A Focus School is similar to a magnet or theme school because of the academic concentration on one or two specialized areas embedded within the core curriculum. Our theme is "Leadership through Technology and Communication".  It differs from a magnet school in that there is no home attendance area. The Focus School is open to any student from 11 neighboring districts in the Douglas/Sarpy County Learning Community.   There is a longer school calendar and a lengthened school day with special extended learning/enrichment courses, Tuesday through Thursday.  The school calendar is set up with mini breaks and a shorter summer break that reinforces retention and keeps learning going year round.  The school prides itself in providing the socioeconomic mix called for in the learning community legislation, representing a lush student diversity to enhance learning.  Currently, we are the first and only official learning community focus school in the state of Nebraska. 

A random phone survey of a sampling of parents/guardians in Elkhorn, Omaha and Westside was conducted in October of 2007. The survey results along with national/international trend data gave the committee direction as to the theme, location and other important information in planning for the school. The theme of the Focus School is:  Leadership through Technology & Communication.  The theme is the base for our extra value standards.

The Wilson Focus School has many attractive activities unique to our setting.  The school environment is wireless and has been setup to provide our students ease in using their individually assigned iPads (maintaining a 1:1).  Staff works continually with Apple coaches to enhance the technology teaching and aspects of the learning environment.

The school has developed into a true mirror of the learning community and students are welcomed into a community where all students are known and they have a chance to experience the talents of current staff and outside entities through the after-school enrichment programming.  The enrichment classes offer choice and reflect a variety of interests.  There are four sessions and classes run 6-7 weeks per session on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.  Some classes are offered year-round, however most are run session by session to encourage students to try different classes throughout the school year. 

Culminating year-end capstone projects provide fun, interactive and challenging project-based learning.  The media studio is run by students and provides a daily news and announcements broadcast to the school.  The extra value standards have a curriculum that reinforces our theme of Leadership, Technology and Communication.  All of the students take Strength Explorer through Gallup and discover their top three talents and implement them through lessons and project-based learning. 

The Focus School provides students exposure to a diverse population and benefits students through an enriched curriculum in an area of interest. The focus school is staffed with highly qualified individuals with expertise in specific content areas.  Students have high exposure to leadership activities, communication methods, and technology opportunities. Students at the Focus School manage their own media center by being responsible for checking in and checking out their materials as well as making suggestions for purchasing of new materials.  The smaller size of the Focus School classrooms allows for more individualized instruction.  The increased calendar and day reinforces learning and retention of learning.  The project-based learning activities interwoven into the curriculum prepare students for "real life" work and careers.  There is a small community, family feel along with strong positive behavior supports to help children succeed and do their best.  Strong community partnerships and parent/family involvement make Wilson the place to be!

Yes.  Our viable curriculum is adopted through the approval of the Omaha Public Schools Board of Education for Math, English Language Arts, Science, Social Studies.  Teachers are encouraged to blend best practice and innovation to help students achieve skills and knowledge mandated in the Nebraska state standards. Data from assessments helps to determine students' individual needs.   In addition, students in the focus school will have special opportunities to study certain topics in-depth.  There are capstone end of year projects at each grade level (project-based learning) that reflect our theme and allow students to demonstrate their learning through cumulative experiences.  Technology is integrated into all learning while also continuing to immerse students in literature and textbooks to produce well-rounded experiences. STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) activities are promoted and can be seen throughout the curriculum. 

Wilson Focus has received a 2023 EXCELLENT AQuESTT rating by the State of Nebraska Department of Education.

The Focus School provides an extended day with 12 to 20 unique enrichment activities offered during quarterly sessions lasting 6-7 weeks.  Enrichment days fall on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays from 3:40-4:30pm.  Enrichment activities are designed to be varied and fit academic needs as well as physical needs. Some of the enrichment activities that have been offered, to name a few, are Soccer; Tae Kwon Do; Walking Club; Yearbook Club; No Place for Hate Club; Cooking Club; Art/Craft Club; Pottery: Spheros; Dance; Theater; Robotics Team; Board Gaming; Bannister Leadership Academy; Sign Language, Garden Club; Yoga; Cheerleading;  Needlepoint; Escape Rooms; Invention Scouts; Henry Doorly Zoo Club; Disney Musical and Girl Scouts.  Students have an opportunity to choose which activities they want to attend at the beginning of each session and excitement fills the halls when they transition to these classes, after a snack. 

The Focus School strives to help students develop knowledge of themselves and others through many leadership opportunities.  In the classroom, academic discourse is encouraged between peers with the teacher facilitating the discussion with higher level questioning that encourages deeper thinking and discussion.  Students are grouped to promote teamwork and collaboration. Students build personal sites based on the school’s focus of "Leadership through Technology and Communication".  The students use an wide variety of tools, both technological and traditional to perform their work responsibilities, collaborate, and share their achievements. The extra value standards ensure that students are getting specific learning experiences and exposure within the theme. 

The Gallup Strengths Explorer is given to each student, and identifies their top three talents, which are then utilized throughout lessons at Wilson, helping students cultivate their strengths as leaders.   The first fifteen minutes of the school day are set aside for Social Emotional Learning activities.  During this time, students participate in team-building activities, along with MTSS-B (Multi-Tiered Systems of Support for Behavior) with lessons and practice on procedures and routines that reinforce leadership, communication and positive relationship building skills such as manners, problem-solving, collaboration and social skills.

Awareness of community needs is also stressed throughout the curriculum, as well as good citizenship and service learning.  Students take responsibility and help run many aspects of the building such as, morning news, Yearbook, "No Place For Hate" assemblies/activities.  The Focus School provides extra opportunities to assist students in becoming more successful in school with a Positive Action Center, and extensive Positive Behavior Support plans, which allow teachers to work individually with students to meet their needs. Students earn pride powers weekly that are reinforced on our Friday news casts.  The capstone projects reinforce leadership and the rubrics demonstrate learning.

Students at the Focus School practice many forms of communication.  Each day begins with a morning news show produced with student input.  Students may share their projects and their work through the use of AppleTVs connected to projectors or large screen televisions, through interactive software such as Microsoft Office or Apple Apps, and through traditional methods such as group projects and collaborative groups.  Students may participate in small group special activities, such as reading or math competitions.  Teachers and students communicate with each other through the use of email, Microsoft OneNote, Microsoft Teams, Seesaw, or other collaborative computer applications.  Teachers help students with communication, teaching them skills such as partner or small group work, presentation of projects, and public speaking techniques while students are creating projects.  Collaboration and teamwork are promoted in lessons to encourage academic discourse and higher level thinking. Communication is built into the curriculum in daily assignments.  Due to the smaller class sizes, students have ample opportunities to practice communication skills daily.  The students have presentation software on their laptops and learn proper presentation techniques.  The capstone projects enhance many aspects of communication.  Communication rubrics are used to demonstrate learning.

The Focus School offers a 1:1 computer program with the use of an Apple iPad, that allows each student to have their own computer within a totally wireless environment.  These computers have creative software applications such as:  Apple’s Garage Band, iMovie, iPhoto, Lexia, Pages, Numbers, and Keynote, and Microsoft’s Word, Excel, Powerpoint and current software to assist projects/research and learning.  Each classroom is also equipped with an interactive whiteboard, Apple television, a big screen television, a document camera, and a projector for student and teacher interactive lessons to be shared.  The students learn all aspects of technology, use photography, filming, morning news, and the use of robots such as Spheros or Dash bots.  The culminating end of the year capstone projects reinforce technology and students demonstrate mastery through meeting rubric expectations.   Apple coaches routinely work with our staff and students to enhance the learning experience using iPads. 

Students who will be in the third, fourth, fifth or sixth grades and who live in the Douglas/Sarpy County Learning Community will be eligible to attend, using the professional learning community application.  It is open to all eleven surrounding districts.

Wilson Focus School is located at 5141 F Street. This state of the art building is positioned in a highly accessible location right off the interstate and 60th Street exit.

Transportation is provided for anyone who lives within the Omaha Public Schools district that meets the district requirements for distance limits.  Transportation must be provided by the family for those students choosing to attend outside of the Omaha Public school district.

The school has small class sizes with a student-teacher ratio of approximately 20:1.  The school is third through sixth grade.  We originally added classrooms gradually and built up our number of students while establishing the program.  We currently serve 3rd through 6th grade.

The instructional program will meet the identified needs of all students. The school provides support and enrichment services to address students’ instructional needs.  Data is used to plan for instruction to individual needs.  Wilson Focus School has a Reading Interventionist and students participate in WIN (What I Need) small groups targeted to their individual needs.  The school has been found to be extremely successful for students of all backgrounds and needs.  There is a resource program and gifted and talented program.  Services for students with IEP's, are provided resource support.  ELL learners are provided classes that support their English language acquisition.

The application is available on the website.  If more students apply than can be placed in Wilson Focus School, students are chosen randomly through a lottery.  Students not accepted can be left on a waiting list, but need to reapply each calendar year.  Siblings of current students are given priority status.