Omaha Public Schools refers to the school district that is regarded as the biggest in the state of Nebraska. It is formed of 46,000 students who study in more than 80 elementary and secondary schools that are located in Omaha, Nebraska. The offices of this school are situated at 30th and Cuming Streets in the earlier Tech High. The City of Omaha has its limitations till the boundary of Douglas County as permitted by the law of Nebraska.
The key personnel that are there in the Omaha Public Schools are John Mackiel as the Superintendent, Sandra Kostos Jensen as the OPS Board Member President. The Sub-district Board Member are Penny L. Sophir, Karen L. Shepard, Shirley J. Tyree, Nancy W. Huston to name a few of them. The Omaha Public Schools (OPS) Board along with its Superintendent namely John Mackiel made a declaration on June 13, 2005 regarding the annexation of 25 schools that are located within the limits of Omaha city and merge it with OPS.
These schools are in recent times partly owned by the Ralston Public Schools districts, Elkhorn Public Schools and Millard Public Schools. The declaration made by Omaha Public Schools was based on three statues on Nebraska, the enactment of which was done in the years 1891 and 1947 and was called as the One City, One School District plan. This was however subject to a huge debate as it was said that it would provide togetherness in the Omaha community as well as maintainance of same standards of education in all the school districts.
Whereas many others held the view that people living in Omaha should be provided with the right to exercise their choice among the different schools and moreover if all the schools would be under one large school district Omaha Public Schools then they will loose their efficiency as well. However the Nebraska legislature on April 13, 2006 passed a bill addressing issues relating to One City, One School District. It was further signed by the Nebraska Governor.
The bill stated the formation of a learning community for all the metropolitan cities. This learning community would be comprised of nearly all the school districts that are located in the county including Omaha Public Schools as well as the other counties that has its borders with the city. It would have voting representatives of every school district and will be consisting of the superintendents of the districts in the form of non-voting members.
Omaha Public Schools
