Five years ago, Omaha Public Schools launched a Strategic Plan of Action to guide our district’s work through 2025. The plan outlined four strategic priorities: Academics, Staff Financial Accountability and Ethic of Care.
Since 2020, Omaha Public Schools has shared updates on the plan’s implementation. During a June Board of Education Workshop, staff publicly presented a final overview of our district’s progress toward the plan’s goals.
“[The presentation] doesn’t mean that it’s the end of this work,” Superintendent Matthew Ray explained. “It’s meant to show you where we ended in the commitment that we made when we launched the plan in 2020.”
The workshop detailed which goals our district met early, where we’ve made meaningful progress and which still need work. This work is summarized below, and a comprehensive report about the outcomes of each goal is available here.
Priority 1: Academics
This priority focused on preparing students to meet post-secondary expectations by strengthening early literacy, redesigning programs and establishing a high-quality portfolio of school offerings.
Omaha Public Schools supported this effort by equipping educators with the tools, strategies and support needed to enhance classroom instruction, including adopting new curriculum materials and resources across all core subjects. For kindergarten through second grade students, this included learning materials focused on Structured Literacy.
“It contains fundamental skills children need as they learn to read,” Miki Holbeck, Omaha Public Schools coordinator of Structured Literacy, shared earlier this year. “So, letters and sounds, how to blend sounds to make words and how to read and write words and sentences.”
Anticipating more work needed in this area, Omaha Public Schools unveiled its Moonshot in 2025, focusing on all students reading on grade level by 2030.
At the high school level, Omaha Public Schools introduced strategies to increase the number of ninth through twelfth graders on track for graduation. As the plan concludes short of the desired outcomes, staff now have access to “on track” data as a tool for continued improvement. Staff also implemented enhancements to revamp advisement, expand access to advanced academics and focus on freshmen students.
Priority 2: Staff
This priority focused on recruiting and retaining highly qualified and effective staff in every division.
Since 2020, Omaha Public Schools has worked relentlessly to prioritize staff. Our district hosted more than 530 recruitment events, including 391 focused on certified staff.
Initiatives include building a pipeline of future educators, implementing a student teacher stipend, introducing the Teacher-Scholar Academy and growing our Para to Educator Program. The program benefited teachers like LaChe Gatlin, who started full-time at Minne Lusa Elementary in the 2024-25 school year.
“I was able to work, go to school and get my degree and certificate,” said Gatlin, as the school year began. “It felt like a no-brainer.”
Though staffing challenges continue to impact school districts nationwide, our district’s recruitment and retention efforts are yielding positive results.
“While we know we still have shortage areas, we are improving,” said Collette Nero, Ph.D., Omaha Public Schools Chief Talent Officer. “I’m excited to say that our specialists are 100% staffed – music, P.E. and art.”
Priority 3: Financial Accountability
This priority ensured that Omaha Public Schools demonstrated financial accountability tied to student outcomes.
Our district implemented a priority-based budget development process, which allowed for a more defined and structured approach. This included reviewing existing systems and contracts to increase fiscal responsibility and eliminate redundancy.
Omaha Public Schools also completed a five-year plan that identifies future facility needs. This followed the successful completion of Phase 2 of our Bond Program. The program addressed facility and maintenance needs. Since 2020, Omaha Public Schools has celebrated the opening of two new elementary schools, one middle school and two high schools.
Buena Vista High opened its doors for the first time in the fall of 2022. Giselle Sanchez Morales became one of the school’s first graduates in May 2025.
“It’s something that I take pride in because we’re setting the stage for future generations of students at Buena Vista, leaving our footprints behind in hopes they follow them,” she said.
In addition to our new schools, bond work addressed improvements at existing schools and programs.
Another goal within the Financial Accountability priority was to ensure all students had access to learning technology by June 2025. The COVID-19 pandemic fast-tracked that work, leading to an early rollout of iPads and a one-to-one technology initiative.
Priority 4: Ethic of Care
This priority demonstrated an ethic of care for students and staff, which highlighted fostering a caring, inclusive culture that assures all feel value, support and joy.
A primary goal focused on improving student attendance by reducing chronic absenteeism. Specifically, Omaha Public Schools aimed to increase the percentage of students missing fewer than nine school days each year. To support this effort, every school enhanced itsattendance strategies. While not all schools met this goal, some made progress.
Our district has invested in professional development for staff and established attendance teams in every school. Teams work directly with families and school leaders to address attendance challenges, remove barriers and ensure students receive the support they need to stay engaged.
Staff shared ongoing steps toward improvement, including attendance policy updates, building systems of support, implementing early interventions and continued family communication and engagement.
Next Steps
Omaha Public Schools staff have begun planning to develop our district’s next strategic plan, which will carry progress forward and prioritize continuous improvement. On our website, you can follow the work of our 2020-25 Strategic Plan of Action from the beginning of the planning process to reviewing the outcomes of each strategic plan goal.
June 2025
