American Indian Academy of Denver supporters rally on anniversary of Sand Creek Massacre

On a cold November night, the sounds of Native American singing and chants filled the air outside the American Indian Academy of Denver.

"I love my school. I love being here. I've been here since 8th grade," said 10th grader Johanna Flood. "I love that I can learn my culture. I never had learned my culture at any other school."

Her mother beamed with pride that she was getting As.

"The school she went to before here was horrible. She didn't want to go. She was missing school, failing," said Robin Flood. The family moved from Adams County to Denver to be close to the school, which draws children from dozens of zip codes.

"I think there's a lot of unique features about their curriculum," said Conrad Fisher, a Northern Cheyenne tribal leader and descendant of a tribal member at the Sand Creek Massacre.

The massacre's anniversary was on this date in 1864.

"Native Americans have been minimized and marginalized and invisible," he said as he spoke about the importance of education. The school features Native American language instruction as well as other unique programs.

"There's some flexibility in what they have to offer, rather than a traditional public school. I think that's what makes it really unique," said Fisher.

The school though has been in financial trouble due to attracting about half the expected enrollment and an inability to obtain enough grant funding.

Denver superintendent Alex Marrero sent out a letter district-wide in October talking about the responsibility of the district as an overseer. The school feared it could lose its charter. It suspended a fundraiser, fearing it was not the time to ask for money from people if the school were to close.

The charter school's board knows it has to raise more money and attract more students but points out that they started during the pandemic.

"We also know that new schools tend to start really small," said board member Nicholas Martinez.

"They allow us to operate and so to say that this falls solely and only on the board of directors here at AIAD isn't quite accurate. There is some real partnership that needs to happen between the district and the school and that's what we are hoping that we can come to terms on."

Martinez says they are hoping for more cooperation with the district.

"I think we have a path forward for that. What we need from the district and the district's responsibility is to come to us and make sure we have partnerships to continue to operate. To help us recruit," he said. And they are working on finding additional funding, but hope for sharing ideas.

"Can we combine with other schools? Can we find a different way to operate our school under our charter, under the district leadership? And that was really the partnership that we were asking for?"