In addition to a lack of transportation, Gallup-McKinley County Schools Superintendent Mike Hyatt said the new Hózhó Academy charter school lacked an adequate number of teachers for the classrooms. Parents of Hózhó Academy students have also reported that adequate meals were not provided for their children.

Hózhó founder and treasurer Patrick Mason said in a Sept. 27 written statement that student meals were not part of the lawsuit that Hózhó Academy filed against GMCS. Instead, he said, student meals were to be provided by private vendor SW Food Option, but the arrangements fell through.

“We had a private vendor, but the business day before we were set to start, our food services vendor said they were not going to be able to serve us because of pressure they were receiving,” Mason said.

Once their situation was made public, Mason said Rehoboth Christian School, which he described as a “great local school with a long history of high quality education,” agreed to contract with them to provide breakfast and lunch for the students.

“We need to give a major shout out to Rehoboth, because it shows what great things we can all achieve when we work together to better our entire community,” Mason said.

This idea of schools collaborating for the sake of the students was the academy’s reason for asking for transportation assistance from GMCS in the first place, according to a Sept. 25 statement from Mason.