Kaibeto Boarding School facts for kids

Kaibeto Boarding School, once known as Kaibeto Day School, is a public school for students from kindergarten to eighth grade (K-8). It is a boarding school, meaning students can live there, and it is located in Kaibito, Arizona. The Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) runs the school.

Kaibeto Boarding School is quite large. It can hold up to 640 students. The school has 22 classrooms where students learn. It also has four dormitories, which are like living areas for students. There is also one cafeteria where everyone eats meals.

School History

Early Days and Growth

Kaibeto Boarding School first opened in 1935. Back then, it was only a day school, so students went home after classes. It started with 45 students in a group of stone buildings. The local community had asked the government for a school nearby. On average, about 19 students attended each day.

Around 1940, local families asked for a place for students to live at the school. So, a boarding facility was added. This new part used old army barracks.

In 1948, a person named Amos Singer asked the government for more school buildings. As a result, construction began around 1953 on a new building called Kaibeto Primary School. This building was finished in 1954. It had four classrooms, two dormitories, and a cafeteria. However, the original school buildings were still used because there were too many students for the new buildings alone.

More additions were made in 1961. Another dormitory was built, and the cafeteria was made bigger. New homes for school employees were also built. Some older school buildings were changed into apartments. A multipurpose room and four more classrooms were also added. In 1975, the elementary and junior high parts of the school joined together to become one big institution.

Changes in Leadership and Programs

Around 2011, Phyllis Newell-Yazzie became the principal of the school. Before 2013, a charity program helped students at Kaibeto School. This program gave school supplies and clothes to 47 students. However, the charity stopped its service at the school due to problems with how money was handled.

There were some disagreements about the school's leadership in 2015. The school board tried to remove the principal several times. The BIE, which runs the school, did not agree with these attempts at first. After some discussions about how money was being managed, the principal made a change in staff. The school board then tried again to meet and discuss the principal's role. The principal tried to prevent these meetings from happening. Finally, in March 2015, the BIE announced that Phyllis Newell-Yazzie was no longer the principal.

Learning During the Pandemic

During the COVID-19 pandemic in Arizona, Kaibeto Boarding School stopped having in-person classes. Several staff members at the school became sick with COVID. The school wanted to start online learning when classes were supposed to begin again. However, the school had trouble getting electronic equipment for online learning. Staff also could not find the right equipment at the school itself.

Instead of online classes, Kaibeto Boarding School sent paper packets to students. Students would text their teachers each morning to show they were attending. The advisory council for Kaibeto School was concerned about how COVID affected staff and students. They sent a letter to Tony Dearman, who was the head of the BIE at the time.