Lewis and Clark Middle School: Get ready for sixth-graders.
The Omaha school board is likely to approve a proposal Monday that would make room at the central Omaha school for students from the metro area’s focus school.
Students from across the metro area could continue their studies in leadership, technology and communication at 6901 Burt St. That isn’t far from the focus school — which now serves students in grades three through six — at 90th Street and Western Avenue in the Westside district.
The Focus School at Underwood Hills is operated jointly by the Omaha, Westside and Elkhorn districts. Before the school opened, the districts committed to having students move among them as they advanced through middle and high school.
All three districts would need to agree on Lewis and Clark as the middle school site. Based on the earlier agreement, that would leave Elkhorn as the program’s high school district, since the elementary school is in the Westside district.
The OPS board will vote on the issue Monday in order to ensure that there is room for focus school students at Lewis and Clark when the school’s capacity is officially determined, said OPS spokeswoman Luanne Nelson.
Under the OPS proposal, the focus school’s seventh-graders would attend Lewis and Clark in the fall. And in school year 2011-12, both sixth- and seventh-graders from the focus school would attend the middle school.
That is the same school year when Lewis and Clark is expected to model how it would operate an International Baccalaureate program for students in grades six, seven and eight.
It is unclear at this point just how many sixth-graders would attend the middle school and what elementary schools they would move from in addition to the focus school.
The district committed earlier this fall to seeking the international program for Lewis and Clark. It is designed to serve students who are at least 11 years old — typically sixth-grade in the United States.
If approved, the school would formally offer the IB program beginning in 2012-13, along with Omaha Central High School.
Contact the writer:
444-1037, michaela.saunders@owh.com
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