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Nebraska Board of Education delays vote on North Omaha all-girls school over curriculum concerns
The Nebraska State Board of Education postponed a vote to approve Identity Preparatory Academy after concerns were raised about its curriculum just 12 days before its scheduled opening.
The Nebraska State Board of Education has postponed a vote to approve Identity Preparatory Academy, a new all-girls middle school in North Omaha, after some board members raised concerns about its curriculum just 12 days before the school’s scheduled opening on Aug. 19.
District 5 board member Kirk Penner said his concerns were over what he described as an “abolitionist” framework.
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He said it would not comply with Rule 14, which is a statute that governs private schools in Nebraska.
“I want more time,” Penner said. “Because I want to go up there and I want to talk to Doctor Phillips and staff and everybody. And I want to see the whole program, because what we were seeing is totally different than what Doctor Phillips was saying today.”
Other board members pushed back and argued that schools are responsible for their curriculum while the state oversees the standards.
District 8 board member Deborah Neary said that Identity Preparatory Academy had met the necessary standards to open.
“We as a board are saying we are going to put different criteria on this school catering to African American children than we put on any other school we have ever approved. That doesn’t sound legal. It sounds disrespectful. It sounds racist, and I can’t believe we’re even considering this,” Deborah Neary said.
The board ultimately decided to delay the conditional approval vote until Aug. 11, leaving just eight days before the school’s planned first day of classes.
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