About this series: Lee Enterprises’ Public Service Journalism team embarked on this investigation into student welfare within the Bureau of Indian Education in late 2022, as the federal government was reckoning with the troubled history of its system for educating Native American students.
While that system has changed markedly over the years, problems have persisted. Previous reporting and government investigations have identified allegations of student harm at individual BIE schools, as well as systemic problems within the bureau.
Through public records requests, a school visit and numerous interviews, reporter Ted McDermott sought to figure out whether student harm is widespread within the BIE. The result is this three-part series.
