School on Navajo Nation to stay remote after radon exposure

RED VALLEY, Ariz. (AP) — A return to in-person classes at a Navajo Nation school will be on hold indefinitely because of a unknown radiation levels, likely caused by decades of uranium mining. A Navajo Nation education official said Monday the presence of radioactive hotspots inside Cove Day School in Red Valley near the Arizona-Utah border recently came to their attention. It’s one of dozens of schools operated by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Education. The tribal council’s Health, Education, and Human Services Committee met with other agencies to discuss why they were not discovered earlier. The school’s 44 students and 13 staff were already working remotely. The Navajo Nation has more than 500 abandoned uranium mines.