School History

The Lillian Vallely School, a fully accredited, Christian elementary day school, serves Indian children who live on the Fort Hall Reservation in eastern Idaho.  The school was begun by Episcopal Bishop John Thornton at the request of a group of elders led by Lillian Vallely, a Shoshone woman and Episcopal Deacon.  During many coffee hours at the Church of the Good Shepherd on the reservation, these elders dreamed of a special school where their grandchildren and great grandchildren might be given the tools to do better scholastically by having their own culture honored and academic excellence expected of them.

The elders asked Bishop John Thornton, then the Episcopal Bishop of Idaho, if he would start a school in the old brick school building next to the church and where some of the elders had gone to school as children.  Upon investigating the situation, he realized why the grandmothers were concerned.   He agreed to help.

We opened January 20, 1998 with fifteen children in a combined class of first, second and third grades in a refurbished room in the old building.  In the fall of 1998, we painted two more classrooms and added kindergarten and fourth grade.  That put us at capacity for the building. 

In the spring of 1999, with a large grant from the Laura Moore Cunningham Foundation, Inc. of Boise and several other gifts, we were able to purchase a sixty-acre farm just off the reservation and move the school.  We were blessed with eight different volunteer groups that summer.  The first was a mission team from St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Dallas, Texas.  Sixteen energetic people tore down six old unusable farm buildings,  made of heavy logs and timber slash.  Seven other groups helped refurbish the old house to convert it to offices and dining room.  We leveled the land, brought in rented portable classrooms, built a deck to join them and opened school on schedule late August.  We accepted thirty children and added fifth grade.

We have since added a library wing onto the old house, built a beautiful playground, replaced the rented portable classrooms with two new classroom buildings, added new concrete parking spaces, driveways and walkways, built a fire suppressant system and constructed a new barn for the vehicles.  The farmhouse, which is not ideal for our purposes and needs many repairs, will be torn down this year and, thanks to gifts from the Gladys E. Langroise Advised Fund in the Idaho Community Foundation and from  the Rev. Robert and Dr. Gina Parker, replaced with a new administration building that will include offices, dining room and kitchen. 

From the beginning, we have had small classes with lots of individual attention.  For the past four years, we have been blessed with an exceptional Head of School/Chaplain, Mr. Ray Boyd.  In 2009, Mr. Boyd completed a process of getting the school fully accredited.  This fall the Board of Directors hired an   Assistant Head of School, Mr. Jeff Nauman, to be mentored by Mr. Boyd and who will succeed Ray Boyd when Mr. Boyd retires from that position.  Ray Boyd will continue  as our Chaplain.  Two nurturing teachers with Idaho Teaching Credentials teach the academic subjects.  In addition, students are taught their native culture including Shoshone language, dance, crafts and Indian flute.  A business manager, a music teacher, two aides, a custodian, two van drivers and a grant writer complete the school staff. 

The students receive frequent invitations to dance and play their flutes in various venues including performances for their peers in other schools.  They have performed for the College of Southern Idaho, for a Smithsonian History of Music event and for a large convention in Denver.  All of this is confidence building for the students.

We teach the Christian faith in the Episcopal tradition, another request of the elders.  We believe that if they are God’s beloved, are proud of their heritage and are given lots of individual attention, they will do well in all subjects.  We take them to events in the majority culture, including symphony concerts, the ballet, museums and plays, all of which they love.  We want them to be comfortable in both cultures, to excel academically and to have the skills to attend any college or university in America if they wish.

We do not charge tuition, because the children’s families would be unable to pay it.  The families help with time and talent as they are able.  Except for the E-Grant and the Government School Lunch Programs, we do not receive government help.  All of the funding for the school is raised from the private sector through foundation and corporation grants, fund-raising events and tax-deductible gifts from many generous individuals.  It costs more than $20,000 each month to operate the school, so we are very thankful for all of this support.