Omaha Public Schools board election: Who are the candidates and what are their priorities?

Nebraska's largest school district has five board of education seats up for election this year, but only three of the races are contested.

The Omaha Public Schools includes nine subdistricts, with Subdistricts 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 on the general election ballot. Ricky Smith, incumbent and current board vice president, is the sole candidate for Subdistrict 1 in northeast Omaha while incumbent Jane Erdenberger is the sole candidate for Subdistrict 7 in south-central Omaha.

Incumbent Nick Thielen is vying for the north-central Subdistrict 3 seat along with newcomer Paul Anderson, who did not return multiple interview requests for this . In the northwest Omaha Subdistrict 5 seat, Spencer Head, incumbent and current board president, is up against Gini Magnuson.

Two candidates, Erik Servellon and Kimara Snipes, are competing in east Omaha's Subdistrict 9, a seat currently held by Tracy Casady, who isn't running for reelection. Servellon ran for the board in 2020 and Snipes is a former board member who resigned in 2021 after moving out of her subdistrict. Servellon did not return multiple interview requests for this .

Board of education candidates run as nonpartisans for four year terms. The position is not paid.

Here is more information about those in contested races:

Omaha Public Schools Subdistrict 3 candidates

Nick Thielen

Thielen, a Democrat, said he decided to run for reelection after Superintendent Matt Ray's hiring began to spark changes. Ray's hiring has accompanied boosts in staff pay and plans for improving student literacy rates.

"I see those things getting started and I really want to see that through and make sure that we take advantage of this opportunity," Thielen said.

The Omaha attorney was first elected to the board in 2020. Over the last four years, Thielen said he's tried to play the role of a utility player while bringing the board together to be more cohesive and effective. The OPS board has a history of conflict and tension that impacted many meetings and internal work.

"I would not say it's been all entirely successful, but I do think that the board is coming closer to a kind of an understanding of how we work together in governance," he said.

If reelected, Thielen said he looks forward to reorganizing the district's next strategic plan so it can have a stronger focus on fewer goals. The current strategic plan has too many initiatives to be able to complete them all effectively, he said.

"It's something that I campaigned on the first time around," Thielen said. "So I think that's one of the things that I'll be urging is that we look at our strategic plan focus, and that focus should be literacy, especially at early ages."

Paul Anderson

While Anderson did not return requests for an interview he did answer The World-Herald's voter guide questionnaire.

In that survey he said that he was a political independent, who was running because he cares. He said his top priority would be "being accountable to the students, parents, teachers, and taxpayers of OPS."

Omaha Public Schools Subdistrict 5 candidates

Spencer Head

In the past four years, OPS has made positive strides in academic achievement, but the district still has a lot of work to do, Head said.

The district has updated curriculum in several subjects, but Head, a Republican, said he wants to continue his time on the board to oversee the rollout of materials while also improving other areas like test scores.

"Last year was the first year post-COVID that we really saw that (academic) slide stop and in some schools we saw significant improvement," Head said. "We need to keep our foot on the gas pedal and make sure that we don't slide again."

Head, CEO of EZPolitix, was also first elected to the board in 2020. He said he's most proud of his work with district officials to create a trades bootcamp workshop that introduces students to a variety of industries.

One of the biggest challenges OPS is facing, Head said, is its tendency to take on more than it can handle. He said officials will have to reorganize resources and programming in the near future to improve the district as a whole.

"There will be a lot of programs that the district has been doing for 30, 40 years that we're going to look at phasing out or rolling into other programs because it just doesn't make sense anymore," Head said. "There's going to be a lot of potentially painful conversations, but it goes back to focusing on what the core mission of the district needs to be."

Gini Magnuson

Magnuson, a Democrat, said she has spent the past several months knocking on doors, sitting in neighbors' living rooms and participating in meet-and-greets with voters.

One of the most important priorities she discusses with people is improving the district's staffing shortage. She said she's met many teachers who are dealing with high workloads and class sizes while not receiving any additional resources.

"I think this goes back to ensuring that they are happy at work, and compensation is really only part of the picture," Magnuson said. "Teachers who talk to me say that they need trained paras. We do have paras, but training seems to be inconsistent. We need support staff so we can protect their instructional time."

Magnuson has a 20-year career in finance and currently works in risk management. She said her skills will be critical for the board when it comes to balancing budgets or analyzing student and staff data.

Transparency in data and communication are also points of improvement Magnuson sees for the district, she said.

"I am particularly interested in boosting family involvement. I think there's a worrying trend nowadays of mistrust towards educators, and I really want to figure out how to get back to a partnership mindset for the sake of our kids," Magnuson said. "I would like for communication to be more authentic from the district, because it seems sometimes it's limited transparency and that can feel cold to families."

Omaha Public Schools Subdistrict 9 candidates

Kimara Snipes

Snipes said she knew she wanted to rejoin the OPS board when she found out Casady wasn't running for reelection. She had to resign from her position in Subdistrict 8 when she moved in 2021 after spending three years in her seat. She's eligible to run where she lives in Subdistrict 9.

As the executive director of the nonprofit One Omaha, Snipes said if she were elected, she would focus on increasing community engagement in OPS.

"I was on the board when COVID hit, and that community engagement piece that I brought with me ended up being a real value," Snipes said. "There were so many questions and I really realized the importance of it even more just serving our school board during that time."

Snipes, who did not answer The World-Herald's voter guide questions, said she's gained more skills, like budgeting and accounting, since her last term because of past and current leadership positions in the community. Snipes is also the president of the South Omaha Neighborhood Alliance.

"Even as I go to school board meetings right now, I find myself going through the budget, going through the agenda, coming up with questions that I never even came up with when I served on it before," she said. "I know that's because of just that additional level of learning that I've experienced since that time."

Erik Servellon

Servellon did not respond to The World-Herald's request for information for its voter guide or interview requests.

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