Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig School is a K-12 tribal school in unincorporated Cass County, Minnesota, near Bena. It is affiliated with the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE). [1] Located on the Leech Lake Indian Reservation, [2] it serves the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe. It is nicknamed the "Bug School". [3]
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. [4]
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. [2] The editorial board cited a sewer system that fails during periods of extreme cold and periods of rodents causing infestations. [5] Jill Burcum, the writer of the editorials, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize due to these stories. [6]
In 2016 the United 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. [7]
The high school building had about 100 students, [5] 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.