After the late September theft of covers off lodges, also referred to as tipis, from Chief Joseph and Loy elementary schools, community members stepped up to help replace them and support Indigenous Education at Great Falls Public Schools.
Dugan Coburn, director of GFPS’ Indigenous Education program, told The Electric on Oct. 28 that community members donated two tipis they had to replace the stolen ones and several local businesses offered to help with the replacement costs.
“I’m so proud of Great Falls for stepping forward to support Indigenous Education and replace them,” Coburn said.
Knowledge Keepers from the Blackfeet Reservation recently transferred a triple lodge to Coburn that was used for last week for the Traditional Games with elementary students at Great Falls College MSU.
He said that the large lodge can hold about 60 chairs for people to sit and listen to a speaker, and last week they had 111 elementary students in there sitting on the ground.
Lodges stolen from two GFPS schools twice in two years
The triple lodge will only be used when needed for special events and educational programs. It takes about 2.5 hours to set up and another hour or so to take down, Coburn said.
The Blackfeet Knowledge Keepers had already been planning to transfer the lodge to Coburn, he said, and it timed out that they were in town for the games at the college.
The triple lodge was transferred to him in a small ceremony with witnesses, he said.
Coburn said the stolen lodges were replaced, but have not yet been recovered.
He said the Great Falls Police Department was still investigating the thefts and had some leads.
The district is taking down all of the lodges this week and they’ll be installed at North Middle School for the month of November, with lights representing the 12 tribes on Montana, for Native American History Month.
The lodge covers were stolen by two people sometime between 2 a.m. and 2:20 a.m. on Sept. 29 from Chief Joseph and Loy elementary schools.
Chief Jo is located at 5305 3rd Ave. S. and Loy is located at 501 57th St. N.
The culprits appear to be a male and female, “but they’ve gone to such effort to conceal their identities, it’s hard to tell,” GFPD said earlier this month.
Jordan Lankford, Great Falls Public Schools Indigenous Education for All instructional coach, told GFPD, “the tipi/lodges are purchased by the GFPS Indigenous Education Department and are quite expensive. The tipi/lodges are set up at all 21 school buildings for the students’ education and the enjoyment of our community. A lot of effort and hard work goes in to ensuring all of the buildings have the tipi/lodges. Throughout the fall months, all GFPS students learn about the tipi/lodges and the distinct cultural heritages of our American Indian community. These thefts definitely impact the students’ ability to learn, it’s disheartening to experience and certainly not a victimless crime.”
Coburn told The Electric earlier this month that lodges is the prefered term for the structures and the district has some that are 16 feet and some that are 18, ranging in cost from $1,400 to $1,800, Coburn said. The covers are about $1,000 each.
The suspects only took the covers, he said, leaving behind all the poles and stakes.
The lodges were stolen from the same two schools, Chief Jo and Loy, two years ago in a similar manner with a wagon, Coburn told The Electric.
The district didn’t have as high quality cameras at the time and the culprits were never caught, he said.
Last year, the lodges weren’t installed at Chief Jo or Loy due to the thefts, but Coburn said students at those schools had asked why they didn’t have them so he decided to bring them back this school year, which began in late August.
The covers are marked as GFPS property, but Coburn said he suspects they’d be spray painted and pawned.
Anyone with information on the thefts should contact SRO Shane Stadel at 406-268-6517, send a private message to the GFPD Facebook page or go to P3TIPS.COM. Tipsters may remain anonymous.
The video from school security cameras provided by GFPD is below.
