 | This article may be confusing or unclear to readers.(November 2017) |
Education in Omaha, Nebraska is provided by many private and public institutions. The first high school graduates in the Omaha area came from Brownell-Talbot School, which was founded in the town of Saratoga in 1863. [1] The oldest school building in continuous usage is Omaha Central High School.
In the mid-19th century, Omaha joined other progressive cities in establishing schools for girls. The Episcopal Church founded Brownell Hall, an all-girls secondary boarding school in Saratoga. It officially opened on September 15, 1863. Located at present-day 24th and Grand Avenue, this private religious school was named after an Episcopal bishop of New York, and was first located in the Saratoga Springs Hotel, a defunct resort. Students came to the school from Nebraska City, Bellevue, Florence, Fontanelle, Decatur and Omaha. [2] The school moved to downtown Omaha in 1868, and in the 1920s it moved to a central Omaha location. Today it known as Brownell-Talbot School, [3] and is the oldest continuing school in Nebraska. [4]
Saratoga School at Meridith Avenue and North 25th Street was started in 1866 by local citizens. The one room schoolhouse was one of the first public schools in Nebraska, and perhaps the first in the Omaha area. [5] In 1927, businessmen formed the North Omaha Activities Association to re-develop Saratoga School's playing field into a college football field for Omaha University's football team. At that time the university was located immediately south in the Redick Mansion at the affluent Kountze Place suburb. With new bleachers built to accommodate a crowd of a thousand, the Saratoga Field was home to O.U.'s team until 1951. [6] The community was also home to the Omaha Presbyterian Theological Seminary, which closed in 1943.
The Academy of the Sacred Heart was opened in 1882 to provide college preparatory education to young women in the Near North Side and Kountze Park neighborhoods; later, the school specifically served women in the Gold Coast and Bemis Park neighborhoods.
Technical High School was the third high school built in Omaha. The city's largest public school building was a five-winged building with a large athletic field that occupied three square city blocks between Burt and Cuming Streets from 30th to 33rd Streets. By 1940, enrollment had reached 3,684. [7] The school was closed in 1984, and the building was completely renovated for use as the Omaha Public Schools central office. Today, it also serves as a home for the Career Center and Adult Education programs, serving 700-plus students daily. [8] Omaha North High School at 36th Street and Ames Avenue occupies a hilltop view covering four square blocks. Constructed like a capital E and first occupied in September 1924, the building has 49 rooms, a cafeteria, a gymnasium and an auditorium. [9]
From the 1880s through the beginning of desegregation busing in Omaha Public Schools in the early 1970s, several segregated schools in North Omaha served the city's African American students. They included Howard Kennedy School, Lake School, Kellom School, Lothrop School, and Long School. Other schools in the area with large African American populations into the 1980s included Tech High, North High and Central High School. Into the 1970s, these were widely regarded as the city's "black schools", with de facto segregation based on residential housing patterns. African American students and teachers felt they were kept from achieving equity with schools across the city that white students attended. [10]
A different type of segregation affected the students at the Nebraska School for the Deaf. The School, started in 1870 on 23 acres (93,000 m2) between Bedford Avenue and Wirt Street, between 42nd and 44th Streets, served thousands of hearing-impaired students. [11]
As early as 2005, Nebraska State Senator Ernie Chambers proposed that North Omaha become responsible for educating its own students. Because of a proposal he made, on April 13, 2006, the Nebraska Legislature passed Legislative Bill 1024 that would create three separate school districts out of Omaha Public Schools, including one specifically for North Omaha. [12] The governor of Nebraska signed the bill into law later that day. [13]
Among other things, LB 1024 calls for Omaha Public Schools to be broken into three separate school districts. LB 1024 requires 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 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. [14] Five days later a motion to reconsider AM3142 failed in a roll-call vote of 9 to 31 with 9 senators not voting. [15]
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, [16] contrary to United States law. However the schools appear to be already segregated because of the neighborhoods, and children would have the option of going to any school in the district.
Primary and secondary public schools in the Omaha metro area is served by almost a dozen districts.
Portions of the Omaha city limits are in the following school districts: Omaha Public Schools, Westside Community Schools, Ralston Public Schools, Millard Public Schools, and Elkhorn Public Schools. [18]
There are dozens of private schools in Omaha, including parochial and other types of schools.
| Private schools in the Omaha area | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| School name | |||||
| Brownell-Talbot School | |||||
| Legacy School | |||||
| Gethsemane Lutheran School | |||||
| Good Shepherd Lutheran School | |||||
| Montessori Learning Center Of Dundee | |||||
| Omaha Private Instruction Institute | |||||
| Montessori Children's House | |||||
| Zion Peace Lutheran School | |||||
| Friedel Jewish Academy | |||||
| Omaha Christian Academy | |||||
| Omaha Memorial SDA School | |||||
| Phoenix Academy of Learning | |||||
| Omaha Baptist Academy | |||||
| The Children's Room, Inc. | |||||
| Omaha Hearing School for Children | |||||
All Catholic schools in Omaha are operated by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Omaha.
The Omaha Japanese School (オマハ日本語補習授業校 Omaha Nihongo Hoshū Jugyō Kō), a Japanese weekend educational program approved by the Japanese Ministry of Education, [19] holds its classes at the St. Mark Lutheran Church in Omaha. [20]
Brownell Talbot College Preparatory School is an independent, co-educational, college preparatory day school located in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. It serves students from preschool through grade 12.
The Dundee–Happy Hollow Historic District is located west of Midtown Omaha, Nebraska. It covers the area between Harney Street on the south, Hamilton Street on the north, Happy Hollow Boulevard on the west, and 46th Street on the east. The "heart" of Dundee is located at 50th and Underwood Avenue in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. It was founded in 1880 and annexed into the city in 1915. Dundee is home to Warren Buffett and nationally syndicated editorial cartoonist Jeff Koterba and was the hometown of filmmaker Alexander Payne. Actor Henry Fonda additionally lived in the Dundee neighborhood.
Omaha Public Schools (OPS) 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.
North Omaha is a community area in Omaha, Nebraska, in the United States. It is bordered by Cuming and Dodge Streets on the south, Interstate 680 on the north, North 72nd Street on the west and the Missouri River and Carter Lake, Iowa on the east, as defined by the University of Nebraska at Omaha and the Omaha Chamber of Commerce.
North Omaha, Nebraska has a recorded history spanning over 200 years, pre-dating the rest of Omaha, encompassing wildcat banks, ethnic enclaves, race riots and social change. North Omaha has roots back to 1812 and the founding of Fort Lisa. It includes the Mormon settlement of Cutler's Park and Winter Quarters in 1846, a lynching before the turn of the twentieth century, the thriving 24th Street community of the 1920s, the bustling development of its African-American community through the 1950s, a series of riots in the 1960s, and redevelopment in the late 20th and early 21st century.
Significant events in the history of North Omaha, Nebraska include the Pawnee, Otoe and Sioux nations; the African American community; Irish, Czech, and other European immigrants, and; several other populations. Several important settlements and towns were built in the area, as well as important social events that shaped the future of Omaha and the history of the nation. The timeline of North Omaha history extends to present, including recent controversy over schools.
Saratoga Springs, Nebraska Territory, or Saratoga, was a boom and bust town founded in 1856 that thrived for several years. During its short period of influence the town grew quickly, outpacing other local settlements in the area including Omaha and Florence, and briefly considered as a candidate for the Nebraska Territorial capitol. Saratoga was annexed into Omaha in 1887, and has been regarded a neighborhood in North Omaha since then.
The civil rights movement in Omaha, Nebraska, has roots that extend back until at least 1912. With a history of racial tension that starts before the founding of the city, Omaha has been the home of numerous overt efforts related to securing civil rights for African Americans since at least the 1870s.
The neighborhoods of Omaha are a diverse collection of community areas and specific enclaves. They are spread throughout the Omaha metro area, and are all on the Nebraska side of the Missouri River.
Kountze Park is an urban public park located at 1920 Pinkney Street in the Kountze Place neighborhood of North Omaha, Nebraska, in the United States. The Park is historically significant as the site of the Trans-Mississippi Exposition of 1898.
Racial tension in Omaha, Nebraska occurred mostly because of the city's volatile mixture of high numbers of new immigrants from southern and eastern Europe and African-American migrants from the Deep South. While racial discrimination existed at several levels, the violent outbreaks were within working classes. Irish Americans, the largest and earliest immigrant group in the 19th century, established the first neighborhoods in South Omaha. All were attracted by new industrial jobs and most were from rural areas. There was competition among ethnic Irish, newer European immigrants, and African-American migrants from the South, for industrial jobs and housing. They all had difficulty adjusting to industrial demands, which were unmitigated by organized labor in the early years. Some of the early labor organizing resulted in increasing tensions between groups, as later arrivals to the city were used as strikebreakers. In Omaha as in other major cities, racial tension has erupted at times of social and economic strife, often taking the form of mob violence as different groups tried to assert power. Much of the early violence came out of labor struggles in early 20th century industries: between working class ethnic whites and immigrants, and blacks of the Great Migration. Meatpacking companies had used the latter for strikebreakers in 1917 as workers were trying to organize. As veterans returned from World War I, both groups competed for jobs. By the late 1930s, however, interracial teams worked together to organize the meatpacking industry under the United Packinghouse Workers of America (UPWA). Unlike the AFL and some other industrial unions in the CIO, UPWA was progressive. It used its power to help end segregation in restaurants and stores in Omaha, and supported the civil rights movement in the 1960s. Women labor organizers such as Tillie Olsen and Rowena Moore were active in the meatpacking industry in the 1930s and 1940s, respectively.
The Near North Side of Omaha, Nebraska is the neighborhood immediately north of downtown. It forms the nucleus of the city's African-American community, and its name is often synonymous with the entire North Omaha area. It is bordered by Cuming Street on the south, 30th on the west, 16th on the east, and Locust Street to the north.
Sacred Heart Catholic Church is located at 2206 Binney Street in the Kountze Place neighborhood of North Omaha, Nebraska within the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Omaha.
The Kountze Place neighborhood of Omaha, Nebraska is a historically significant community on the city's north end. Today the neighborhood is home to several buildings and homes listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It is located between North 16th Avenue on the east to North 30th Street on the west; Locust Street on the south to Pratt Street on the north. Kountze Place was annexed into Omaha in 1887. The neighborhood was built as a suburban middle and upper middle class enclave for doctors, lawyers, successful businessmen and other professional workers.
The Miller Park neighborhood in North Omaha, Nebraska is a historically significant community housing a historic district and several notable historic places. It is located between Sorenson Parkway on the south and Redick Avenue on the north, Florence Boulevard on the east and 30th Street on the west. The Minne Lusa neighborhood borders on the north, and the Saratoga neighborhood is on the south. Fort Omaha borders the neighborhood on the west. Miller Park is the namesake park in the neighborhood, as well as the Miller Park Elementary School. In 2017, the Miller Park/Minne Lusa area was ranked as having the 2nd highest rate of homicides and other violent crimes out of 81 Omaha neighborhoods.
Herman Kountze was a powerful and influential pioneer banker in Omaha, Nebraska, during the late 19th century. After organizing the Kountze Brothers Bank in 1857 as the second bank in Omaha, Herman and his brothers Augustus, Charles and Luther changed the charter in 1863, opening the First National Bank of Omaha that year. Kountze was involved in a number of influential ventures around Omaha, including the development of the Omaha Stockyards and the Trans-Mississippi and International Exposition of 1898. Immediately after his death Kountze was regarded as one of Omaha's "old settlers". Today Kountze's First National Bank is the oldest bank west of the Mississippi River, and continues as a privately held company in its sixth generation of family ownership.
Black schools, also referred to as "colored schools", were racially segregated schools in the United States that originated after the American Civil War and Reconstruction era. The phenomenon began in the late 1860s during Reconstruction era when Southern states under biracial Republican governments created public schools for the formerly enslaved. They were typically segregated. After 1877, conservative whites took control across the South. They continued the black schools, but at a much lower funding rate than white schools.
Old Gold Coast is the name of a historic district in south Omaha, Nebraska. With South 10th Street as the central artery, the area was home to neighborhoods such as Little Italy and Forest Hill. The area is referred to as "old" because it was replaced in prominence in the late 19th century when a new district usurped its importance. This area south of downtown was generally bounded by Leavenworth Street on the north, Bancroft Street on the south, the Missouri River on the east, and South 16th Street on the west.
Significant events in the history of Omaha, Nebraska, include social, political, cultural, and economic activities.
