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The Omaha school board is set for its greatest turnover in 30 years after four incumbent board members decided against running for re-election.
The departing members include Sandra Jensen, who first won election to the board in 1978 and has served continuously since 1981.
With the departures of Jensen, Mary Ellen Drickey, Nancy Huston and Kersten Borer, the board will lose more than 60 years of combined experience.
It will also present an opportunity for fresh faces to join a board whose oversight of the 50,000-student school district has been criticized.
News of the departures came on the same day that a legislative committee advanced a bill to revamp the Omaha school board — cutting the 12-member board to seven seats.
Some praised the retiring board members' work Wednesday, but the legislative development underscored concerns that the board has become an ineffective group that defers leadership to the district's superintendent.
Willie Barney, president of Omaha's African-American Empowerment Network, said Jensen has been a champion for education and students during her more than three decades on the board.
She and the other departing board members have served during a time when the board has been open and responsive when he and others have brought ideas or strategies to them, Barney said.
"There are more things moving in a positive direction with the leadership of the board than people give them credit for," Barney said.
John Spatz, executive director of the Nebraska Association of School Boards, said Jensen has devoted an astounding amount of time to education issues in Omaha, at the state level and nationally.
"We were lucky that people like Sandy have stepped up and agreed to do this," he said. "It's really amazing."
In recent years, the board has experienced light turnover as incumbents dominated elections. In 2006, the six incumbents up for election didn't face a single opponent.
The last time the Omaha school board saw such high turnover was after the 1982 election, when five new members won seats.
Jensen has represented her northwest Omaha subdistrict continuously since 1981. She first won election in 1978, then briefly went off the board. Drickey, who represents a portion of southeast Omaha, and Huston, who represents a section of midtown, were both elected in 1996.
Borer was elected in 2008.
"I really want to focus my time on my family," said Borer, who has children ages 2, 7 and 9.
The other three departing board members couldn't be reached for comment.
Two other incumbents, Freddie Gray and Mary Morrissey, filed for re-election.
Last month, the board elevated both to leadership positions. Gray now is board president, Morrissey is vice president.
The filing deadline for incumbent board members was Wednesday; other candidates have until March 1 to file.
State Sen. Scott Lautenbaugh of Omaha, who proposed the bill to revamp the board, said the departures don't change his opinion that the school board's structure needs to change.
Lautenbaugh said the board's large size, which he calls dysfunctional and unwieldy, is the main problem.
The Legislature's Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee advanced Legislative Bill 720 on a 5-3 vote.
The committee dropped proposals to impose term limits on the board and to pay board members. Lautenbaugh originally proposed cutting the board to five members, not the seven that the committee approved.
If approved by the full Legislature, the school board would reorganize yet this year, at the same time the board will be replacing Superintendent John Mackiel, who is retiring.
Sen. Bill Avery of Lincoln, the committee chairman, said he expects a tough debate when the bill reaches the legislative floor.
With the turnover coming to the board, Avery said, that will make it more difficult for the bill's supporters to persuade lawmakers that it's essential to change the school board through state law.
"With four new members coming to the board, obviously you're going to have some change," Avery said.
But Avery, while acknowledging he didn't know if the bill should become law, said he believes the proposal deserves debate.
World-Herald staff writer Paul Hammel and librarian Jeanne Hauser contributed to this report.
Contact the writer:
402-444-1128, jeff.robb@owh.com
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