BIA Report Includes Tazlina's Copper Valley School In List Of Indian Boarding Schools

 First Volume Of Nationwide Report Includes Copper Valley  

BIA map of Alaskan Boarding Schools. (BIA) 

Native boarding schools in Alaska, the Lower 48, and Canada have come under scrutiny in  past years over concerns of abuse and even unreported deaths of students. This month, May, 2022, the Bureau of Indian Affairs has released a preliminary report on the subject.  

The 100 page report from the BIA called "Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report" lays out the initial step of the inquiry, which includes describing the school system goals and methods, and identifying the federal school facilities and sites. 

SEE FULL REPORT HERE 

The BIA intends to identify the names and tribes of the students placed in the facilities, and to locate "marked and unmarked burial sites of remains of Indian children located at or near school facilities."

The BIA says that between 1819 and 1969 the Indian boarding school system included 408 federal schools in 37 states or territories. There were 21 schools in Alaska and 7 in Hawaii, the BIA says. 

BIA's map of Lower 48 Schools (Photo, BIA) 

Copper Valley School of Tazlina, which closed in 1971, 50 years ago, is on the list of the 21 Alaska federally funded boarding schools now part of the inquiry by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. 

Copper Valley School was operated by the Catholic Church. It was built in 1954. The abandoned building burned down in 1976 during Pipeline days. Tazlina Village has been working to rebuy the land where the school was located from the Catholic archdiocese for cultural reasons. 

Story From 1991 Country Journal About Copper Valley School Alumni Reunion