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Navajo BIA school condemned
SANOSTEE — Sanostee Day School, a Bureau of Indian Affairs facility built in 1966, was condemned Tuesday due to major structural damage caused by a cracked foundation, Principal Jeanne Haskie said in a letter sent home to parents.
The problem outraged Sanostee Day School board member Leana Nakai, who said the board’s pleas to Congress for a new building have gone unanswered.
“They don’t see us. I don’t know why,” she said Thursday. “I want to get a new building, a new facility for our kids, for our community. ... We really need help right away. It’s an emergency.”
Cracks throughout the building run from the foundation to the ceiling. Some have cut completely through the building’s thick cinder-block walls, including in the school’s lobby where light shone through. The tiles in one restroom were held to the wall with masking tape after they began popping off earlier this year.
Cinder blocks have also fallen off the outside of the building. A visible two-inch gap running to the roof also exists between two portions of the building.
The BIA Facility Management Office in Shiprock notified the school’s administration that the building was condemned and would be shut down. That office oversees eight BIA schools throughout the Northern Navajo Agency.
“I have been informed by the BIA safety officer that Building 643’s foundation has been found unstable and unsafe,” Haskie wrote.
Seventy-four Navajo children, in kindergarten through the third grade, have been forced to attend classes in portable buildings and eat their federally-subsidized meals at the Sanostee Chapter gymnasium. They have also lost their library and computer lab. The school is trying to find a place to refrigerate and freeze food.
The school’s administration and the Shiprock BIA office struggled Thursday to get everything moved out as quickly as possible before the building is permanently sealed. Furniture, file cabinets, boxes, school supplies, toys and loose office equipment were scattered in all of the rooms. The Shiprock BIA office is helping the administration to move into an abandoned house 200 yards from the building.
“They need help taking stuff out, that’s why we’re here,” said Steven Garcia, a BIA electrician with the Shiprock BIA office. Garcia and other workers kept busy loading flatbed trucks with office equipment to take to the house.
The BIA’s Public Affairs Office in Washington was notified by The Daily Times Thursday of the building being condemned. They have not yet issued a statement, nor given permission for Haskie or the Shiprock BIA office to speak to the media. Haskie’s letter to the parents was a public document.
“Please continue to send your children to school,” she added.
The BIA provides education services to approximately 48,000 Native American students nationwide.
The problem outraged Sanostee Day School board member Leana Nakai, who said the board’s pleas to Congress for a new building have gone unanswered.
“They don’t see us. I don’t know why,” she said Thursday. “I want to get a new building, a new facility for our kids, for our community. ... We really need help right away. It’s an emergency.”
Cracks throughout the building run from the foundation to the ceiling. Some have cut completely through the building’s thick cinder-block walls, including in the school’s lobby where light shone through. The tiles in one restroom were held to the wall with masking tape after they began popping off earlier this year.
Cinder blocks have also fallen off the outside of the building. A visible two-inch gap running to the roof also exists between two portions of the building.
The BIA Facility Management Office in Shiprock notified the school’s administration that the building was condemned and would be shut down. That office oversees eight BIA schools throughout the Northern Navajo Agency.
“I have been informed by the BIA safety officer that Building 643’s foundation has been found unstable and unsafe,” Haskie wrote.
Seventy-four Navajo children, in kindergarten through the third grade, have been forced to attend classes in portable buildings and eat their federally-subsidized meals at the Sanostee Chapter gymnasium. They have also lost their library and computer lab. The school is trying to find a place to refrigerate and freeze food.
The school’s administration and the Shiprock BIA office struggled Thursday to get everything moved out as quickly as possible before the building is permanently sealed. Furniture, file cabinets, boxes, school supplies, toys and loose office equipment were scattered in all of the rooms. The Shiprock BIA office is helping the administration to move into an abandoned house 200 yards from the building.
“They need help taking stuff out, that’s why we’re here,” said Steven Garcia, a BIA electrician with the Shiprock BIA office. Garcia and other workers kept busy loading flatbed trucks with office equipment to take to the house.
The BIA’s Public Affairs Office in Washington was notified by The Daily Times Thursday of the building being condemned. They have not yet issued a statement, nor given permission for Haskie or the Shiprock BIA office to speak to the media. Haskie’s letter to the parents was a public document.
“Please continue to send your children to school,” she added.
The BIA provides education services to approximately 48,000 Native American students nationwide.
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