ICS AT-A-GLANCE
ABOUT INDIAN COMMUNITY SCHOOL:
Indian Community School (ICS) is a private, faith-based school serving approximately 361 intertribal American Indian students from 4-year-old kindergarten through 8th grade. The school is led by its mission which is to “cultivate an enduring cultural identity and critical thinking by weaving indigenous teachings with a distinguished learning environment”.
Having served the Indian community of metro Milwaukee for over 50 years, ICS offers students an education based on traditional Indian spiritual and cultural principles. ICS students are either members of American Indian tribes or of American Indian descent and collectively represent over 33 tribal Nations. The school teaches three Indigenous languages as a second language in either Menominee, Ojibwe or Oneida and offers a Family Resource Center that connects families to ICS, beginning with early childhood development. With over 100 full-time employees, more than half are instructional staff serving students. The ICS Head of School is Jason Dropik, who is a tribal member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians. For more information, please visit the school’s website at www.ics-edu.org or call (414) 525-6100. Indian Community School is located at 10405 W. St. Martins Road, Franklin, WI, 53132.
Founded: 1969
Campus acreage: A wooded, prairie, wetland environment surrounds our world-class designed building on 178+ acres located in Franklin, Wisconsin.
School Colors: Woodland florals including blue, purple, pink and green plus the Medicine Wheel colors including red, black, white and yellow.
Our Students
• Our students represent over 40 Tribal Nations.
• Age breakdown of our students: 0-3, K4 through Grade 8
• Our students reside in the following counties: Milwaukee, Waukesha, Racine and Ozaukee.
School Leadership
Head of School: Jason P. Dropik (Bad River Ojibwe)
Chief Financial Officer: Brian Leibl
Director of Human Resources: LaVetta Buckley-Hunter
Director of Communications and Marketing: Siobhan Marks (Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe and Cree)
Director of Our Ways: Mark Powless, PhD (Oneida)
Director of Instruction: Melissa Deutsch, PhD
Our Faculty
Full-time faculty members: 57
Classroom Teachers: 20
Academics
Our Ways Teaching & Learning Framework™ (Culturally Responsive Curriculum)
Common Core State Standards & Culturally Integrated Curriculum
Native Language classes offered: Menominee, Ojibwe, Oneida (Language and Culture)
Art/Music/ Physical Education
• All students in grades K4 through 8th grade have art, music and physical education classes.
• Two musical productions are held each year, one in Winter and one in Spring.
• Monthly Mini Pow Wows take place for students and the community.
• Activities/facilities include: art room/ceramics kiln; music room, gymnasium, Spiritual Center encircled in copper, Place of Nations/plant conservatory representing four cardinal directions, copper Mississippi River and mesas of the Great Plains, 400-seat room called “Drum”/theater in the round.
Athletics
Mascot/Nickname: Eagles
Athletic programs: Volleyball, Basketball, Lacrosse, Running, Soccer, Fitness
After School Programs
After School Study Help Program
Outfit Making Class
Drumming/Singing
Open Gym
News Team and Yearbook Club
Fitness and Running
Volleyball, Basketball and Soccer
Family Resource Center
FAST (Families And School Together) Program
Grandparents Group
Parents Group Meetings
Playgroups
Parent Cafés
Finances
Indian Community School (ICS) receives funding for its operating costs through distributions received from the ICS Support Organization (SO). The SO is a Wisconsin not-for-profit corporation that has been established to invest and manage investment assets for ICS’s benefit with a goal of maximizing sustainable spending for ICS’s educational purposes in perpetuity.
Scholarship
Scholarships to attend private high schools are available to qualifying ICS students.
Scholarship
The ICS alumni group serves to connect graduates of ICS to one another and to the school.
Accreditation and Partnerships
Accredited by AdvanceED
Partnership: Electa Quinney Institute (EQI) at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
EQI and its affiliates serve the needs of Indian Community School and its students by working with ICS staff to support the creation of new curriculum, research of best practices, exploration of new paradigms and innovative collaboration that leads to the instruction of American Indian pedagogy and methodology, both separate from common curriculum and within existing STEM, humanities and social science classes.