Aneth Community School is located in a remote region of Southeastern Utah near the Four Corner National Monument. The community is within the boundaries of the Navajo Nation Reservation. The School was built is 1965 with one education building, two dormitory buildings, one kitchen/dining building and a small maintenance building. In the tradition of the time, multiple single family and apartment style dwellings were built adjacent to the school facility. Over the years there have been few changes except for the change from K-8 to K-6 and the demolition of one of the dormitory buildings. Until the Summer of 1995 technology at the school consisted of a few computers scattered around in classrooms and offices and a modest number of telephones in administrative offices.

In the Summer of 1995 Aneth Community School was included in a Star Schools Grant as a minor partner for which a new computer lab and a distance learning receive site was installed on site. The key feature of this installation was the microwave tower that provided for full motion video, voice and data to come and go from the school. The two way video/audio connection was used from the start, but, the data connection was not utilized until later. This partnership had shown the need for more technology at the site and the local administration began working on a plan to write a Technology Literacy Challenge Fund Grant and dedicate base funding to the furtherance of technology. In the Summer of 1997 the Office of Indian Education Programs awarded a five year grant to Aneth Community School. That same year the Principal decided to make a large one time infusion of resources into technology.

The Summer and Fall of 1997 was a frenetic time at Aneth Community School. First to come was an extensive wiring project which entailed data, voice and video cabling being pulled in all the buildings on campus and being tied together by a fiber optic backbone. Shortly after the new year we received forty-four new computers and a new server. One new computer was put into every classroom for teacher use along with administrative offices. Additionally, computer mini-labs were established in the kindergarten to third grade and color printers were placed in every classroom. Through the Spring and Summer of 1998 we selected 27 inch televisions with internal scan converters and placed them into each classroom also.

With the campus cabled and computers, printers and display devices into each classroom attention was focused on campus communications and faculty development. Major projects in the Summer of 1998 included the installation of a video head end system, a telephone system complete with phones in every classroom, voice mail and a digital satellite downlink which brought eight bachelors and four masters degrees to Aneth via distance learning technologies.

All along we have kept an eye on how quickly the faculty and staff will assimilate new hardware and software. Ample opportunities have been provided in small clinics on Fridays and during week long session held once or twice a year. Attention has always been placed upon creating an atmosphere for success by the learner.

The future looks bright as we head into our third year of funding. The foundation is solid as we look to turn the corner and attempt to create an environment where computers and pencils are equal in their appropriate tasks and classroom teachers become coaches and facilitators of all the learning tools at their command. Students, parents, faculty, school board members and administrators all agree that there is a special excitement at Aneth Community School that has not been here for along time.