Week 9: School buildings

Alice Buffett Magnet Middle School, 14101 Larimore Ave., opened in August 2004. The building is named for an exceptional Omaha Public Schools teacher, Alice Buffett. Her dedication to students was evident during her 34-year career as a family and consumer sciences teacher at Benson High and Central High. She retired in 1969 and died the next year. One of her students, Sandra Hodges, now an OPS assistant superintendent, said Buffett was “an educator who always took care of her students and demonstrated a protective, nurturing demeanor while still setting high standards.” Buffett traveled extensively through Europe, Asia and South America. In honor of his favorite aunt, Warren Buffett has, since 1988, used his foundation to give OPS teachers the annual Alice Buffett Outstanding Teacher Awards, each of which comes with a $10,000 gift. “She was a terrific teacher,” Warren Buffett has said. “Every student was an individual to her. ... As near as I can tell, every student she had remembered her and remembered her interest in them specifically. You remember those outstanding teachers.”

Mascot: Bobcat

Colors: Blue and silver

Of note: As a magnet school, Buffett has a special focus on communication skills and the electronic media. The school is the newest secondary building in OPS.

Pinewood Elementary School, 6717 N. 63rd St., opened in 1974 in north-central Omaha. Until 1998, Pinewood was a traditional elementary school, serving students in kindergarten through sixth grade. During the 1997-98 school year, Pinewood began to collect data to find out why its student achievement scores were lower than elsewhere in the Omaha Public Schools. After research by teachers and parents, Pinewood began multi-age instruction in one classroom in the 1998-99 school year and fully implemented the multi-age model by the 2002-03 school year. The multi-age philosophy — more than one grade level in the same classroom — has proved successful. Pinewood educates students in full-day pre-kindergarten/kindergarten, grades one and two and in multi-age classrooms for third/fourth and fifth/sixth grades.

Mascot: Panther

Colors: Green and yellow

Of note: Pinewood is the only multi-age school in the OPS district.

John G. Neihardt Elementary School, 15130 Drexel St., is named for the author and poet laureate from Nebraska. Neihardt wrote about Native American tribes. One of his most famous books is “Black Elk Speaks.” Neihardt was born in 1881 in Illinois and moved to Wayne, Neb., when he was 10. He moved to Bancroft, Neb., in 1900. The John G. Neihardt Foundation and State Historical Site are in Bancroft. Neihardt was 92 when he died in 1973. When the Millard Public Schools opened Neihardt Elementary in 1977, some of the land around the school was still planted in crops, and nearby Harrison Street was just a gravel road at that location. The school quickly became overcrowded, necessitating portable classrooms and the use of district-owned houses as classrooms. Neihardt also lacked a kitchen so food was cooked elsewhere and brought to the school. Since then, the building has been expanded.

Mascot: Knights

Colors: Navy blue and silver

Of note: Local artist Thomas Kronen painted a portrait of John G. Neihardt and dedicated it to Neihardt Elementary in 1978.

Field Club Elementary School, 3512 Walnut St., was built in the mid-1980s as part of an Omaha Public Schools' consolidation plan. The original Field Club Elementary, which sat west of the present building, was erected in 1916. The school dedicated in 1986 took in the attendance of the original Field Club and four other elementary schools: Jackson (reopened in 1999), Mason, Park and Windsor. At the time of its opening, Field Club was larger than the ordinary OPS elementary building. It has a kindergarten suite of three specially designed rooms. There are 31 standard classrooms and many smaller, special-use rooms. Other features include a multipurpose room with a stage, a gymnasium, a media center and a computer laboratory.

Mascot: Falcon

Colors: Black and white

Of note: Field Club has a two-story atrium with a multi-use commons area. Second-story interior classrooms have windows that overlook the commons area and let in natural light from the atrium.

Peter Sarpy Elementary School, 2908 Vandenberg Ave., was dedicated in April 1961. The school in the Bellevue Public Schools is named for Peter A. Sarpy, the pioneer politician who, in 1854, organized the Bellevue Town Co., which incorporated the city. A street in Bellevue and the county itself also are named Sarpy, honors bestowed on Peter Sarpy nine years before his death in 1865. Sarpy helped the government negotiate treaties with the Omaha and other Indian tribes, worked with fur traders and explorers, aided the '49ers and Mormons on their way west, served as a friend to Native Americans and helped organize the City of Bellevue when the Nebraska Territory, created in 1854, was opened for permanent settlers.

Mascot: Dolphins

Colors: Blue and white

Of note: Peter Sarpy was the first of three Bellevue Public Schools elementary schools built on federal property in the Capehart housing area.

Edison Elementary School, 2218 Third Ave. in Council Bluffs, was built in 1891 to teach kindergarten through eighth grade. At one time, it housed 1,200 students. The school was added on to in 1951. At the time, the older part of the building was torn down and Edison became a K-6 school. The school was named for American inventor Thomas A. Edison.

Mascot: Eagle

Colors: Purple and gold

Of note: Edison Elementary has a sister school in Tanzania. Edison was paired with the Martin Luther Primary school through the Opportunity Education's Sister School Program begun by Joe Ricketts, founder of Ameritrade.