Peace Academic Center, formerly Hopi Mission School, in Kykotsmovi, Ariz., closed last fall, and the property is being transferred to the Hopi tribe.

Mennonite Education Agency announced on March 14 that the school closed Oct. 15 after the school’s board decided on Sept. 17 to suspend operations due to low enrollment, unsustainable funding and a lack of volunteer support.

“The closing of PAC marks the end of a season of educational ministry that has impacted many lives,” MEA executive director Michael Danner said in an MEA release. “We pray that the land and buildings will continue to bless the Hopi people under the leadership of tribal officials.”

The school was built in 1951 for 16 students, and enrollment grew to a high of 120 students from kindergarten through eighth grade. But challenges over the last decade, including fraud, embezzlement and the COVID pandemic, were too much to overcome.

The school was renamed Peace Academic Center in 2019 after being dormant for two years following former superintendent Thane Epefanio pleading guilty in 2017 to embezzling almost $1 million from the school. Enrollment averaged four students since it reopened for the 2022-23 school year following the pandemic.

The property transfer was complicated by the area’s lengthy history with the General Conference Mennonite Church, a predecessor entity of Mennonite Church USA. The General Conference began mission work with the pacifist Hopi tribe in 1893. As the education agency of MC USA, MEA managed the relationship between the school and the denomination.

The school sits on 40 acres deeded by President Calvin Coolidge in the 1920s to the General Conference for the purpose of Anabaptist education and mission. MC USA worked to find a way to return the land to the tribe rather than to the federal government.

The school had a vibrant history and once served as a Mennonite Voluntary Service site with support from many volunteers, donors, short-term mission projects, college study groups and education professionals.

“We would like to thank all of the staff, students and volunteers who put so much time and effort into Peace Academic Center over the years,” said Kay Neff of Sedgwick, Kan., who chaired the Hopi Mission School Foundation, in an MEA release.

Neff has been involved with fundraising, building and teaching at the school since 1996, including serving for a time as head of school.

“We still hear tales from teachers and students about their time at the school and how much everyone learned,” she said.

The school facility is home to a University of Arizona extension program and a library belonging to the Hopi tribe. Both are still operating.