Omaha Public Schools

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Omaha Public Schools is the largest school district in the state of Nebraska. This public school district serves a diverse community of more than 46,000 students at over 80 elementary and secondary schools in Omaha, Nebraska. Its district offices are located in the former Tech High at 30th and Cuming Streets.

Contents

[edit] Recent Controversy

[edit] One City, One District

On June 6, 2005, the Omaha Public Schools (OPS) Board and Superintendent John Mackiel announced their intention to annex 25 schools within Omaha city limits to OPS.[1] They are currently part of the Elkhorn Public Schools, Millard Public Schools and Ralston Public Schools districts. This announcement, based on three Nebraska statutes[2] [3] [4] enacted in 1891 and 1947, is known as the One City, One School District plan.

This issue is highly controversial in Omaha.[5] [6] Supporters of the plan claim that a single school district is necessary to promote a cohesive Omaha community, ensure academic equity in all Omaha schools and prevent OPS from becoming locked in to a declining property tax base. Opponents contend that Omaha-area residents should be able to choose from a number of school districts, that the schools would become less efficient in one large school district. Discussions among the school districts have been unproductive; the issue figured prominently in the 2006 session of the Nebraska state legislature.[7]

[edit] Split the District

The Nebraska legislature passed a bill (LB 1024)[8] on April 13, 2006, that addresses the One City, One School District issues. The governor of Nebraska signed it later that day.[9] It requires each metropolitan class city to have a "learning community" that consists of all of the school districts in the county where the city is located and any county that shares a border with the city.[10] The learning community will be comprised of voting representatives from each school district and will also include the superintendents of the districts as non-voting members. A learning community will be charged with helping to distribute property tax revenue more evenly throughout the school districts in its area.

In general, a learning community leaves the boundaries of school districts untouched. However, LB 1024 also calls for OPS to be broken into three separate school districts. The exact boundaries for three new Omaha school districts are to be chosen by the Omaha learning community. Their choices are limited by requirements of LB 1024 that each new district consist of contiguous high school attendance areas and include either two or three of the seven existing high schools. That allows about 20 ways to group the seven schools, depending on which adjacent high school attendance areas are grouped with the geographically most central area.

The three-district plan for OPS was proposed in amendment AM3142, introduced on the day the legislature first took up LB 1024. The suburban school districts reluctantly supported the three-district plan, seeing it as the most favorable to them of the bills proposed. The OPS leadership vehemently opposed the plan. AM3142 was approved on the day it was introduced by a counted vote of 33 to 6 with 10 senators not voting.[11] Five days later a motion to reconsider AM3142 failed in a roll-call vote of 9 to 31 with 9 senators not voting.[12] The roll call showed legislators from Omaha split six in favor of the three-district plan (Sens. Brashear, Brown, Chambers, Jensen, Pahls and Redfield) and five opposed (Sens. Bourne, Friend, Howard, Kruse and Synowiecki).

It is suspected that OPS may file a suit challenging the new law. On May 16, 2006, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) filed a suit against the governor and other Nebraska state officials charging that LB 1024, originally proposed by state senator Ernie Chambers, "intentionally furthers racial segregation." The NAACP lawsuit argues that because Omaha has racially segregated residential patterns, subdivided school districts will also be racially segregated,[13] contrary to United States law.

[edit] Demographics

Omaha, NE, area, outlining Douglas County
Omaha, NE, area, outlining Douglas County

The City of Omaha has grown in several steps, annexing neighboring areas. Under long established Nebraska law it is limited to the boundaries of Douglas County. According to April, 2006, information published by Associated Press, the current Omaha public school district has approximately 45,000 students classified as 46 percent white, 31 percent black, 20 percent Hispanic, and 3 percent Asian or American Indian.[14] News reports indicate that division of the city of Omaha into three new school districts, as ordered in April, 2006, by the Nebraska legislature and including current Elkhorn, Millard and Ralston public schools, is often expected to result in black students concentrated in a northern district, white students in a southern and western district, and non-English speaking students in a central district.[15] However, the law does not mandate such a result.[16] Within its requirements, new districts may be drawn in several different ways.

[edit] Key Personnel

  • Superintedent: John Mackiel
  • OPS Board Member President: Sandra Kostos Jensen
  • Subdistrict Board Member #1: Penny L. Sophir
  • Subdistrict Board Member #2: Karen L. Shepard
  • Subdistrict Board Member #3: Shirley J. Tyree
  • Subdistrict Board Member #4: Nancy W. Huston
  • Subdistrict Board Member #5: Nancy Kratky
  • Subdistrict Board Member #6: F.E. "Fritz" Stanek
  • Subdistrict Board Member #7: Mark A. Martinez
  • Subdistrict Board Member #8: Mary Ellen Drickey
  • Subdistrict Board Member #9: Mona McGregor
  • Subdistrict Board Member #10: Barbara J. Dutiel
  • Subdistrict Board Member #11: Bambi Bartek

[edit] Schools

[edit] Elementary schools

  • Adams Elementary School
  • Ashland Park/Robbins Elementary School
  • Bancroft Elementary School
  • Beals Elementary School
  • Belle Ryan Elementary School
  • Belvedere Elementary School
  • Benson West Elementary School
  • Boyd Elementary School
  • Castelar Elementary School
  • Catlin Magnet Center
  • Central Park Elementary School
  • Chandler View Elementary School
  • Columbian Elementary School
  • Conestoga Magnet Center
  • Crestridge Magnet Center
  • Dodge Elementary School
  • Druid Hill Elementary School
  • Dundee Elementary School
  • Edison Elementary School
  • Field Club Elementary School
  • Florence Elementary School
  • Fontenelle Elementary School
  • Franklin Elementary School
  • Fullerton Magnet Center
  • Gilder Elementary School
  • Gomez-Heritage Elementary School
  • Harrison Elementary School
  • Hartman Elementary School
  • Highland Elementary School
  • Indian Hill Elementary School
  • Jackson Elementary School
  • Jefferson Elementary School
  • Joslyn Elementary School
  • Kellom Elementary School
  • Kennedy Elementary School
  • King Elementary School
  • King Science and Technology Magnet Center
  • Liberty Elementary School
  • Lord Elementary School
  • Lothrop Magnet Center
  • Marrs Magnet Middle School
  • Masters Elementary School
  • Miller Park Elementary School
  • Minne Lusa Elementary School
  • Mount View Elementary School
  • Oak Valley Elementary School
  • Pawnee Elementary School
  • Picotte Elementary School
  • Pinewood Elementary School
  • Ponca Elementary School
  • Prairie Wind Elementary School
  • Rose Hill Elementary School
  • Saratoga Elementary School
  • Sherman Elementary School
  • Skinner Magnet Center
  • Spring Lake Magnet Center
  • Springville Elementary School
  • Standing Bear Elementary School
  • Sunny Slope Elementary School
  • Wakonda Elementary School
  • Walnut Hill Elementary School
  • Washington Elementary School
  • Western Hills Magnet Center
  • Yates Alternative School

[edit] Middle schools

  • Beveridge Magnet School
  • Bryan Middle School
  • Buffett Magnet Middle School
  • King Science and Technology Magnet
  • Lewis & Clark Middle School
  • McMillan Magnet Center
  • Monroe Middle School
  • Morton Middle School
  • Nathan Hale Middle School
  • Norris Middle School
  • R.M. Marrs Magnet Center

[edit] High schools

[edit] Alternative Schools

  • Blackburn Alternative High School
  • Parrish Alternative School
  • Wilson Alternative Middle School
  • Yates Alternative School

[edit] Departments

  • Employment Opportunities
  • AAC/Resource/OI
  • Accounting and Finance
  • Adult Education
  • America Reads Tutoring Program
  • Application Center
  • Art
  • Banneker 2000: CEMS
  • Behavior Disorder
  • Budget Office
  • Business Marketing/Information Technology
  • Career and Technical Education
  • Career Assessment Center/Work Keys
  • Career Planning and Job Placement
  • Compensation and Benefits
  • Distribution Center
  • Due Process Hearing Office
  • Early Childhood Special Education
  • Early Development Network
  • Educational Research Center
  • Employess Assistance Program
  • English/Language Arts
  • ESL
  • EXCELS PLUS
  • Family and Consumer Sciences
  • Gifted and Talented
  • Guidance and Counseling
  • Health Services
  • Help Desk
  • Homebound
  • Industrial Technology
  • Information Management Services
  • International Languages
  • Job Hotline
  • KIOS-FM Radio/Television Production
  • Library Services
  • Links to Success
  • Mathematics
  • Media Technology Center
  • Mentally Handicapped
  • Music
  • Native American Indian Education
  • Nutrition Services
  • Occupational and Physical Therapy
  • Office of Accountability and Special Projects
  • Office of the Board of Education
  • Omaha Schools Foundation
  • Physical Education
  • Printing and Publications Services
  • Psychological Services
  • Public Information Services
  • Purchasing
  • Reading Services
  • Research
  • Retirement Office
  • School Safety/Climate
  • Science
  • Social Studies
  • Special Education
  • Special Education Placement
  • Speech-Language
  • Staff Development
  • Student Information Services
  • Student Services Placement
  • Student/Community Relations
  • SubFinder
  • Substitute Teacher Office
  • TDD
  • Title I
  • User Support
  • Visually Impaired
  • Work Experience Program

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes and references

  1. ^ The Omaha Channel (Jun 7 2005). OPS Moves Forward With Annexation Plans. KETV (Omaha, NE).
  2. ^ Statutes of Nebraska, Section 79-409 - Class V school district; boundaries. State of Nebraska (1891). Amended 1947, 1949, 1988, 1996.
  3. ^ Statutes of Nebraska, Section 79-476 - Class V school district; property subject to school tax; management of affairs of district; independent district; merger; procedure. State of Nebraska (1891). Amended 1949, 1959, 1996.
  4. ^ Statutes of Nebraska, Section 79-535 - Schools within city of the metropolitan class; control. State of Nebraska (1891). Amended 1901, 1949, 2000.
  5. ^ Sarah Wilson (Feb 2 2006). Schoolyard Scrap. The Reader (Omaha, NE).
  6. ^ Ellie Ashford (Nov 8 2005). Omaha, suburban districts embroiled in conflict over annexation plan. National School Boards Association.
  7. ^ Nebraska merged its former state House of Representatives into its state Senate in 1934; legislators are called "senators."
  8. ^ Legislative Bill 1024: An act relating to schools. State of Nebraska (2006).
  9. ^ Sam Dillon (Apr 15 2006). Law to Segregate Omaha Schools Divides Nebraska. New York Times.
  10. ^ Sen. Ron Raikes (Jan 30 2005). Introducer's Statement of Intent, Legislative Bill 1024. State of Nebraska.
  11. ^ Legislative Journal. State of Nebraska (Apr 6 2006).
  12. ^ Legislative Journal. State of Nebraska (Apr 11 2006).
  13. ^ Sam Dillon (May 17 2006). Schools Plan in Nebraska Is Challenged. New York Times.
  14. ^ Scott Bauer, Associated Press (Apr 13 2006). Omaha schools split along race lines. WTOP, Lincoln, NE.
  15. ^ Michael Beckel (Jan 5 2006). The Maverick of Omaha. Mother Jones.
  16. ^ See reference 8.

[edit] External link

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