The Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton today announced the award of a $3,178,412 contract for construction of new boarding school facilities for more than 600 additional Indian children in the elementary grades at Leupp, Arizona, on the Navajo Reservation.
The new plant will have a capacity of 672 pupils. It will replace a 67-pupil school now operated by the Bureau at Leupp. Upon completion of the new facilities, the present school will be abandoned.
Construction of the new school is part of the Indian Bureau's long-range program to provide educational opportunities for all Indian children. Since the program was initiated on the Navajo Reservation five years ago, enrollment of Navajo children in schools of all types has increased from about 14,000 to over 28,000 in the school year that ended last spring.
Included in the Leupp construction contract are a 25-classroom and multipurpose building, four dormitories with a capacity of 168 pupils each, a kitchen and dining hall, an office building, a bus garage, a maintenance shop, a firehouse and warehouse, concrete sidewalks and play areas, paved streets and parking areas, utility systems, and quarters for 82 employees.
The successful bidder is Craftsman Construction Company, Denver, Colo. Their bid includes $7,000 for providing the streets with bituminous surfacing rather than gravel as called for in the Bureau’s basic invitation. Even with this addition, the bid was the lowest of 19 received. The others ranged from $3,205,700 to $3,710,000.
