LINCOLN — After a four-day delay, the Nebraska State Board of Education unanimously passed conditional approval of a nonpublic girls school in North Omaha.
The board voted 6-2 Friday to postpone its vote until Tuesday to give members time to question the school's founder and CEO, DérNecia Phillips, Ph.D.
The school, Identity Preparatory Academy, is set to open in the Hope Center for Kids and is looking to serve fourth through eighth grade students in North Omaha, starting with fourth and fifth grade in its first year and adding grades each year after. Its website says enrollment is closed for the 2026-27 school year.
Board member Kirk Penner had asked to postpone the vote because of concerns with wording that had been temporarily posted on the school's website, including "abolitionist framework" and "liberatory practices." Board President Elizabeth Tegtmeier elaborated Tuesday that the worry was how an abolitionist framework fit into state law on American civics.
Phillips, who was present at both the Friday and Tuesday meetings, said Tuesday that the term "abolitionist framework" was referring to the school's goal of abolishing the school-to-prison pipeline that she said is a prevalent concern in the North Omaha community. Though the school still holds that goal, she said, the words were removed and replaced with an "appreciative framework" that was developed by the community.
On Tuesday, both Penner and the board's Vice President Liz Renner said if the board had not approved Penner's motion to postpone the vote, the four conservatives on the eight-member board would have voted no on the conditional approval, leading to the motion's failure.
"While I thought the additional scrutiny and request for more conversation at the last minute was unfair, I could also recognize it wasn't 'no,'" Renner said. "It was still a request to learn."
Penner said he, alongside board members Sherry Jones and Maggie Douglas, met with Phillips at Identity Prep on Monday for about 90 minutes, and he asked her directly about the past website language. He said Phillips' responses were consistent with her testimony Friday and Tuesday and in previous correspondence, which left him with enough confidence in the school's mission.
"Identity Preparatory Academy is going to change education for young scholars in North Omaha," Penner said. "I am such a believer that I have sent a check to help support their mission."
Phillips and several other testifiers Tuesday noted the delay in approval hurt Identity Prep's fundraising efforts, and Phillips said some families rescinded their student's enrollment because of the uncertainty about whether the school would open. Multiple testifiers called the timing of the vote "harmful" and "disrespectful," as the school plans to open Aug. 19.
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Eighteen people testified at Tuesday's meeting, virtually and in person, all of whom supported Identity Prep's conditional approval. Board member Deborah Neary noted that roughly 250 people watched Tuesday's meeting remotely, in addition to about 20 in-person attendees.
Testifiers largely called out the board for using different criteria to justify their concerns that were not used in the approval process for other nonpublic schools. Several testifiers spoke about the positive impact they expect the school to have in North Omaha and said they wished such an option was available for them when they were growing up.
State Sen. Terrell McKinney, who represents North Omaha, said watching Friday's meeting was disappointing.
"We hear of all these other negative narratives about young people that come from our community," McKinney said. "But when we take the initiative to try to educate ourselves and educate our kids, we still receive pushback, and that is a sad reality that we're in in America and in the state of Nebraska."
Regarding the concerns about "abolitionist framework," McKinney said people tend to "weaponize words" to fit a narrative they believe.
"Individuals on the board, I assume, feel some type of way about young black girls being educated by black women in our community," McKinney said.
Lisa Schonhoff, who chairs the board's planning and evaluation committee, spoke to the timing concerns shared by testifiers. She said Identity Prep submitted its application on June 4 — nearly a month after its May 7 deadline — and because the board did not meet in July, there was limited time to discuss possible concerns.
"I know it's a bummer, that it's close to the start of school, and can be a little bit difficult," Schonhoff said. "But I think the public needs to understand that that's how the timing worked out."
Schonhoff also expressed appreciation to board members that "refrained from seeking out social media and the press to cause more hate and division," likely in reference to Neary who made statements at Friday's meeting and on social media saying that she believed the hesitance to approve Identity Prep was based in racism.
Penner also called out Neary by name, telling her to "stop the bull—" and argued that the four conservative board members "are not group thinkers like those on the left."
Neary stood by her statements Tuesday, saying she had been hearing for a month behind the scenes that Identity Prep might not be approved due to racist concerns. She accused the four conservative board members of intentionally blindsiding the board with last-minute issues that weren't brought up in committee, contributing to the board's dysfunction.
Though the delay brought some negative impacts to Identity Prep, Phillips said she was excited to show board members what the North Omaha community has built for its girls. She added that she felt that Penner, Jones and Douglas had truly listened to what she had to say.
"I appreciate the fact that our community has shown up in a mighty way today, and that we're having these important conversations about education," Phillips said. "And what I would say to our community is, don't let that stop here."
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