Omaha Central students urge OPS to create sustainability office, say stewardship plan lacks accountability

Students from Omaha Central High School pressed the Omaha Public Schools board on Wednesday to make the district’s Environmental Stewardship Plan actionable, saying the plan lacks clear leadership, measurable accountability and staffing needed to hit its targets.

At the public-comment portion of the meeting, Evalina Sain, a senior speaking for Students For Sustainability, told the board that ‘‘the introduction of the Environmental Stewardship Plan necessitates the establishment of an OPS Sustainability Department or something similar, which is a change that is long overdue.’’ She cited the plan’s own employee-survey results, saying the report on page 58 showed ‘‘over 50% of all respondents were not at all aware of OPS’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,’’ and that fewer than 10% reported moderate to full awareness.

Sain urged the board to specify who will lead initiatives and how the district will demonstrate progress. ‘‘At minimum, a district-wide sustainability coordinator is absolutely necessary,’’ she said, adding that some goals in the plan — such as tray-stacking in cafeterias and composting programs — have not been implemented districtwide.

Steven Dickerson, vice president of Central’s Green Team, echoed Sain and supplied concrete examples the board can use to assess implementation. Dickerson told the board that Waste Target 1a — requiring tray-stacking by May 2024 — has not been met at Central and that the student-led composting program that previously ran at Central was suspended because of staffing issues. ‘‘We eliminated 61 bags of trash per day, at Central, from that composting program,’’ Dickerson said, and asked the board to consider hiring a coordinator or creating a sustainability department to oversee adoption and accountability.

Both speakers compared OPS to nearby districts that have established sustainability offices, citing Lincoln Public Schools and Bellevue Public Schools as models that helped adopt composting and other waste-diversion practices. They recommended the district reexamine plan metrics, specify implementation roles and publish transparent progress measures so staff and the public can see whether targets are met.

The board did not take action on the students’ requests during the meeting. The public-comment period that included the sustainability presentations concluded before the board moved on to the consent agenda and other business.

The district’s Environmental Stewardship Plan, the student speakers said, lists several waste and recycling targets — including tray-stacking and a contract option for schools to opt into a composting vendor — but lacks a named lead and enforcement or reporting mechanisms. The students provided the board with photos and examples of current cafeteria practice at Central and asked staff to return with a plan for staffing and measurable timelines.