Eastern Cherokees open new school campus

The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians opened a $140 million school campus in North Carolina.

The 473,000 square-foot facility will house elementary, middle and high school students. It replaces old, crumbling schools that were built in the 1960s and 1970s.

"Just look what we have accomplished,” Chief Michell Hicks said at the opening ceremony, The Asheville Citizen-Times reported. “We are survivors. We find ways to do things.”

The tribe obtained the 143-acre site in a swap with the National Park Service. The controversial deal was proceeding through the administrative process but it ended up being approved through an act of Congress in 2003. The tribe gave 218 acres to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Get the Story:
Eastern Band opens long-awaited new school campus (The Asheville Citizen-Times 8/8)

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