Navajo school to cut one-third of staff to avoid closure

(AP) — Dozens of people gathered in a small Navajo Nation community Tuesday to encourage the tribe's education department to take over a school in financial ruin.

Tribal officials say the school system has been financially unstable for years, paying out too much in salaries while enrollment declines, posting a deficit of almost $2 million last year, and garnering the attention of the Internal Revenue Service by failing to pay more than $100,000 in employee taxes.

Leupp Schools is the only school system in the community of Leupp, about an hour from Flagstaff, that serves students through 12th grade and also has a student dormitory.

Lewis told the crowd of parents, community members and school employees that they had a right to criticize school officials for not looking out for their interests.

The Dine Department of Education has taken over three contract schools in the past two years, including the Rock Point Community School where $1.7 million was illegally transferred to an offshore account in an apparent hacking, federal officials said.