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Central High School PEP/PTSA: Information Regarding the Proposed Changes to High School Programing

March 7, 2021

Information Regarding the Proposed Changes to High School Programing

We wanted to update you regarding our efforts to stop the implementation of block scheduling and the Academies/Pathways.

What We Are Asking
We are asking board members for three specific things:
 do not require that Central and South change to block scheduling
 do not implement Academies/Pathways in 2021-2022
 do not require all students to participate in Academies/Pathways.

Petition
We have written a petition and posted it on change.org. You can access the petition by clicking the link below. Please forward to anyone and everyone, post on social media, and make some noise. The content of the petition is as follows:

To Omaha Public School Board Members,

This is a reminder that you represent us, your community. We are
students, parents, educators, and tax payers. Please listen to what we have to say.

Let each high school determine the scheduling format that best suits the
needs of the students, teachers, and programs at that school. Keep choice in our district; we are not all the same.

Do not allow the implementation of the proposed Academies and
Pathways to begin in the 2021-2022 school year. No one has asked us what we would really like at our schools. We have a lot of great ideas and we need time to help the district put these programs in place. Also, we’re tired. This past year has been hard, scary, and frustrating. We just want to focus on getting back on our feet and catching up on lost learning before tackling something new.

Remember that everyone needs an opportunity—an opportunity to choose their own best path. This might be in an Academy or Pathway, or it might be with a liberal arts education. Don’t require that each student participate in an Academy or Pathway. Again, we are not all the same.

Thank you for hearing us.
https://www.change.org/opschanges

Board Meeting
We would also like to encourage you to attend the next board meeting. This will be on Tuesday, March 16 at 6:30 at the TAC building (3215 Cuming Street). If you would like to speak, you will need to arrive around 6pm to fill out a form. At the previous board meeting, we had nine people speak out against the changes. On March 16, we are hoping that there will be at least double that amount. We are especially interested in having students attend to let their voices be heard.

One-on-one Meeting
As your co-presidents, we will be meeting on Tuesday, March 9, with board member Nick Thielen. He represents a large portion of Central’s attendance area. We plan to discuss with him the concerns our members have been expressing, and ask for him to halt the curriculum changes. If you have any direct message that you would like Nick to hear, feel free to email us and we will relay your comments.

Form Letter
Several people have asked for a form letter that they can send to school board members. We have written a letter that you can use and modify as you wish. When sending the letter, you do not need to limit sending it to just your board representative. Please send it to each board member so everyone knows of our concerns.

Dr. Shavonna Holman – shavonna.holman@ops.org
Jane Erdenberger – jane.erdenberger@ops.org
Ricky Smith – ricky.smith@ops.org
Marque Snow – marque.snow@ops.org
Spencer Head – spencer.head@ops.org
Nick Thielen – nick.thielen@ops.org
Nancy Kratky – nancy.kratky@ops.org
Tracy Casady – tracy.casady@ops.org
Kimara Snipes – kimara.snipes@ops.org

If you have any questions about what is being proposed by the district, please feel free to reach out to either Kim (402-660-6689) or Laura (402-740-3559). We have been gathering a lot of facts and figures and are happy to share what we are learning.

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