Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig School
History
The school first opened in 1975. A new facility opened around 1985. It was built as a bus barn and school for automobile mechanics, and it got the name "pole barn". This facility served as the high school, while K-8 classes were in a separate facility that, by November 2014, was in a better condition.
Circa the 2000s the school community began advocating for a new school. In winter 2014, due to snow, a section of the roof collapsed. By 2015 the editorial board of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune advocated for an urgent replacement of the school. The editorial board cited a sewer system that fails during periods of extreme cold and periods of rodents causing infestations. Jill Burcum, the writer of the editorials, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize due to these stories.
In 2016 the United States Department of the Interior got a $12 million grant for a new school for Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig. The current $14,500,000 44,000-square-foot (4,100 m) facility opened in 2018.
Student body
The high school building had about 100 students, and there were 200 students total for all of K-12, both in 2015.
Curriculum
In addition to traditional subjects, Native culture is heavily integrated into the school's programs, while school district-operated public schools mostly follow dominant Euro-American curriculum with some Native cultural units.
References
- ^ "Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig School". Bureau of Indian Education. Retrieved August 11, 2021.
15353 Silver Eagle Drive NW, Bena, MN, 56626
- Despite the "Bena, MN" postal address, it is outside of the Bena city limis. - ^ "'We're going to school in a tin can'". Minneapolis Star Tribune. April 2, 2015. Retrieved August 11, 2021.
- ^ "A welcome end to classes in a Leech Lake Reservation pole barn". Minneapolis Star Tribune. April 6, 2016. Archived from the original on April 13, 2016. Retrieved August 11, 2021.
- ^ "'Enigok. Nimisiwendaamin ji ayaamaangiban Oshki gikinoo-amaadiwigamig.' ('We really need a new school.')" (PDF). Minneapolis Star-Tribune. November 30, 2014. Retrieved August 11, 2021.
- ^ "Separate and unequal: Indian schools, a nation's neglect". Minneapolis Star Tribune. April 2, 2015. Retrieved August 11, 2021.
- ^ "Finalist: Jill Burcum of Star-Tribune, Minneapolis". Pulitzer Prize. Retrieved August 11, 2021.
- ^ "New Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig school is complete but Bureau of Indian Education system is still crumbling". Minneapolis Star Tribune. July 31, 2018. Retrieved August 11, 2021.