Chronic absenteeism once stood at 15%. Today it’s just 5%, with overall attendance at 95%. That shift didn’t come from punishment—it came from relationships: vans pulling up to homes, trust, and creating a school students want to attend.
Parent engagement has transformed as well: 82% now attend conferences, including many who previously stayed away. These strengthened relationships are creating deeper, lasting partnerships.
Long-term outcomes are equally encouraging: 98% of our alumni graduate high school—compared to roughly 65-70% of Native students statewide—and 75% pursue higher education.
Perhaps the most telling sign of transformation? Our alumni keep coming back.
They attend weekly student-led Mass. They sing in the choir. They stop by the office. As one alumnus shared: “That is impact. I visit the school I graduated from. This is a relationship—and that’s the love you were talking about.”
Little Flower Academy: A School Within Our School
After COVID, students were arriving even further behind—most without basic literacy skills. Tutoring alone wasn’t enough. We needed something more comprehensive.
In 2023, we launched Little Flower Academy, combining our 4th and 5th grades into a single classroom. Every 4th and 5th grader at De La Salle is part of LFA, and the classroom is built around highly individualized instruction: two to three teachers and one to two aides for about 20 students. Small class sizes, differentiated instruction, one-on-one tutoring, an extended school day, and extracurricular activities create a culturally grounded learning environment that blends Blackfeet, Lasallian, and Catholic identities.
Teachers group students by reading level—from kindergarten/1st grade to on-grade level—while math accommodates multiple learning levels in the same classroom. Restorative circles, project-based learning, flexible scheduling, formal social-emotional assessments, and a grading system focused on readiness rather than seat time allow teachers to respond to each student’s needs in real time.
Of the students who entered Little Flower, 62% successfully transitioned from grade 5 to 6 despite significant academic gaps. Two students did not transition due to ongoing reading challenges, and three remain at a 3rd-grade level, needing additional time.
Every student shows progress and potential. Beyond that, the academy has become a laboratory for innovation, inspiring change across the school—even on a tight budget.
Building from Within
We are becoming more sustainable by having half of our teaching staff come from the community itself.
In 2001—and for many years after—we relied heavily on rotating volunteers who stayed a year or two. Grants from the Better Way Foundation helped sustain our core operations during that time.
Today we are building something more durable: Infrastructure rooted in the Blackfeet community itself.
Half of our teaching staff now comes from the community. One teacher completed her student teaching with us through Blackfeet Community College and now teaches full-time. Native Studies has been part of De La Salle for many years. More recently, we’ve given it more structure. Our Native Studies Coordinator, from Browning, weaves Blackfeet language and culture into daily school life, including morning assembly, the social studies curriculum, and Little Flower.
Learning on the land has long been part of a De La Salle education. Students learn about plants and landmarks at traditional sites and on hikes. Elders visit the school to share stories and cultural teachings, and students travel to Canada to visit Blackfeet heritage sites.
Language is becoming more natural and expected in everyday school life.
Ten of our 11 teachers hold a bachelor’s degree, but only two are currently licensed in Montana. That gap reflects the challenge of recruiting certified teachers to a remote reservation, but it also reflects our commitment to hiring from the community and investing in people who know these students and this place.
We are building something from within.
De La Salle is accredited through the Western Catholic Educational Association (WCEA) while deepening its commitment to culturally grounded education.
Twenty-three years ago, Blackfeet parents imagined a school that would honor who their children are while preparing them for the future. Today that vision continues to grow—through classrooms filled with laughter, through elders sharing stories, through alumni who return because this place is home.
We often say we are walking backwards into the future—guided by the wisdom of those who came before us while caring for the generations still to come. At De La Salle, that future is being built one relationship, one student, and one act of love at a time.