OPS First Day: Superintendent Matt Ray addresses challenges across the district

Omaha Public Schools is focused on addressing challenges, monitoring attendance and graduation rates, and improving student literacy.

• Schools will monitor real-time attendance data to address absenteeism.
• In July we reported that graduation rates dropped across the district from just over 75% in 2019 to 70% in 2023.
• Hiring remains a challenge for the district.
• The district is prioritizing literacy at all school levels.

BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
"It's so exciting to see kids back in our buildings," said Matt Ray, superintendent, of Omaha Public Schools.

Classrooms are full again. Superintendent Ray acknowledges that keeping them full is an ongoing challenge.

Increasing rates of absenteeism have dropped only slightly since the pandemic. This year each school will monitor real-time data on who is missing school and why, hoping to find a reason and address it.

"There's attendance teams within the schools, that are monitoring that attendance, you know I think continuing to focus on attendance is always important, and the importance of attendance, but it is also connected to what's happening in the building," Ray said.

It's not just about getting students in the classroom, OPS is monitoring graduation rates too.

In July we reported that graduation rates dropped across the district from just over 75% in 2019 to 70% in 2023.

"We are looking at groups that aren't graduating on time, we are looking at summer graduation, what we are doing during the summer, but I think that 23-24 data will really drive as kind of a baseline of where we need to move," Ray said.

And on the staffing side, Ray admits hiring remains a challenge.

"Hiring is going to be an issue for a while, we haven't turned that around yet," Ray said.

As the district wraps up its current 5-year strategic plan, this year, Superintendent Ray is focused on making sure students, at all levels, improve their reading skills.

"It's all about literacy and how we move the district forward with that one primary goal that everybody, no matter what your position is in the district, you are working towards reading," Ray said.

And another note, transportation said 100% of bus routes were covered for the first day.