Kotzebue Native Village to construct new building for Iñupiaq immersion school

Kotzebue’s Iñupiaq immersion school is planning to relocate to a new building that will be more spacious and energy efficient, Native Village of Kotzebue officials said.

Nikaitchuat Iḷisaġviat, an Iñupiaq language immersion school, offers language classes and traditional activities, taught in accordance with the Iñupiaq culture. Created by the Native Village of Kotzebue almost 25 years ago, Nikaitchuat teaches students from 3 to 8 years old. Since opening, Nikaitchuat Iḷisaġvait has served more than 130 families, according to the village.

“This vision, which our tribal leadership have had for decades, is finally coming to life, and we’re excited to see it happen,” said Christina Hensley, executive director of the Native Village of Kotzebue, in a prepared statement. “I want to acknowledge the collective efforts of everyone involved for their dedication to nurturing our future leaders.”

[Kotzebue tribal school’s immersion program teaches children Iñupiaq language and lifestyle]

In May, the City of Kotzebue approved the sale of a piece of land to the village for the construction of a two-story facility to house the school and its administrative offices, according to the press release the village shared in August. The 19,000 square feet of land is located at 4th Avenue and Lagoon Street, near the Ashley Johnson-Barr Park, village officials said in the release.

“We are looking forward to having our own facility,” one of the school founders, Pete Schaeffer, said over the phone. “We were hoping it would bring major Iñupiaq-based opportunities and a place to have some of our culturally treasured artifacts and just space for Nikaitchuat children to be more exposed to their cultural heritage.”

A new building could allow the school to host cultural events, without the need to rent space, Schaeffer said.

The bottom floor of the facility is going to be the school and the upstairs will be administrative offices, said Paulette Schuerch, ARPA Manager and Grant Writer at the village.

“Nikaitchuat has been around since, I believe, 1998 so it’s due for its own home,” Schuerch said. “It’s been a dream of this organization.”

Having classrooms and office space in the same building will allow learning, curriculum development and day-to-day business to be centrally located, village officials said in the press release.

The project design is almost 65% complete, Schuerch said. The village is now getting ready to sign a contractor to put in the gravel and is working on determining how many students the new space can accommodate. The plan is to break ground sometime in September and put in more pilings this winter, she said.

The village officials hope to have construction completed by 2026, Schuerch said.

The city agreed to the sale of land on the condition that the village would construct the new school by the end of 2030, according to the city ordinance.

The new school is planned to be a Net-Zero-Energy building, with solar panels, a battery storage room and other sustainable elements which should also make the maintenance more economical, she said.

“We’re trying to do it in a way that it won’t cost us too much,” she said, “which is going to be amazing in the Arctic.”

While the village previously applied for funding from NANA Corp. and the Northwest Arctic Borough Assembly, Schuerch said they plan to resubmit the applications because the details of the project have changed.

Once the construction of the new school is complete, the building where the school currently resides will revert to the Manliiaq Association, according to the village.