
Omaha Public Schools Superintendent Cheryl Logan listens to a speaker during a school board meeting on Thursday.
Omaha Public Schools students could spend some of their summer inside the classroom.
Because of the disruptions caused by COVID-19, all OPS students will have an opportunity to sign up for summer school. The district has renamed the summer sessions Next Level Learning for Summer 2021.
The sessions are from June 2 to 30 and from July 6 to 23. The district will offer morning sessions, afternoon sessions, full-day sessions or one-hour options. There will also be one-on-one tutoring.
Melissa Comine, chief academic officer at OPS, told the school board about the district’s plans at a meeting last week. It’s the district’s first step in a multipart plan to help students catch up on learning lost to COVID-19.
Comine told the school board that the disruptions caused by the pandemic call for “urgent, aggressive and compassionate action.”
Families will have an opportunity to sign up for summer sessions next month. Transportation to and from school will be available for eligible students.
Comine said elementary and middle school students may have to find a ride to or from school if they opt for the half-day session. At the high school level, transportation will be offered at the beginning, middle and end of the day.
OPS high school students age 16 and up will also have an opportunity to get a paid internship mentoring and tutoring elementary students this summer. The district will pay the students $10 an hour, and there’s a possible dual credit option through Metropolitan Community College for students who take a human relations course.
The high school students could also receive one OPS elective credit for an internship of 90 hours.
The students will have to go through an application process similar to what OPS staff goes through, including a background check and getting a recommendation from a teacher.
“We have a position for everybody, and they can still participate in summer learning,” Comine said of the jobs.
The district also needs OPS teachers to sign up to teach this summer. OPS officials said the opportunity will be advertised to new and current staff, schedules will be flexible, there will be job-sharing opportunities, and there will be professional learning and planning time during the day.
Given that teachers are teaching through an extremely difficult year, board President Shavonna Holman and Vice President Jane Erdenberger asked whether pay for teachers could be increased for working summer school. Teachers are paid $28.50 an hour to teach summer school.
Charles Wakefield, the district’s chief human resources officer, said that pay for summer school is a negotiated item in teachers’ contracts and that the district would have to negotiate with the Omaha Education Association, which represents teachers, to increase the pay.
OPS received $86.4 million through the federal COVID-19 relief package passed in December. Superintendent Cheryl Logan said there’s a lot of latitude in how that money can be used, including for COVID-19 recovery or for addressing issues that arose from COVID-19.
Board member Marque Snow asked OPS officials how much the summer learning program would cost. Logan said that until the district has a better student count, she couldn’t give the board an exact dollar figure.
Our best Omaha staff photos of February 2021
Our best Omaha staff photos of February 2021

Kearney's Richard Harbols dives in the boys Nebraska state dive competition on Thursday.

Lincoln Southeast's Katerina Hoffman competes in the NSAA state diving championship on Thursday.

North Platte's Jonathan Brouillette is reflected in the swimming pool as he competes in the NSAA boys state diving championship on Thursday.

An ice jam forms on the Platte River west of the Highway 77 bridge near Fremont on Monday. Observers in eastern Nebraska will be looking out for signs of flooding as the weather warms up. “We’re just waiting to see how the snow will melt over the next couple of days,” said hydrologist David Pearson of the National Weather Service office in Valley. “We’ll be watching closely.”

Omaha Skutt's Adam Kruse, left, and Gothenberg's Abe Mendez, right, wrestle during a Class B 138 pound match.

Millard South's Joel Adams celebrates after defeating North Platte's Darian Diaz during the Class A 138 pound championship match.

A few snowflakes fell in Omaha on Wednesday.

Creighton's Greg McDermott congratulates Denzel Mahoney on a made 3-pointer against Villanova.

Gretna's John Weed, facing, and Millard South's Antrell Taylor compete in the first round of the 160 pound, Class A state wrestling tournament in Omaha on Wednesday.

Frost collects on a sheet of ice in a parking lot in South Omaha on Tuesday. Omaha set a record low on Tuesday, dipping to 23 degrees below zero.

PJ Smith, an administrator at Grand Island Northwest, helps set up mats on Tuesday for the state wrestling tournament at the CHI Health Center. The tournament starts today and runs through Saturday. Read more in Sports.

Dr. Michael Howard listens to the heart of Bella, a Boston terrier puppy at Best Care Pet Hospital In Omaha on Tuesday, February 16, 2021. Bella was anesthetized before power was cut to the south Omaha neighborhood where they are located because of extreme temperatures in the region. Omaha's low Dr. Howard was prepping to spay Bella by window light before the power did come back on. They had performed one surgery with no power already that morning.

Neymar walks around in a sweater after a power outage at Best Care Pet Hospital at 3030 L Street on Tuesday, February 16, 2021. Extreme temperatures forces rolling blackouts in the area.

Sunlight filters through the steam as cars head east on Leavenworth Street towards 16th Street as the low in the area was close to 20 degrees below zero on Tuesday, February 16, 2021.

Steam rises out of the Missouri River around the Interstate 480 bridge as viewed from Tom Hanafan River's Edge Park in Council Bluffs early Tuesday, Feb. 16. Lows in the Omaha metro area were around 23 degrees below zero. The steam caused icy roads and the temporary closure of the bridge.

Owner Gary Wrenn moves catfish filets from the cornmeal dredge to the fryers at Cajun Kitchen on 30th and Maple Streets in Omaha on Monday.

Firefighters work to put out a fire in an apartment building at 10th and William Street in Omaha on Monday.

Omaha's Matt Miller (27) moves behind the net, near Colorado College's Matthew Gleason (15), Brian Hawkinson (29) and Matt Vernon (30) in the Colorado College vs. Omaha hockey game at the Baxter Arena in Omaha on Friday. The Mavericks won the game 7-1.

Erin Gramke gives Sigurd Sorenson his second dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at the VA Medical Center in Omaha on Thursday. Sorenson, 84, served in the Army.

Rev. Ralph Lassiter sits inside Kohl's Pharmacy during the observation period after his second COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday. Rev. Lassiter wants to set a good example for his community by receiving the COVID-19 vaccine and stressing its' safety.

The Bellevue West bench celebrates a three-pointer in the Waukee vs. Bellevue West boys basketball game on Tuesday. Bellevue West won the game 74-60.

Hand-painted bonbons for a Valentine's Day special are flavored with, from left, raspberry, passion fruit, vanilla bean salted caramel and milk chocolate, from Sugar Makery BitterSweet in Council Bluffs.

A Gibson Les Paul is one of more than 70 guitars in the exhibit.

A crane lifts a small plane that had its landing gear collapse while landing at Eppley Airfield on Friday. Two people were on board the plane; neither was injured.

Creighton's Damien Jefferson is called for a foul against Georgetown's Jamorko Pickett at CHI HealthCenter on Wednesday, February 03, 2021.

Avante Dickerson talks to members of the media after he announced he was signing to play football at the University of Oregon at Omaha Westside High School on Wednesday, February 3, 2021.

Rime ice forms on the trees at the Chalco Hills Recreation Area on Tuesday, February 02, 2021.

Two people jog around Prairie Queen Recreation Area as a freezing fog covers the region on Tuesday, February 02, 2021.

Frost hangs onto a fence in Omaha on Tuesday, February 02, 2021.