Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig School is a K-12 tribal school inunincorporatedCass County, Minnesota, nearBena. It is affiliated with theBureau of Indian Education (BIE).[1] Located on theLeech Lake Indian Reservation,[2] it serves theLeech Lake Band of Ojibwe. It is nicknamed the "Bug School".[3]
The name means 'Hole in the Day'.[4]
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".[2] 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.[5]
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 theMinneapolis Star-Tribune advocated for an urgent replacement of the school.[2] The editorial board cited a sewer system that fails during periods of extreme cold and periods of rodents causing infestations.[6] Jill Burcum, the writer of the editorials, was a finalist for thePulitzer Prize due to these stories.[7]
In 2016 theUnited States Department of the Interior got a $12 million grant for a new school for Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig.[3] The current $14,500,000 44,000-square-foot (4,100 m2) facility opened in 2018.[8]
The high school building had about 100 students,[6] and there were 200 students total for all of K-12, both in 2015.[2]
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.[2]
15353 Silver Eagle Drive NW, Bena, MN, 56626- Despite the "Bena, MN" postal address, it is outside of the Bena city limis.
47°21′41″N94°18′27″W / 47.3613°N 94.3074°W /47.3613; -94.3074