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OPS Elementary School History

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2022 MIHV Highlight Video

A video produced by Omaha Public Schools teacher Riana Prudente highlighting the 2022 Summer Making Invisible Histories Visible program and its project - uncovering and sharing the history of OPS 125 current and former elementary schools located east of 72nd Street. (Nehemiah Barney Photo)

https://youtu.be/4 opbra 3IA

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2022 MIHV Participants

Rising Omaha Public School 9th-grade students, social studies teachers, and graduate students who participated in the 2022 Making Invisible Histories Visible summer program. (Nehemiah Barney Photo)

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Conducting Oral Interviews

Interviews with former OPS elementary school students uncovered their experience with busing and their favorite memories and teachers at the school(s) they attended. (Nehemiah Barney Photo)

A group of people, some wearing colorful clothing, are gathered around a table, engaged in various creative activities such as cutting, folding, and writing on paper.

OPS Archive Research

Students and teachers discovered the OPS archives housed in the TAC Building Library. They uncovered pictures, newspaper articles, and artifacts on the elementary schools they were researching. (Nehemiah Barney Photo)

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Mapping OPS' Elementary Schools

Using ArGIS software, students and teachers mapped the locations of OPS' past and current elementary schools.

https://arcg.is/1jXunr0

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OPS Busing and Desegregation Panel Discussion

Students and teachers learned about the OPS busing and desegregation plan from the plan's chair and implementor, from an OPS attorney who defended it, and from students who experienced busing during the first and last year of the plan that ran from 1976 to 1999. (Nehemiah Barney Photo)

In 2022, 24 Omaha Public School students, nine Omaha Public School social studies teachers, three graduate students, a University of Nebraska professor, and many community members worked to uncover the history of OPS’ 125 current and former elementary schools located east of 72nd Street. They interviewed school alums. They discovered the OPS archives, finding old photographs, artifacts, and newspaper articles for their assigned elementary schools. They worked in geographic teams, visiting and photographing each of their school sites. They mapped each of their schools using ArcGIS software. They learned about OPS’ busing and desegregation plan from the people who created it and discovered its effect on students, teachers, and school integration. They learned about OPS’ changing demographics by comparing each school’s student ethnicity in 1974 and 2020-21 and learned how 20th-century Federal, State, and City policies affected school demographics. Lastly, participants heard from OPS district officials to discover how Omaha’s most diverse school district integrates schools today.

Student projects can be found on the following pages.

OPS Elementary Schools - Central Area

OPS Elementary Schools - North Area

OPS Elementary Schools - Northeast Area

OPS Elementary Schools - South Omaha and Sarpy Countyhttps://www.ops.org/Page/6308

OPS Elementary Schools - Southeast Area

 

More information on OPS’ 1976 to 1999 Busing and Desegregation Plan and Demographics can be found here. 

 

OPS Elementary School Map 

Each star represents a current or past Omaha Public School Elementary School. Zoom in and click on a star to find out the school’s name, location, mascot, when the school was built, and a historical and current picture. Thank you to the 2022 MIHV students and teachers for the school research and initial mapping and to Omaha Public School instructor Cory Johnson for pulling it together.