Monument Valley, UT High School

Monument Valley High School

History

Monument Valley High School is one of five high schools located in the San Juan School District in southest Utah. Although it is on the Navajo reservation, it is a public junior/senior high school serving young people in the communities of Mexican Hat-Halchita, Oljato, Douglas Mesa, Monument Valley and VCA. In 1974, a school community group was organized to assist the San Juan School Board in planning for the new school. For nine years, this group of community citizens worked diligently to see that a school was provided in the community for their children. Previously, the students either attended boarding schools, lived with friends and relatives in other communities and attended school, or rode the bus to San Juan High School in Blanding located approximately 80 miles from the Monument Valley area. It was once estimated that if a student from the Monument Valley area rode the bus round trip daily to and from Blanding with perfect attendance, (s)he would have ridden far enough to have encircled the globe almost six times during four years of high school. Having a school in the community finally allowed the students to be able to participate in activities and still be home in the evenings. It also allowed the families to begin to participate in the education of their children. The school facility was designed to blend with the surrounding beauty of the natural environment in Monument Valley. The original plant was 66,000 square feet. In 1992, the original media center/library was remodeled into a technology center, a permanent addition for the special education program and new library/media center was added in 2002. In addition to the regular junior high/senior high program, the Monument Valley High School building provides adult education, community education and recreation.