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Navajo Elementary School in Scottsdale returns to a sense of normalcy

Posted at 10:45 PM, Apr 28, 2022
and last updated 2022-04-29 01:45:01-04

SCOTTSDALE — On Thursday, students, faculty, staff and parents gathered together for an official re-opening ceremony years in the making.

"It's so nice being back at Navajo," says parent Shannon Kennedy. "We're back in our home community here in Scottsdale."

In 2018, part of the 60-year-old campus suffered fire, water and asbestos damage, prompting Scottsdale Unified School District to move everyone to Oak Learning Academy.

When repairs were completed at Navajo Elementary in 2020 and an official re-opening was planned, COVID-19 kept everyone off-campus again.

That finally changed this year and a proper celebration finally happened.

"It's so great to celebrate with this community with our staff and students," says Principal Matt Palzlaff. "We wanted to do something really big... to be able to share with everyone how great we are, how proud we are of all the hard work."

The celebration included a ribbon-cutting, open house, band and choir performances.