Identity Preparatory Academy can open next week after the State Board of Education unanimously granted conditional approval for the all-girls North Omaha middle school for the year.
Identity Prep is set to open Aug. 19 in North Omaha. It was originally slated to be approved at the State Board of Education’s regularly scheduled August meeting last week.
However, the four Republican board members shared concerns about the school’s website mentioning the use of an abolitionist framework, which they say has to do with overthrowing the government. After the school’s founder spoke to some of those concerns during public comment last week, sharing how the school took down that mention because it doesn’t match with what framework the school is using now, the board members instead postponed the vote to Tuesday.
Ahead of the vote, DerNecia Phillips, founder and chief executive of the school, clarified that the word abolitionist was used in terms of abolishing the school-to-prison pipeline that faces the North Omaha community.
“When we did use the word abolitionists on our website for our framework, what we were talking about is abolishing the school-to-prison pipeline by cultivating joyful learning spaces for the girls that will be under our care,” Phillips said. “That will still be happening. We will still be cultivating joyful learning spaces for girls, and ensuring that there is not a school-to-prison pipeline.”
Board member Kirk Penner, a Republican on the officially nonpartisan board, said he, along with Sherry Jones and Maggie Douglas, took a tour of the school Monday and sat down with Phillips to discuss the framework. He said the message he heard during the visit and during earlier correspondence with Phillips was the same each time.
“No backpedaling, no contradictions, no wordsmithing,” Penner said. “Their concern is the school-to-prison pipeline that is hurting their community. They need to break that cycle and give their scholars tools to become successful citizens in our country.”
Penner said he has now donated to the school after hearing more about how Identity Prep will help its community.
Liz Renner, a Democrat on the board, said she wanted to clarify that her vote to postpone did not indicate that she believed the school hadn’t met all the regulations. She instead wanted to make sure the school’s approval wasn’t voted down on Friday and saw the chance for the board members who would have voted “no” to learn more about the school and change their vote.
“I believe all along, and have believed all along, and still believe that the school has met the requirements to qualify for conditional approval,” Renner said. “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.’ It was still a request to learn.”
Board member Elizabeth Tegtmeier, a Republican, said she saw the postponement as a step forward to ensure that the board could learn more about the school’s framework after new information was presented. She said it’s the board’s job to ensure state statute is followed, which is where the four board members’ concerns came from.
“As a member of this board, which is an oversight or a governing board, it’s our duty to ensure that state statute will be followed from the outset and not have to come back later and find out that — maybe not this school, but some other school in the future — isn’t following state statute,” Tegtmeier said.
Phillips shared during her public comment and in an interview following the vote that the postponement did harm the school as it sets to open next week. She mentioned some families decided to enroll their students elsewhere, and there was an impact on fundraising and preparing for the school to open.
“However, what I will say is, in conversation yesterday, I expressed that, and I think that that point was also well taken,” Phillips said. “I appreciate being listened to, and that I felt that I was listened to.”
About 250 people joined Tuesday’s meeting online, and several more came in person. There were 18 people who spoke during public comment, including Phillips.
Latasha Willis, who lives in Omaha and has a 10-year-old daughter, said she’s seen how an education with high expectations, strong mentorship and community helped her two sons thrive. She sees Identity Preparatory Academy as an opportunity for her daughter to have that as well.
“North Omaha needs schools built specifically with our girls in mind, a curriculum and environment designed around their identity, their strengths, and their potential, with educators who understand and reflect their experience,” Willis said. “My daughter and girls like her deserve access to that same level of opportunity and belief that my sons had.”
Two state senators also shared their thoughts during public comment, including Terrell McKinney, who represents North Omaha. McKinney said it was disappointing to see the conversations about anti-Americanism and the abolitionist wording.
“People weaponize words to fit their own narrative about how they feel about things like this, and that’s what’s disappointing, is that 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. “Because they are telling them about their true history and not a fabricated history and just a true understanding of self, it receives pushback.”
The board voted unanimously to approve the school for this first year. Phillips said she is relieved and excited for school to start next week.
“I feel excited for our families and our girls and our community that we have made history today,” Phillips said. “I don’t know if anyone’s thinking about that, but this school is something that is long needed in our community, and we’re able to move forward now, so we’re really excited about that.”
Political undertones of the board
During board discussion, several of the Republican board members thanked the two Democrats, Renner and Douglas, who voted to postpone the school’s approval.
“Without at least one of those votes, we would not be here today, and there would be no Rule 14 vote for Identity Preparatory Academy,” Penner said.
Penner specifically called out board member Deborah Neary, who voted against postponing, for some of her comments at the last meeting and on social media.
“I would like to request board member Neary stop the bullshit,” Penner said. “At our meeting on Friday, Miss Neary took a swipe at rural schools and their inability to educate their students about diversity. Over the weekend, Miss Neary accused the four conservative members of being racist, and I quote: ‘They have no clue they have done something racist and inappropriate, or maybe they do.’”
Neary did not respond to Penner’s comments. She did question why the discussion about Identity Prep’s framework came up at Friday’s meeting when the board had the school’s application for months and could have brought up those concerns in committee meetings.
“Those board members instead chose to disrespect everyone involved with the school, disrespect the NDE staff, disrespect fellow board members and create chaos for hundreds of families, employees of the school, students of the school and community members,” Neary said.
She went on to say that she believes this is a pattern that has occurred throughout the year with concerns not being brought up until the vote comes up. She said the board never had to call special meetings in her eight years on the board until this year. There have been three special meetings in 2026, including Tuesday’s meeting.