Board OKs changes at 4 schools

Four Omaha schools got the go-ahead Monday night to add new features to their curriculum.

After Monday night’s 11-0 school board vote, Omaha Central High School is poised to become Nebraska’s third high school to offer the rigorous International Baccalaureate program. Lewis and Clark Middle School will seek to offer the middle school version.

And Nathan Hale Middle School and Omaha Northwest High School will begin preparing to become the district’s newest magnet schools. The two would focus on law, government, public administration and safety. Northwest would expand a partnership with Metropolitan Community College to allow students to earn their associate’s degree in a related field, along with their OPS diploma.

Northwest and Nathan Hale will seek federal funding for the startup costs. The level of implementation next school year, officials said, will depend on whether the district this spring is awarded a grant.

“This is good for the district in terms of moving us forward,” Assistant Superintendent Thomas Harvey said of both programs Monday afternoon.

Northwest High School already offers four public safety-related courses for which students can earn credit from Metro and OPS. The plan is to build out that program until the full requirements are offered.

Board members spent most of their discussion on bringing “IB,” as it is known, to Central and Lewis and Clark.

The International Baccalaureate program was designed decades ago to provide a well-rounded curriculum to students who moved often internationally. It requires students to study math, science, social studies, arts, English and an international language. Students also have a community service requirement, take a course on critical thinking and write a several thousand word research paper.

There are 670 high schools and 321 middle schools offering the program nationwide. It’s aimed at students who want to gain college standing or prove academic prowess when seeking admission to top schools.

Susie Buffett’s Sherwood Foundation would provide funding to cover planning and startup costs, including teacher training. The foundation also would cover fees charged to the school and those for testing, which in most cases are passed on to students. Buffett is a Central High alumna.

OPS must apply to the International Baccalaureate Organization to offer the program. The planning and selection process usually takes three years, so the first year of participation would be the 2012-13 school year at the earliest.

Central would join Millard North and Lincoln High as Nebraska’s only IB high schools. Lewis and Clark would join Millard North Middle in offering the program. A high school in Des Moines offers Iowa’s only baccalaureate program.

“The program teaches them to be critical thinkers, not just spout back what they’ve heard through rote memorization,” said board member Nancy Huston, who visited a school with the program in Virginia several years ago.

Cathy Andrus, guidance director at Central, told the board that because all students in the program around the world take the same exam for World History, for example, the focus “has to be about how you use what you know.”

Contact the writer:

444-1037, michaela.saunders@owh.com

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