About
Bug O Nay Ge Shig School was founded in 1975 in Cass Lake, Minnesota as an alternative school to serve 35 Ojibwe students from Leech Lake Reservation. The school was started in response to parents concerns that public schools were not meeting the students academic and cultural needs.
The school was named in honor of Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig (Hole in the Day), a local Ojibwe who lived in that area at the turn of the century. As Eddie Benton Banai shared at the schools naming ceremony, he fought for our land, he fought for our people, but uppermost, he fought for the future of our children.
From humble beginnings, the Bug O Nay Ge Shig School has matured into a fully accredited educational program. Since that time, the school has transformed its role into a magnet school which serves Native American students living on or near Leech Lake Reservation. After 25+ years, the Bug O Nay Ge Shig School now serves more than 200 students of various tribal backgrounds.
It is operated by the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe and governed by the Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig school board. It is located in the Chippewa National Forest in North central Minnesota and is now a K-12 school that provides open enrollment.
