Jennifer Attocknie is hanging posters at South Middle School. They are typical in many ways — featuring smiling kids and positive messages — apart from one thing.

What makes the posters unique is that they also feature Native American youth. Different posters were sent to all elementary, middle and high schools in the district this week, and they’ll soon be hanging alongside others in hallways or classrooms in all 20 buildings. The posters are part of an effort by the Lawrence public schools’ Native American Student Services to provide more representation in the schools.

“It’s making sure the students see themselves in the buildings and reflected positively,” said Attocknie, who is the coordinator for NASS.

While providing academic support to students is one of the organization’s priorities, equally important is providing cultural programming, and with a 100 percent graduation rate for NASS students for the past two years, Attocknie said NASS will expand that aspect this year. Plans for upcoming programming include a hoop dancing class, powwow drumming group and storytelling visits to elementary schools.

“It’s to help them stay connected to their tribes and their cultures,” Attocknie said. “It lets them know they aren’t the only native kid in the class.”

Native American students make up about 5 percent of the Lawrence school district’s population, and a few schools — New York, Kennedy and Broken Arrow elementary schools — have populations of approximately 15 percent, according to NASS’s annual report. Districtwide, there are 556 students representing 94 tribes who are enrolled in the NASS program this school year.

NASS, which began in the Lawrence public schools in 1972, is federally funded by the U.S. Department of Education and the Johnson-O’Malley Act. The goal of the program, which includes tutors, mentors and programming for Native American students, is to enhance and provide support to the students’ overall growth and development through cultural and academic programs for students and families, according to its website.

The posters, as well as the books authored by Native Americans that were distributed last year to all student and teacher libraries in the district, also help to counteract negative images of Native Americans that are often portrayed in the media, Attocknie said.

“The flip side is that most of the time in the media, it’s usually a stereotype, so it’s combating that,” she said.

Some of the programming also serves the dual purpose of making the students and their culture more visible to their peers. For instance, as part of the elementary storytelling program, Native American students from both high schools will read books authored by Native Americans to students at several elementary schools.

“It’s good for them to understand that native people aren’t always in the past,” Attocknie said. “In the classroom, it’s almost always about history, not about current native issues.”

Attocknie said the high school students will participate in elementary storytelling on Oct. 23 — a day the high schools are out of session but elementary schools are not — and that the plan is to visit both a school with a low percentage and a high percentage of Native American students.