Gretna's $60 million middle school one of three new public schools in the Omaha metro

Giles Creek Middle School near 192nd Street and Giles Road is the Gretna district’s third middle school and will start out with around 400 sixth through eighth grade students this school year, which is about half of the building’s capacity.

Construction of the school began in April 2023 and wrapped up in May, according to Jack Nelson, project manager for MCL Construction.

The middle school was the final project included in the district’s $258 million bond issue passed in 2020. Other projects in the bond issue included Gretna East High School, which opened in fall 2023, and Cedar Hollow Elementary, which opened in fall 2024.

The new middle school is located in the northern portion of the Gretna school district. The district’s student enrollment increased by nearly 70% between 2014 and 2024, according to data from the Nebraska Department of Education.

The original approved cost of the middle school was around $66 million, Nelson said, but the project is finishing about $5 million under budget due to some subcontractors and suppliers being secured at a lower rate than expected.

On Tuesday, sixth graders got a tour of the building, which includes a large open entryway, separate wings for each grade level, a cafeteria with a stage space, two gyms and a weight room. Each grade wing includes space for two teams of students, though the school will start off with just one team at each grade level. There’s also spaces for collaboration in each wing as well as rooms designed for individual testing or one-on-one work with students.

Riley Gross, the school’s principal, said the school is similar in layout to Aspen Creek Middle School, but the district incorporated changes based on feedback from students and families, which included adding more collaborative space, making the school’s counseling office more centrally located, and adding a second auxiliary gym. The second gym will be used for both school athletics and community youth programs, Gross said.

“Similar to academics, Gretna really values their activities and athletics,” he said. “So to be able to open up our second gym here to the community is a positive change as well.”

Gross, a previous assistant principal at Aspen Creek Middle School, was named principal of the new school in December 2023. Gross said he has enjoyed seeing the school come together since then, but is excited to finally see students in the space.

“It makes it feel a little bit more real,” he said. “Our entire teaching staff, secretarial staff, custodial staff, has put in a ton of work this summer to get to this point, so it’s really exciting to see teaching and learning start to happen.”

Two elementaries in the Elkhorn school district also welcomed students for the first time on Tuesday: Stone Pointe Elementary, near North 195th and Fort Streets, and Iron Bluff Elementary School, near South 204th and I Streets. Both schools were part of the district’s $122.9 million 2023 bond issue and will help relieve overcrowding at Woodbrook and Blue Sage Elementary Schools.

After opening three new buildings over the past three school years, Gross said he thinks the Gretna district will have at least a few years before a new bond issue might be proposed.

“It’ll be nice to have a little break,” he said.