The Alameda Unified School District serves Alameda, California, United States.
The school district is a "unified" district (as of 1936), meaning that it includes K-8 schools and high schools in the same jurisdiction. As with all California school districts, it is not a part of the city government. The school board is elected separately from the Alameda city council, and has been since April 1969. The city council has no direct power over the school board.
The AUSD educates approximately 9,300 students each year, in ten elementary schools, two middle schools, and four high schools. The district also operates an Adult School and a Child Development Center. Three elementary schools were closed and consolidated at the end of the 2005–2006 school year; Miller Elementary, Woodstock Elementary and Longfellow Elementary students went to Ruby Bridges Elementary.
In 2009, the district received significant media attention for controversy surrounding an anti-bullying curriculum approved by the Board of Trustees, known as "Lesson 9", which focused on reducing bullying against LGBT students. The curriculum sparked two lawsuits, which were subsequently dismissed.
Contents
Schools in this district
Adult schools
Alameda Adult School
High schools
Alameda Community Learning Center (charter school 6–12)
Alameda High School
Alameda Science and Technology Institute
Encinal High School (in 2013, Junior Jets program started for grades 6–8)
Island High School (continuation school)
Middle schools
The Academy of Alameda (charter school; formerly Chipman Middle School)
Lincoln Middle School
Will C. Wood Middle School
Elementary schools
Amelia Earhart Elementary School
Bay Farm Elementary School (in 2012, Board of Education approved adding grades 6–8)
Donald D. Lum Elementary School (closed 2017)
Edison Elementary School
Frank Otis Elementary School
Franklin Elementary School
Love Elementary School (renamed 2019, formerly Haight Elementary)
Maya Lin School (formerly Washington Elementary)
Mastick Elementary School (closed - now Mastick Senior Center)
Ruby Bridges Elementary School
William Paden Elementary School
Preschool and other
Woodstock Child Development Center
History of Alameda schools
1855 Schermerhorn School – located on west side of Court, between Van Buren and Jackson Street
1864 Alameda School replaced Schermerhorn School.
1892 Wilson School replaced Alameda School with an eight-classroom school.
1911 Name was changed from Wilson School to Lincoln.
1917 The Lincoln School was rebuilt.
1860 Encinal School – located on Lincoln Avenue between Stanton and Paru Streets.
1865 A two-room building was erected on the northwest corner of Bay Street and Santa Clara. This structure replaced Encinal School on Lincoln.
1891 A new eight-room building was opened.
1901 Name was changed from Encinal to Mastick School.
1939 A new structure replaced the 1891 structure.
1979 K-4 elementary was closed.
1980 School was closed.
2000 In a land swap deal with AUSD, the city assumed ownership for the ongoing operation of Mastick Senior Center.
1874 Boehmer's Hall – a rented room on Park Street used a temporary quarters for high school
1875 Park Street School was closed in 1879 with the opening of Porter School.
Administration
The superintendent is Pasquale Scuderi, who took office in 2019.
Bond and parcel measures
Tax bonds
The first school bond measure was passed in 1874, and built the city's first high school and the main grammar school located on Chestnut and Santa Clara. The 1874 bond also purchased property at Fifth and Pacific Avenue, and a school opened in 1875. In 1878 the next bond measure was used to purchase six lots on the south side of Alameda Avenue between Oak and Walnut. Porter School opened in 1879. Additional bonds were issued in 1894 to build four new schools. In 1901 high school students campaigned vigorously to get a bond measure to build a new $65,000 high school. Bonds elections in 1907, 1909 and 1915 funded the most ambitious building campaign. Three old schools were replaced with new structures, and one new school was built. Voters passed a $750,000 bond in 1923 (supplemented with an additional $350,000 in 1925). As a result, construction of Alameda High School started in November 1924, and it opened in August 1926.
In 1933, the Field Act was passed after an earthquake severely damaged schools in Long Beach. While federal funds were used to rehabilitate some existing schools to comply with the Field Act, a $222,000 bond was passed in 1940. With World War II, Alameda's population exploded from 38,000 to 90,000. The federal government built three inexpensive grammar schools to serve children living in federal housing projects that housed the workers for the Naval Air station and shipbuilding yards.
In the 1940s, the baby boom was underway with 15,000 Alameda babies being born. In 1948, a $2,840,000 bond measure was passed. The lion's share of the bond was used to buy land and build Encinal High School. In 1951 a survey showed that 45 percent of children enrolled in Alameda schools had parents living or working on federally related properties. As a result, the school district received $2,250,000 from the federal government for school construction between 1951 and 1955. In 1953 $3,000,000 in bonds was approved. During the 1950s federal grants and bond revenues totaled $8,500,000.
The 1960s saw a frenzy of demolition and apartment construction in old Alameda. Building out of South Shore led to an all-time enrollment high of 12,500 students. In 1967 AB450 required school districts to bring their pre-1933 schools up to structural standards of the 1933 Field Act by 1983 (the deadline was moved up to 1975 the following year). Inspection of Alameda's four pre-1933 schools (Haight, Porter, Lincoln and Alameda High) ruled them to be unsafe.
General parcel taxes
A four-year $50 parcel tax (Measure A) failed in 1997. The election was on June 3, and the measure garnered only 57.5% of the vote, falling short of the two-third's supermajority required to pass.
In 2001, a five-year $109 per parcel tax (Measure A) was approved by voters.
In 2005, the parcel tax from 2001 (Measure A) was increased to $189 and extended for seven years.
In 2008, a four-year parcel tax (Measure H) was passed. The residential parcel rate was $120 and commercial rate was 15 cents per square foot, with a minimum of $120 and maximum of $9,500. Two lawsuits were filed challenging the legality of Measure H. Both parcel taxes, Measure A and Measure H, were set to expire in 2012.
In 2010, Measure E, which would have replaced Measures A and H with a new tax, and increased the rate from $309/yr to $659/year for a residential parcel, received 65.6% of the vote, falling short of the 2/3 approval required to pass.
Following the failure of Measure E in 2010, AUSD placed a new ballot measure, Measure A, on the ballot for March 8, 2011. The measure as proposed would tax parcels at a nominal rate of 32 cents per building square foot, with a maximum tax of $7,999/year. Parcels with no building improvements would pay a minimum $299/year. The measure passed with a 68% approval.
In 2013, the California Supreme Court held that a prior lower court ruling would stand, a ruling that upheld a portion of the Borikas lawsuit over Measure H, declaring that the school district could not set different tax rates for commercial and residential property, and setting the stage for a refund of millions of dollars of commercial property taxes collected under measure H.
In 2016, Measure B1 passed with 74% of Alameda voters voting yes. Measure B1 was an extension of the existing Measure A passed in 2011. In January 2017, a lawsuit was filed challenging the structure of the parcel tax. In April 2018, the Alameda County Superior Court entered a judgment upholding Measure B1.
Lawsuits
Nelco, Inc. v. Alameda Unified School District, Alameda County Superior Court, #RG 08-405984 (Measure A), Superior Court ruled in AUSD's favor, September 2011. No appeal moving forward.
Borikas v. Alameda Unified School Dist., 214 Cal. App. 4th 135, 154 Cal. Rptr. 3d 186 (Ct. App. 2013). Alameda County Superior Court, VG08-405316 (Measure H) Superior Court ruled in AUSD favor, June 2010. California Court of Appeal overturned part of the ruling, and remanded to lower court to determine remedies, December, 2012.
Beery et al. v. Alameda Unified School District, Alameda County Superior Court, RG08-405984 (Measure H), case consolidated with Borikas case
Cook, Dietrich v. Alameda Unified School District, Alameda County Superior Court, RG10-498999 (alleged open meeting violation pertaining to Lesson 9), dismissed by judge
Balde v. Alameda Unified School District, Alameda County Superior Court, RG09-468037 (Lesson 9), judge ruled in AUSD's favor, November 2009