Dropout rate worries tribe, district: Lakeside High School faces high absenteeism, cultural concerns.

Byline: Rasha Madkour

May 21--PLUMMER, Idaho -- Here's the primary challenge facing tiny Lakeside High School: For the past decade, fewer than half of its students have graduated. The rural public school located within the Coeur d'Alene Indian Reservation struggles with what administrators call excessive absenteeism and a lack of parental involvement. But some tribal members say they don't trust the schools, in part because older Native Americans experienced discrimination when they were students. And some feel little has changed. Coeur d'Alene tribal leaders worry that the dropout rate will result in droves of unskilled workers needing jobs. National graduation rates among Native Americans historically are lower than students in other racial groups. But the situation in the Plummer-Worley School District, where about 60 percent of the students are Indian, has reached a critical point, say community members and educators. For the Class of 2004, the latest year for which statistics are available, only 39 percent of Lakeside students graduated on schedule. The statewide average of students earning a diploma within four years was 84 percent.…