The head of the Omaha Public Schools said the district is “already updating procedures” after revelations that some district employees were aware that Omaha Police officers were using electric shock gloves in schools.
Superintendent Matthew Ray, along with several OPS board members, said during the Aug. 17 board meeting that they were unaware school resource officers from both the Omaha and Bellevue police departments had been equipped with the gloves.
But Thursday night, Ray told board members that an internal review found that some district employees were aware the SROs had the gloves, but that the information did not make it to district leadership.
“It is clear some Omaha Public Schools staff were aware of the glove technology, and we are already updating procedures so critical information like this reaches everyone who needs to be at the table,” Ray said.
He highlighted two emails, one from September 2023 in which someone outside the district asked if staff were using the gloves, which replied no to. A second email mentioned use of the gloves at Omaha South earlier this year.
” In addition to the internal review, I have reflected on those emails, the questions I would have asked, the steps I would have taken, what with the information that we have now,” Ray said. “We are committed to open communication, demonstrating that we have posted both of those emails to ops.org, along with our message to staff and families this evening.”
“We take the review and what we learned seriously. More staff need to be involved with something as important as this,” Ray said. “We are strengthening explicit expectations around information sharing.”
He also said he has spoken with the Omaha and Bellevue departments and asked that “any changes in standard operating procedures related to SROs or future considerations of new use of force tools be brought directly to me.”
The Omaha Police Department said it has used the gloves twice in schools, once at Omaha South and another time in the district’s Integrated Learning Program. Bellevue Police said they have not used the gloves in schools.
OPD has since discontinued the use of the gloves by its SROs after Ray asked it to. Bellevue Police, which patrols Omaha Bryan High and Middle schools, declined to stop their use.