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    ‘Fully funded’: St. Stephens Indian School will not close, BIE spokesperson says

    St. Stephens Indian School is not in danger of closing, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Indian Education said this week.

    The federal agency assumed oversight of the school after the administrative upheaval that took place there last spring.

    Despite the timing of the retrocession, the BIE spokesperson said the agency “was able to ensure the school was adequately staffed to support students” this year.

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    “It did so by pulling from its resources and temporarily deploying staff from other schools across the organization while continuing to hire staff on a permanent basis throughout the school,” the spokesperson said.

    As the number of newly hired, permanent staff increases, the number of temporary staff is declining, the spokesperson noted – and now that the academic year is coming to a close and contracts are ending in other school districts, St. Stephens is “experiencing a rise in qualified candidates for vacant positions.”

    The current school organizational chart shows approximately 60 staff members at St. Stephens, down from 90 last year, the spokesperson said, and there are approximately 220 students currently enrolled at the school.

    “Daily attendance rates can vary depending on the time of week or month and have increased recently due to school administration’s implementation of attendance incentives,” the spokesperson said.

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    State funding

    The Wyoming Legislature pulled its funding for St. Stephens this year, but the BIE spokesperson said that decision will not negatively impact the future of the school, as some have suggested.

    “St. Stephens School is fully funded by the BIE and will be able to continue to operate successfully to serve its students,” the spokesperson said.

    The BIE continues to implement Wyoming academic standards and assessments at St. Stephens “so as not to jeopardize (state) funding,” however, the spokesperson said, responding to questions from lawmakers about the state’s ability to fund a federally run school.

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    Some legislators also indicated that the BIE didn’t repond to state officials who reached out to discuss the funding situation at the school, but this week the agency spokesperson said the “BIE has continued to provide requested information.”

    When asked about the possibility of bringing St. Stephens back under Tribal control, the spokesperson said “while the school is BIE operated, Tribes always have the right to apply for control of the school pursuant to the Tribally Controlled Schools Act.”

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