‘We are sorry’: LPS apologizes for throwing trophies in the trash at Lincoln Northeast

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – Years of memorabilia were thrown in the trash at Lincoln Northeast High School, with no notice from officials.

Alumni found athletic trophies and awards in a roller dumpster behind the school this past weekend, prompting outrage and an apology.

Northeast alumni posted photos of the trophies on their Facebook group page.

It quickly sparked outrage.

“I know in my case, a trophy is kind of an accomplishment,” said Jeff Buss, an alumnus of the school. “It’s a lot of blood, sweat and tears to get those. And just to have them dumped is not great.”

Officials said Lincoln Northeast found the trophies in a storage room during a pool renovation.

They were placed in storage during a renovation of the lunch room in 2007.

“Every person and organization has to decide from time to time what to do with old memorabilia,” Lincoln Public Schools Superintendent Paul Gausman said in a statement. “At some point, space runs out, and something must be done with those items.”

LPS officials said they told the high school to throw away the trophies.

“The way we handled this was not proper,” Gausman said in an interview. “We could have done better. The community deserves for us to do better, and we will do better.”

Buss said some alumni went dumpster diving to recover the memorabilia.

“I think they should have offered the trophies up to the alumni, and we could have found homes for them,” he said. “That’s what we’re going to do now. Although, many are broken.”

The trophies are in storage right now. Buss said they’re going to be offered to athletes first.

Gausman said this won’t happen again.

“We are sorry,” he said in the statment. “We have revisited our process, and moving forward; we will direct schools to follow our district surplus process by sending trophies to distribution, where they will be auctioned to interested parties.”