It seemed so simple. One issue, two sides, and crafty yard signs with which to decorate your yard. Oh, those simplistic days!
The great debate of the recently adjourned legislative session centered on the organization of the Omaha-area schools. Many supported the current districting plan. Others favored the ‘one city, one school district’ approach. As it turns out, that mattered little as Ernie Chambers favored neither.
The one, the only, the Ernie Chambers!
As a result, the initial proposal was twisted, turned, and downright beaten to a pulp until we somehow ended up with LB 1024.
A plan that didn’t really exist until the eleventh hour created three separate school districts inside a ‘learning zone’ that will encompass Douglas and Sarpy counties. Sounds like a great plan. Unless of course you oppose segregation. Many critics of the bill argue that the districts were divided along racial lines. After looking at the details, it’s a hard argument to beat. So why would the lone African-American in the Unicam support legislative segregation of the Omaha schools?
Chambers said that since the students in schools attended mostly by minorities are not receiving adequate funding, they will receive a better education if they had more control over their own school district.
Not everybody had such a bright outlook on the situation. As ABC News reported:
Omaha Sen. Pat Bourne decried the bill, saying, “We will go down in history as one of the first states in 20 years to set race relations back.”
Gwen Howard was also at odds with Chambers over the bill.
“History will not, and should not, judge us kindly,” said Sen. Gwen Howard of Omaha.
Putting the entire debate aside, I’d like to ask you all one question: If Chambers can get this Constitutional-defying bill passed in a legislature full of veterans, what is he going to be able to do in a legislature full of rookies? Next year we will have 20 new state senators. Lets all wish them the best of luck, and hopefully this batch will actually read that thing we call the Constitution.
All I can say is that it is about time. My kids finally have an opportunity at an education free from the influence of those gangbanging hoodlums that live in north and south Omaha. It is a fine day for Burke High School and anyone that considers themself a real American. Remember, America was not founded on racial equality, yet we gave everybody an education. America was not founded on racial equality, yet we freed the slaves. Brown v. Board of Education took it one step too far, however, and I am proud to say that my city, Omaha, Nebraska, is standing up and saying that Separate can be inherently Equal. This will go down in history as the single most pro-American bills ever passed in any legislature in this fine union, with the only possible exception being those fine folks up in South Dakota with their abortion ban.
One of the only good things Chambers has proposed in my opinion. OPS got too greedy. I am a Westside alum, and I definitely think during this whole time the OPS administration has had its head up its own ass. Making three separate districts is a better solution for the long run because smaller administrations can make better educated decisions over a smaller section of schools just as Millard, Ralston, and Westside have been doing, and have definitely come out successful because of it.
This law may make it completely through the legislature, but no way in hell will it be approved by the courts, thank God for checks and balances is all I have to say
You might be surprised. We’ll just have to wait and see. All I care about is that they won’t take over Millard, Ralston, or Westside. OPS needs to think of a better plan than consolidating all Omaha districts.
And, why, Bill, is it a bad plan? Legally, Millard and Westside had no ground to stand on. Ralston did, because technically they are an independent town, even if some of their schools are in Omaha. It quickly became about race and economics because that’s really all that separated Millard and Westside from OPS. Why are those two districts 80-90% white? Public education is about equal opportunity for all students. The only way to achieve that was to remove the exclusivity of Westside and Millard schools.
I would like to hear your better plan, because this one is probably the worst solution I could think of.
I am impartial either way, I think both sides have issues they need to work out with eachother. I didnt go to a public school so I am not biased towards either side. However, I do advocate LOCAL control, not the nebraska legislature telling us what we as a city have to do with our school districts. I also do care about how our city is portrayed to the rest of the country, and whether this bill is segregationist or not, it is being shown that way, and the damage is being done no matter what the truth is. The bill has bad news written all over it. This will definitely affect the way people think of our city, and educated people are attracted to progressive cities. The economy may be at stake with this bill.
Mike Fahey and all the prominent business leaders in Omaha said pretty much exactly the same thing. This makes us look backward and ignorant. The issue is much more complicated than the Associated Press is making it look like (I thought the New York Times did an excellent job, though).
“Gangbanging hoodlums that live in North and South Omaha”? Wow, that really didn’t help your argument, Bob. In fact, your comment makes a good case for bringing back bussing and - hate to get personal - making sure that your kids are the first ones sent into these areas you fear and want to divorce yourself from.
As a matter of mere funding, there are means by which SEPARATE can still be EQUAL. But, that doesn’t make it right, and it doesn’t make it American. Public education is about more than the resources we provide. It’s about who we are as a community and how we see ourselves as a nation.
I can’t say whether the net effect of dividing OPS would be positive or negative for the students whose futures are at stake, but it would be a sad day indeed should such divisions allow one part of the city, one race, or one economic class to wash its hands of another.
Has “the dream” really died or are we just too stupid, blind, and lazy - too busy playing X-Box - to give a damn anymore?
Hey, Kyle, I dunno, but I took Bob’s comment as sarcasm… Or he’s a really proud racist.
I think his comment was sarcastic Kyle, I think I picked that up when he began to advocate slavery…
anyways
I do agree with your assessment that this is bringing back the separate but equal arguement, something that never worked and rightly so isnt appropriate or American. The purpose of the school district is to bring together a community. The people for this bill argue that it does just that, but I think it does the opposite. Its as if we are back in high school and promoting cliques. We should be working together for a better city as a whole, not putting lines down to separate each other.
ok I read Bobs comment further and I am not sure if he’s being sarcastic or just ignorant, sorry its 2:20AM and I am trying my best to read these posts without
Dave Sund,
Westside had a law passed in 1947 which still stands today.
“Any school district in an unincorporated
area which maintains a high school,
when its area or any part thereof is
incorporated into a metropolitan city,
remain as a separate and independent
district, unless a majority of the legal
voters in that district vote in favor of
merging with a metropolitan district.”
As for equal opportunity, Westside offers option enrollment to those who want that opportunity for a great learning environment.
A contradictory and unconstitutional law, as it is now used to keep Westside white.
What’s legally blocking minorities from coming to Westside, Dave?
bill, nothing legally.
but you’re missing how class and race intersect on this one:
money is keeping all poor (including me, I considered westside) from going. to opt in costs a lot of money!
I don’t honestly know how much it costs to opt into Westside, but most people seem to think Westside is full of rich snobs. Honestly, Westside consists of mostly middle class people.
Curious though, how much does it cost(about) to opt in?
Unfortunately, there are not a whole lot of middle class minorities in Omaha. The vast majority of any of these schools, from Westside, or Millard, or even private schools, are middle class students. I’m not sure how familiar you are with the geographic realities of Omaha, but if you are, you realize that all of those middle class students live within District 66. If someone’s going to have to pay for their child’s high school education, they’ll probably send them to Creighton Prep or Marian. The fact that a public school like Westside costs money to outsiders is a little disturbing.
Actually many middle class Westside students don’t live within District 66. I can name a few that live in Council Bluffs or even Valley for that matter.
As for the cost of optioning in students, I am not familiar with the $ numbers. Do you know where I could find this information?
the westside webpage has info you need
http://www.westside66.org/wcs/site/default.asp
prices vary per school (high school vs. grade school) but it totals in the thousands and thousands of dollars. Tens of thousands of dollars over 4 years, over 100k over 14 years of schooling.
there is a big difference between middle class
and poverty and working class.
Combined household income of 60k-100k per year is called middle class in Omaha. That’s, umm, to say the least, way more than my family has ever made. It’s, in fact, more than most Nebraskan families make per year.
But even working-class families making 30k-60k a year, more like me, devoting an extra 20% of our annual income to sending me to westside wouldn’t be a great financial choice, especially while simultaneously trying to save for college.
As for the 20% of Omaha that lives in poverty? It’s not even a choice. the choice is being made for them. No matter how smart or driven a student is in North Omaha, if they aren’t in the west-side district, and they grow up in poverty, game over, they go to North or Benson. As Jessica has said on this blog, Benson runs out of paper and has to ask for students to bring enough paper for themselves and the school. West-side has laptops for each student.
There is a basic issue of fairness and opportunity that has been ignored far too long.
Something has to change. I don’t like this current proposal, but at least it is change.
You know, I think this whole issue is much more complicated than it’s made out to be. OPS spends more per student than any other school district in the area, yet they have the worst results. I really don’t see how giving OPS a monopoly over the area would have improved things. That’s not to say that some of the people who were against annexation weren’t straight-up racist bastards, but I think with the shitty job OPS does there was plenty of room for legitimate concern. I think this debate is really indicative of the larger problem of urban sprawl in many U.S. cities, but that’s a whole other issue. Oh and by the way, although I admit I don’t know much about it, Westside - a PUBLIC school district - charging for option enrollment is bullshit.
As of this morning(4/26), Westside does not charge extra for option enrollment. I have just spoken with the superintendent and that is what I was told. Unless I’m really ignorant and missing something(which if proven, I will stand corrected), there are no extra costs for option enrollment.
Tyler,
I had to reply to your comment. Maybe everyone that bags on OPS should go to their website or talk to teachers where students are thriving and receiving NATIONAL Accolades.
If OPS is struggling could it be due to the fact that we educate far more students that have learning disabilites or speak a language other than english or live in or near poverty.
Before I moved back north I tried to opt my child into a millard school.
They are really quite friendly with you over the phone when they can’t determine your race but try actually going into one of schools and their whole demeanor changes and they start talking about all kinds of hoops you have to jump through.
I’m glad my I didn’t get a chance to exspose my children to that kind of bigotry. I will tell you this my children do not understand how seemingly intelligent Adults could have voted for lb1024 but I know what it is ignorance and hatred.
As a parent I will do whatever it takes to stops this including litigation.
Racism and hatred not on my watch!
WOW! Bob, are kidding me? You have to be one of the most bigotted human beings I’ve run across in a very long time. I am the product of an OPS education and as an intelligent African-American, (no actually as a decent person) I resent your remark about the hoodlums in north and south omaha. The only thing that is hurting your children is the fact that they are being raised by such an ignorant person and thanks to you they’ll have a negative and closed-minded view of the world. Way to usher in another generation of racists! I hope you’re pleased with yourself, because God sure isn’t. But back to LB 1024. This law is unconstitutional on every level and hopefully the Supreme Court will have enough sense to strike it down. However, I can’t say that I am very optimistic because I never would’ve thought such a ridiculous bill would be introduced by Ernie Chambers and passed by our Unicam. But let’s keep our fingers crossed!
Chambers is basically fueling segregation with the split. I think OPS trying to integrate all of the other school districts is a bad idea. OPS really needs to sit down and tweak their budget a little bit and create a decent plan to carry out. OPS goes through more money per student than any other district. I know plenty of very intelligent people from OPS schools. OPS just needs some tweaking.
If OPS would have left the Millard and Ralston schools alone, none of this would have happened. Instead, OPS got greedy and wanted more money from other districts; therefore they are in the mess they are in now.
I just want to make the point that Dist 66 residents pay property tax that is outrageous. Quit crying…fight for your neighborhood and quit whining about everyone else. Blame is placed left and right…but if parents everywhere would devote time to mentoring children (i.e homework, communitiy involvement, etc.) I believe you would be surprised at what would be accomplished. Quit whining…get involved with your childrens education and stop blaming the school district for screwing up your kids! The statement in neighborhoods of crime is to take your neighborhood back…well apply that to your childs education! What have we all become to lazy to teach values to our children!!
I believe that the problem is that whether any of Chamber’s ideas are actually positive, he has so entrenched himself as a poverty pimp who is bent on exasterbating the problems of his constituents that he has no credibility. Having dealt with him on a personal level, I don’t believe he has ever had the interests of his constituents in mind at all. A person can only play the race card so many times.
The only difference, IMO, between Ernie and the Jacksons, Bonds, and Sharptons of the world is that Ernie actually has a job. Too bad he doesn’t want that for his constituents. These guys thrive on misery. Sadly, it gives them a continued forum. Why do people listen?
If anybody should be for school choice and the voucher system, it should be Ernie Chambers. Nobody’s constituents would benefit more. But if Ernie actually solved any problem, he’d have no forum. Sad.
Mary, solid post. I would add to the school part that a parent should know some of the things the school are teaching. Some of what they’re teaching (the social stuff) requires debriefing, or if you know about something you object to beforehand, pulling your child out of school altogether for that day.
I used to be very opposed to term limits, but now I am hoping they will enact some change within the legislature, it should be an interesting term!
As a 35 year old black man living in America, race will always be a issue. I grew up in lincoln,ne from 1976-1999 i now live in nj. whites will always look at blacks as hoodlums. Bob is only stating what most whites think deep down inside their blood. whites only praise blacks when they can make money off of them. here is a example of Nebraska whites in action. White people praised Lawrence Phillips when he ran the football for the huskers and won championships. But soon as he assaulted a white woman on campus he became a thug again. I think this bill is a step in the right direction if local minority groups step up to the plate and get engaged with their community and help bring positive role models back to the community so our kids can see minority people making good informed decisions. our kids need to see black teachers,administrators and counselors in postions in great numbers to build a i can do mentality. The Jewish community have ownerships of their kids why can’t other groups do the same without people thinking separate but equal is all bad. trust me i live on the east coast everybody is separated by race,money and religion get real America that just is the fact people are separated by money,race, and religion. please respond to my comments
Race will always be an issue because a lot of people want race to be an “issue” of excuse. Some people would like to blame their own personal short-coming on a generality like race or class because no one wants to feel like what they do is wrong (and that goes in all areas, not just the race issue). Unfortunatly, the race issue would bring problems to the community that it is against (ie, black people) by giving those who want to feel like others are bring them down, a “caged-in” mentality of no hope for success or no hope from oppression. These feelings are then passed down to the later generations, causing a chain reaction of hate and resentment.
Another cause of common segregation in class or the demographic of a city comes from the area where the pride of the community demands that you need to stick together as a “race” which in return causes the change from “we the people” to the “we the race” mentality. If real change is wanted by a race not wanting to be look at as different, then that race needs to not look at itself as a “community race” at all. There needs to be a personal wanting of getting into the mentality of “I” rather than “We” when wanting what best for you. If you don’t wait for the community to help you and you handle things for yourself, you will achive more than you could possibly imagine.
On to the school district segregation subject. The fact of the matter is that the school district dividing lines automatically would have a segragation of race because that is the demographics of race of the current city. The lines are not picking out students that are black or white and bussing them from other districts to go to the district where they would be with their majority. The lines are there where the demographics of race in the city are currently placed. If you want a solution to that problem, do what the black family that bought my house in millard did and break away from your “racial community”. One can still be prideful about your own culture and background without having to live with others of that background. If one claims to embrase difference, that person must then strive do live in a different community from their own community (unless one only wants to claim their difference for the sake of their personal excuses and the sake of being granted benifits for their difference).
I really don’t care about the segregation of the school districts because those lines already land on the city race demographics. The real problem with the race issue is just that, it’s the “race issue” itself.
Ask yourself these questions and listen how you answer:
1. “If white people who are prideful about their race are considered racists, then why are black people who are prideful about their race praised and not considered racist?”
2. “If white people who don’t embrase their own race and strive to be different than their race are then praised and they are considered to embrase the difference of humanity, then why are black people who do the same detested by the same people who praised the whites doing that very same thing?”