Omaha Public Schools


Omaha Public Schools is the largest school district in the state of Nebraska, United States. This public school district serves a diverse community of about 52,000 students at over 80 elementary and secondary schools in Omaha. Its district offices are located in the former Tech High at 30th and Cuming Streets.

Key personnel

Recent controversy

One City, One School District

On June 13, 2005, the Omaha Public Schools Board and Superintendent John Mackiel announced their intention to annex 25 schools within Omaha city limits to OPS. They are currently part of the Elkhorn Public Schools, Millard Public Schools and Ralston Public Schools districts. This announcement, based on three Nebraska statutes enacted in 1891 and 1947, is known as the "One City, One School District" plan.
This issue is highly controversial in Omaha. 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 into a declining property tax base. Opponents contend that Omaha-area residents should be able to choose from a number of school districts, and 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.

Split the District

The Nebraska legislature passed a bill on April 13, 2006, that addresses the "One City, One School District" issues. The governor of Nebraska signed it later that day. 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. The learning community will be composed 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. Five days later a motion to reconsider AM3142 failed in a roll-call vote of 9 to 31 with 9 senators not voting. The roll call showed legislators from Omaha split six in favor of the three-district plan and five opposed.
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 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, contrary to United States law.
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. 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 North Omaha district, white students in West Omaha district, and non-English speaking students in a South Omaha district. However, the law does not mandate such a result. Within its requirements, new districts may be drawn in several different ways.

Schools

High schools

SchoolMascotLocationGradesEnrollmentOpened
Benson Magnet High SchoolBunnies5120 Maple Street9-121,466 1904
Bryan High SchoolBears4700 Giles Road9-121,878 1971
Burke High SchoolBulldogs12200 Burke Boulevard9-122,047 1965
Central High SchoolEagles124 North 20th Street9-122,612 1859
Omaha North Magnet High SchoolVikings4410 North 36th Street9-121,811 1924
Omaha Northwest Magnet High SchoolHuskies8204 Crown Point Avenue9-121,821 1971
Omaha South Magnet High SchoolPackers4519 South 24th Street9-122,617 1887

Middle schools

SchoolMascotLocationGradesEnrollmentOpened
Alfonza W. Davis Middle SchoolAviators8050 North 129th Avenue6-8679 2013
Alice Buffett Magnet Middle SchoolBobcats14101 Larimore Avenue5-81,148 2004
Beveridge Magnet Middle SchoolBulldogs1616 South 120th Street7-8616 1963
Bryan Middle SchoolBears8210 South 42nd Street7-8829 1964
King Science and Technology Magnet Middle SchoolWildcats3720 Florence Boulevard5-8614 1973
Lewis & Clark Middle SchoolTrailblazers6901 Burt Street6-8829 1960
McMillan Magnet Middle SchoolMonarchs3802 Redick Avenue6-8789 1958
Monroe Middle SchoolMustangs5105 Bedford Avenue6-8823 1956
Morton Magnet Middle SchoolPanthers4606 Terrace Drive6-8759 1965
Nathan Hale Magnet Middle SchoolPatriots6143 Whitmore Street6-8594 1965
Norris Middle SchoolRedbirds2235 South 46th Street6-81,123
R. M. Marrs Magnet Middle SchoolFalcons5619 South 19th Street5-81,356 1962

Elementary schools

SchoolMascotLocationGradesEnrollmentOpened
Adams Elementary SchoolArchers3420 North 78th StreetK-5303 1925
Ashland Park-Robbins Elementary SchoolTimberwolves5050 South 51st StreetPK-6801 1994
Bancroft Elementary SchoolBroncos2724 Riverview BoulevardPK-6728
Beals Elementary SchoolBobcats1720 South 48th StreetPK-6391 1904
Belle Ryan Elementary SchoolBulldogs5616 L StreetPK-6291
Belvedere Elementary SchoolBobcats3775 Curtis AvenuePK-5471 1924
Benson West Elementary SchoolBulldogs6652 Maple StreetK-5575 1910
Boyd Elementary SchoolBeavers8314 Boyd StreetPK-5456 1961
Castelar Elementary SchoolCardinals2316 South 18th StreetPK-5637 1886
Catlin Magnet Center12736 Marinda StreetPK-6203 1966
Central Park Elementary SchoolCougars4904 North 42nd StreetPK-5373 1888
Chandler View Elementary SchoolCougars7800 South 25th StreetPK-6696 1969
Columbian Elementary SchoolCobras330 South 127th StreetK-6303 1892
Conestoga Magnet Elementary SchoolPioneers2115 Burdette StreetPK-6373 1965
Crestridge Magnet Center818 Crestridge RoadPK-6435 1961
Dodge Elementary SchoolWildcats3520 Maplewood BoulevardPK-5388 1964
Druid Hill Elementary SchoolDragons4020 North 30th StreetPK-5292 1917
Dundee Elementary SchoolTigers310 North 51st StreetK-6551 c. 1894
Edison Elementary SchoolEagles2302 North 97th StreetPK-6462 1966
Field Club Elementary SchoolFalcons3512 Walnut StreetPK-5669 1916
Florence Elementary SchoolFoxes4301 North 30th StreetK-5259 1889
Fontenelle Elementary SchoolFalcons3905 North 52nd StreetPK-5594
Franklin Elementary School3506 Franklin StreetPK-6253
Fullerton Magnet CenterFalcons4711 North 138th StreetPK-4526
Gateway Elementary SchoolEagles5610 South 42nd StreetPK-6833 2013
Gilder Elementary School3705 Chandler RoadK-6399 1964
Gomez Heritage Elementary SchoolTimberwolves5101 South 17th StreetPK-4849 2004
Harrison Elementary SchoolTigers5304 Hamilton StreetK-6376 1930
Hartman Elementary SchoolHawks5530 North 66th StreetPK-5483 1964
Highland Elementary SchoolRoadrunners2625 Jefferson StreetPK-6479
Indian Hill Elementary School3121 U StreetK-6637 1890
Jackson Elementary SchoolJaguars620 South 31st StreetPK-6222
Jefferson Elementary SchoolJaguars4065 Vinton StreetK-6498 1924
Joslyn Elementary SchoolJaguars11220 Blondo StreetPK-6477 1976
Kellom Elementary School1311 North 24th StreetPK-6515 1952
Kennedy Elementary SchoolTigers2906 North 30th StreetPK-5230 1916
King Elementary SchoolCubs3706 Maple StreetPK-5375 1973
Liberty Elementary SchoolSuperstars2021 St. Mary’s AvenuePK-6745 2004
Lothrop Magnet CenterPanthers3300 North 22nd StreetPK-4254
Masters Elementary SchoolMonarchs5505 North 99th StreetK-5271 1970
Miller Park Elementary SchoolSimbas5625 North 28th AvenuePK-5368 1910
Minne Lusa Elementary SchoolPanthers2728 Ida StreetPK-5319 1924
Mount View Elementary SchoolLions5322 North 52nd StreetPK-5374 1960
Oak Valley Elementary SchoolOwls3109 Pedersen DrivePK-6302 1963
Pawnee Elementary SchoolCubs7310 South 48th StreetPK-6487 1966
Picotte Elementary SchoolPintos14506 Ohio StreetK-4324 1992
Pinewood Elementary SchoolPanthers6717 North 63rd StreetPK-5222
Ponca Elementary SchoolRaccoons11300 North Post RoadK-5122 1871
Prairie Wind Elementary SchoolStallions10908 Ellison AvenueK-5750 1994
Rose Hill Elementary SchoolRams5605 Corby StreetK-5298 1907
Saddlebrook Elementary SchoolGreen Wave14850 Laurel AvenuePK-5482 2009
Sherman Elementary SchoolSharks5618 North 14th AvenuePK-5205 1888
Skinner Magnet CenterSky Hawks4304 North 33rd StreetPK-5355 1996
Spring Lake Magnet Center4215 South 20th StreetPK-4836 1975
Springville Elementary SchoolEagles7400 North 60th StreetK-5399 c. 1872
Standing Bear Elementary SchoolCubs15860 Taylor StreetPK-4543 2005
Sunny Slope Elementary School10820 Old Maple RoadPK-5424 c. 1890
Wakonda Elementary SchoolWildcats4845 Curtis AvenuePK-5350
Walnut Hill Elementary SchoolWildcats4355 Charles StreetPK-6483 1888
Washington Elementary SchoolWildcats5519 Mayberry StreetPK-6337 1923
Western Hills Magnet CenterWildcats5616 L StreetK-6256 1953
Wilson Focus SchoolLions5141 F Street3-6232 2008

Alternative/specialized schools

SchoolMascotLocationGradesEnrollmentOpened
Blackburn Alternative High SchoolPride2606 Hamilton Street9-12
Dr. J. P. Lord SchoolPandas4444 Marinda StreetPK-12+1938
Omaha Public Schools Career Center3230 Burt Street10-12
Parrish Alternative SchoolPanthers4469 Farnam Street7-12