TAMA, Iowa (KCRG) – President Joe Biden formally apologized to Indian tribes for abuse of native children who were often separated from their families and attended American boarding schools.

One such school was in Toledo, where children from the Meskwaki tribe were forced to attend.

Students at Meskwaki High School in Tama watched Biden’s televised apology in their social studies class taught by Meskwaki tribal member Leah Slick-Driscoll.

“Around 973 children died in the boarding schools. Some were sent home, some were buried there on the school grounds, says Slick-Driscoll.

Slick-Driscoll’s own grandmother was a student at one of the boarding schools. She said it’s important for students to learn about Native American history that doesn’t always make it into history books.

“To take that away, for any student, is a loss for any American student. But for Native students, it’s especially damaging to marginalize their history and put them in as a side note here and there,” Slick-Driscoll said.

Slick-Driscoll says Biden’s apology is a good start to making amends even though those who abused the boarding school children are no longer alive.

“We know that the people living today are not responsible for your knowledge of past events. So learning about them is just trying to learn from the past to move forward in a better way,” says Slick-Driscoll.

Although the Toledo boarding school has been closed for decades, the building still stands and is used as an apartment complex. But the story behind it remains.

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