About

Welcome to the Nelson Mandela Elementary Community!

“Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world.” - Nelson Mandela

The mission of Nelson Mandela Elementary is to provide quality instruction that demonstrates ALL scholars can learn and develop academically, emotionally, socially, and physically. Nelson Mandela Elementary is committed to maximizing the educational success of all scholars and bridging learning and achievement gaps.

Our scholars will use their Hope, Strength, Service, Unity, Peace, and Wisdom to become changemakers and embody our mission. They will maximize their educational success academically, physically, socially, and emotionally.

Our team will work alongside our scholars to provide a high quality education and get our scholars on grade level. Supported by research, high-quality curriculum, and restorative practices, our team will continue to deliver the best possible education to our scholars.

Our families will be involved with their scholars’ academics, in our school community, and in their scholar’s interests. Their commitment to being engaged in their scholar’s lives is also a commitment to their academic success. Our families are building a strong foundation in which education is valued and creating a lifelong connection between learning and family.

Our community partners will continue to be a part of the Mandela family. They will work with us to provide our scholars with exciting and often new learning opportunities through volunteering, family events, special programs and classes, and field trips.

I am proud to be the principal of such an incredible school. Please click through our website to learn more about our program!

Mrs. Genevive Core
Principal

Mission

More about our mission:

Nelson Mandela Elementary fulfills its mission by:

Using multi-sensory, evidence-based educational curricula and frameworks
Addressing each child’s individual learning needs
Setting high academic and behavior expectations
Providing a safe, positive environment
Employing committed, caring, and well-trained educators and providing on-going professional development
Partnering with parents/guardians and the community to strengthen the educational experience for all learners

School Goals

The goals of NME are:

To provide a quality education that addresses the needs of the whole child
To provide an academic program with comprehensive guidelines and benchmarks for determining achievement
To provide a learning environment that is thoroughly integrated and reflective of the people we serve.
To foster respect for self and others
To present an alternative educational opportunity for the members of our community

Achievement Goals

NME scholars will:

Possess and exhibit knowledge of academic disciplines
Demonstrate effective oral and written communication skills
Model skills that promote life-long learning, self discipline, problem solving strategies and independent thinking
Demonstrate respect for self, others, and the environment
Read and do math on grade level or above

History

Nelson Mandela Elementary is located in North Omaha, Nebraska, a community rich in the city’s history and full of multigenerational families who value family, faith, and community. Our school community is predominantly Black. 95 percent of our scholars live in households that qualify for the Federal Free and Reduced Lunch Program. Historically, the neighborhood has also shown the lowest achievement scores, high crime and poverty rates, low educational attainment by adults, and a high number of single-parent households.

Click to read our story:

Our Community
Nelson Mandela Elementary is located in North Omaha, Nebraska, a community rich in the city’s history and full of multigenerational families who value family, faith, and community. Our school community is predominantly Black. 95 percent of our scholars live in households that qualify for the Federal Free and Reduced Lunch Program. Historically, the neighborhood has also shown the lowest achievement scores, high crime and poverty rates, low educational attainment by adults, and a high number of single-parent households.

In 2014, Dianne Lozier noticed the low reading and math scores in the community of her and her husband’s business (Lozier). She hypothesized that revised teaching and educational strategies would make a positive impact in helping scholars become proficient in their core subject areas, bridge the achievement gap, and reduce generational poverty in the community. As she set out to bring her vision to life, she leaned heavily on the members of the community to shape the vision of the school.

The school was set up as a fully-funded nonprofit entity that did not charge tuition. The Lozier Foundation provided full financial support, with additional funding from the William and Ruth Scott Family Foundation. The school also earned Rule 14 approval to begin operating as a school (the first step towards full accreditation, which the school now has).

The school opened its doors in the fall of 2015 with 100 kindergarten and first grade scholars - 4 classrooms with 25 in each class. Today, Mandela’s two campuses educate more than 260 scholars, spanning grades kindergarten through 5th grade, as well as early childhood education starting at age two.

Our Name
The school’s name was selected by community members, who were a part of several meetings to shape the school and its identity. They requested a school built on the power of education and the importance of resilience. The figure of Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa, and his quote, “Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world” became the foundation of the school’s values and mantra. Additional nods to Nelson Mandela include the school colors, derived from the South African flag, and the mascot - the meerkat - an animal native to South Africa.

Why scholars instead of students?
At Mandela, all enrolled students are referred to as scholars. Suggested by a member of an advisory board, the idea was to elevate them, make the school a desirable and special place to be, and allow the children to see themselves as belonging in an education environment dedicated to excellence.

Mantra

“Education is the most powerful weapon that you can use to change the world. I will change the world with my hope, strength, service, unity, peace, and wisdom.”

More about our Mantra

School Colors
Our school colors come from colors pulled from the South African flag; by exploring the value of those colors, our school mantra was created. Although purple is not part of the logo, it has become a key school color and is the color of our uniforms.

Each word of the mantra has a corresponding gesture, so scholars can “see it, say it, and do it.”

Gold: Hope, Happiness, Imagination, Optimism
Red: Strength, Sincerity, Passion, Excitement
Green: Service, Generosity
Blue: Unity, Power, Integrity, Trust, Knowledge
White: Peace, Humility
Purple: Wisdom, Honor, Enlightenment, Nobility

Our mantra is a statement of our core beliefs as a school community, and its influence is a part of our entire school experience - found within our physical building, our uniforms, and our learning practices. The scholars recite it daily to reinforce our belief in those principles.

Core Values

When the school was founded, there were a few key beliefs that shaped it. These “non-negotiables” created a unique learning environment that our scholars, teachers, and families experience today. Year Round School, Family Engagement, Direct Reading Instruction, Violin for Every Child, Required Recess, and Restorative Practices.

Click to learn more about our core values:

Year Round School
Mandela offers a year-round schedule that helps fight summer slide and provides more enrichment experiences for scholars in the summer months. Our school has approximately 200 scholar contact days, compared to approximately 178 days offered by the local public and private school systems. That’s generally 24 extra days of instructional time for scholars. The school year is organized into four traditional quarters and a fifth term, which takes place over the summer months.

Family Engagement
Having our family members involved in school does more than just support the child; it lays the groundwork for a future where family, community, and learning are linked.

Direct Reading Instruction
Our school uses phonics-based, direct reading instruction and multidisciplinary approaches to promote better reading outcomes. Teachers and paraeducators undergo an 80-hour professional development training in the Writing Road to Reading curriculum by Spalding International. The core tenants of the curriculum are: phonemic awareness, feature recognition, letter recognition, sound-symbol relationships (decoding), spatial placement, vocabulary, sentence structures (syntax process), and text comprehension (semantic process). Scholars learn how to read, write, and spell early on, so they can not only succeed, but also discover a sense of love for reading.

Violin for Every Child
Playing the violin creates positive learning outcomes, including improving reading, language skills, building hand-eye coordination, and creating positive habits around practice and attention.

Required Recess
Play is essential to building a child’s social-emotional skills. Scholars at Mandela have three required recesses daily, and recess is treated the same as any other academic practice.

Restorative Practices
Our school uses restorative practices and a social emotional learning curriculum to help scholars resolve conflicts and restore relationships in positive and peaceful ways.