Cheyenne-Eagle Butte School

Eagle Butte School District 20-1,^[1] is a school district with its headquarters in Eagle Butte, South Dakota.^[2] The district covers sections of Ziebach County and Dewey County.

The district and the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) jointly administer the Cheyenne-Eagle Butte School (C-EB), with the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe being represented in the management process.^[3] The BIE categorizes the school as BIE-operated.^[4]

The school and the community lie within the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation.^[3]

History

As of 2021, the school buildings are scheduled to be replaced by the Bureau of Indian Education using funds from the Great American Outdoors Act.^[5]

Operations

As of 1989^[update] the BIE school entity and the school district have two separate school boards and two separate pools of employees, and the two entities also combine a jointly-operated school board. Kevin Woster of Rapid City Journal described the school as "a federal-state mix of money and staff" and that therefore its budget changes depending on how much money is available from South Dakota state government and/or the federal government.^[6]

Academics

As of 1989^[update] the students take both tests required by the South Dakota state government, including the SAT, and tests required by the federal government.^[6]

Service area

Within Ziebach County it serves Eagle Butte.^[7]

Within Dewey County it serves Green Grass, La Plant, Lantry, North Eagle Butte, and Swift Bird.^[8]

The district has a total area of 1,646 square miles (4,260 km²).^[3]

Campuses

The main school campus is partially in Eagle Butte and partially in North Eagle Butte.^[9]

The system has dormitories for students in grades 1–12. Boys and girls are separated, and students in grades 1-6 are separated from those in grades 7–12.^[10] As of 1989^[update] the dormitories house Native American students who were rejected from other schools.^[6]

Divisions

Divisions include:

• High school (grades 9–12)
• Junior high school (7-8)
• Upper elementary school (3-6) - It is a part of the school district entity. As of 2021^[update] it had about 390 students with all of them qualifying for free or reduced lunch (a mark of poverty) and 98% of them being Native American. There are twenty classrooms used for traditional education.^[3]
• Primary school (Kindergarten-2)

Alternative school

• E.A.G.L.E. Center (for grades 7–12)

Student body

As of 2021^[update] there were 1,143 students, with 98% being Native American.^[3]

In 2009 the school had 800 students, including 30 in kindergarten and 150 in junior high school.^[11]

In 1989 the majority of the students were Native American though there were also White American students.^[6]

Academic achievement

In 1989 officials from the South Dakota state government criticized the management of the school. The management of Cheyenne-Eagle Butte stated that it is working to address the issue though it stated that the school did not have high enough scores and had too high of a dropout rate.^[6]

School uniforms

The school district adopted school uniforms for students in Kindergarten and grades 7-8 for fall 2009.^[12] The Cheyenne River Sioux tribe filed a lawsuit against the school district, saying that the code, announced shortly before the start of classes, forced inconvenience on tribal members.^[11]

External links

• Eagle Butte School District 20-1 - Website for school district management (including upper elementary school)
• Cheyenne-Eagle Butte School - Website for the BIE-managed elements of the school

References

45°00′02″N 101°14′14″W / 45.00056°N 101.23722°W / 45.00056; -101.23722