OPS Elementary Schools - South Omaha/Sarpy County
Brief Explanation of Area:
The South Omaha-Sarpy County area includes all Omaha Public Schools schools south of Interstate 80 to Giles Road and from the Missouri River to 52nd Street. This area contains early OPS schools built in the 1860s, 1880s, and 1890s. The South Omaha area was filled with immigrant families who came to work in the nearby Stockyards. They included Lithuanians, Greeks, Bohemians, Romanians, Serbians, Croatians, Irish, Mexicans, and later African Americans who emigrated from the South. The City of Omaha annexed South Omaha in 1915, and with that, OPS gained new schools. Many of those original working-class immigrant families moved out of the area. A wave of immigrants from Mexico and Latin America replaced them in the 1980s and ‘90s. Latinos now comprise more than 10 percent of Omaha’s population. The Latin influence is seen throughout the business district.
South Omaha-Sarpy County Map
The icons represent the Omaha Public Elementary Schools located in South Omaha and Sarpy County. Blue represents current elementary schools, and the black icons are schools no longer in existence.
Click on the icons to learn more about each school.
Schools Include: Ashland Park, Ashland Park-Robbins, Chandler, Chandler View, Corrigan (South Omaha District 3), Forest, Forest Station, Garfield, Gateway, Gilder, Giles, Gomez Heritage, Hawthorne, Highland, Indian Hill - formerly West Side, Jungmann, Madison (Albright), Marrs Magnet Center, Pawnee, Pleasant Hill, Riverview, Robbins (Formerly South Franklin), Rosewater (Forest Elementary), South Central (El Museo Latino Now), South Lincoln, Spring Lake, and Wilson
Video - OPS Elementary School History – South Omaha and Sarpy County
A six-minute video highlighting interviews with former Omaha Public School elementary school students Marie Sedlacek (Corrigan), Dorri Ryan (Giles), Linda Stearns (Indian Hills) and Anne Harvey (Corrigan) about their experience attending school in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.
Video
A 3-minute presentation produced by students participating in the 2022 Omaha Public Schools Making Invisible Histories Visible program highlighting the history, demographics, and the 1976 desegregation plan of Marrs, Gomez, Pawnee, and Indian Hills areas of South Omaha and Sarpy County and information on Gateway Elementary School which was completed in 2010.
Brief Explanation of Desegregation/Busing:
Prior to Omaha Public School’s court-ordered “Desegregation Plan” that implemented mandatory busing from 1976 to 1999, schools within the South Omaha-Sarpy area were predominantly white. Students attending the South Omaha schools of Ashland Park, Chandler View, Gilder, Giles, Pawnee, and Pleasant Hill attended Kellom Elementary in 2nd or 3rd grade, and Kellom students attended one of these elementary schools in 4th, 5th, and 6th grades.
Demographics in 2020-21:
In 1974, before court-order busing, Ashland Park, Chandler View, Gilder, Giles, Pawnee, and Pleasant Hill had more than 93 percent white students. In 2020-21, demographics are now 57 to 77 percent Hispanic and 15 to 33 percent white.
2022 MIHV Project
Educational Resources
How to Research the History of a Property
OPS Demographics 1974 to Today - Lesson
OPS School Site Maps - 1859 to 2009
Related Projects
OPS Busing, Desegregation and Demographics
African American Educators & Education
Dr. James Ramirez - Latino Educator
Reflections
Before this camp I hadn’t thought much of Omaha’s history and, to be honest, I hadn’t really cared about it, but MHIV has shown me things I’d never known, and it’s made me a lot more curious about Omaha’s history. It has taught me to see more in a building, to think of its history and how it impacts us today. – Claudia
Because of this program, I’ve become more confident and more interested in research. - Aspen
Omaha is a lot more interesting than I had originally thought, filled with hidden funny little stories. -Valentina
I am so grateful to join this program and create relationships with so many people. - Sierra
Haiku by Brayden
Great Relationships
Different Parts of Omaha
Desegregation
Resources
Interviews July 2022:
Kate Brownrigg, Dundee Elementary
Deb Griffith, Rose Hill Elementary
Rosemary Lawless, Belle Ryan Elementary
Jenny Monaco,
Deb Peterson, Columbian Elementary
Catherine Twitchell, Jackson Elementary
Publications:
The Plan - Desegregation of the Omaha Public Schools, 1981-82
United States District Court Desegregation Plan for the School District of Omaha, May 1976
Desegregation Task Force Recommendations to the Superintendent, October 1998
Other Resources:
The Durham Museum Archives
Google Earth
Google Maps
The Omaha World-Herald Archives
The Omaha Public Schools Archives/TAC Building
OPS.org