Lincoln’s Standing Bear High School will open without juniors and seniors

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – Lincoln’s Standing Bear High School will be opening in the fall without juniors and seniors.

Lincoln Public Schools said in a Tuesday press release that it chose to open the school with only ninth and 10th grade classes after reviewing enrollment numbers for the fall semester.

As of Friday, 219 freshmen and 26 sophomores are enrolled in the school, which is near 68th Street and Saltillo Road.

“The good news is we are hearing that students and families know that they are getting a quality education where they currently attend high school and don’t want to leave as evident in the upper class numbers,” Superintendent Paul Gausman said in the release.

Gausman said opening the school to freshmen and sophomores only allows staff to “focus our resources on offering high-quality opportunities and high school experiences.”

LPS expects Standing Bear to meet the 1,000-student capacity as the class of 2027 moves through high school.

“The number of students enrolled at Standing Bear will continue to grow each year as we’ve seen with Northwest High School,” Gausman said. “We opened Northwest this year just shy of 500 students in grades 9-11. Our numbers show that next year’s enrollment at Northwest will be closer to 800 students in grades 9-12.”

Juniors and seniors who chose to attend Standing Bear in the fall will now be reenrolled in their current high school, officials said.

Students from another school district who chose Standing Bear will have an opportunity to go to another LPS high school.