Tacoma school opens with new lab, day care and health clinic after $535M bond

Five years after voters approved a bond measure to fund renovations for schools in Tacoma, and two years after breaking ground on the project, class at Oakland High School is now back in session – now, as Oakland Secondary School.

The school at 3319 South Adams St. was built back in 1912, first as an elementary school that eventually transitioned to a high school. Over 100 years later, the building was in need of repair as high school students struggled to use an aging facility initially designed for much younger students.

Voters in 2020 approved a $535 million school bond that could be put toward school building renovation projects for seven schools, and Oakland was the oldest school and only high school on the list, The News Tribune previously reported. After breaking ground on the project in 2023 and after temporarily holding class in an elementary school in Tacoma’s McKinley neighborhood in the meantime, hundreds of students have finally returned to the school’s original location, and principal Shaun Martin said he’s seen how excited they are to be in a brand-new space.

Few current Oakland students had the experience of attending class at the location prior to the renovation, Martin said. He did meet several parents on the first day of school, Sept. 3, who had themselves attended the school, and were excited to see the changes.

“They are enjoying being in something that is theirs,” he told The News Tribune. “The new gym, new classrooms, new furniture, more open space – some of the classrooms have high ceilings – it just feels different from the prior location and they’re just proud of where they are.”

Oakland’s original building is part of Tacoma’s Landmarks Preservation Register, so an entire rebuild was out of the question. Instead, the recently-completed renovation preserves the building’s classic marble exterior, complete with massive windows, columns and red brick. But the inside tells a different story – shiny new classrooms outfitted with sprawling windows and new technology, plus a new science lab, gym, cafeteria and more.

The campus also has a health clinic staffed by health professionals from MultiCare. Though the clinic won’t officially open until around October, Martin said he envisioned that it could serve as a place for community members beyond the school to receive healthcare. Oakland Secondary also features a day care, to provide care for children of students and staff at the school. As a whole, the project at Oakland was budgeted to cost $46,700,000, according to the district.

“There was thoughtfulness too about the students and families we serve here,” Tacoma Public Schools spokesperson Kathryn McCarthy told The News Tribune. “Look at the day care, having dedicated health clinic space.”

Along with the renovated facility, Oakland Secondary School also houses staff who work for Tacoma Public Schools’ Tacoma Online program – which offers students from kindergarten through twelfth grade the chance to attend school completely online. Students at Oakland can attend a mix of in-person and online classes at the site via a program called Tacoma FLEX, and students who attend school entirely online can gather at Oakland for the occasional in-person event to maintain their relationships with their teachers.

Construction on renovations for Lowell and Whittier Elementary schools is ongoing, funded by the same bond measure that funded the renovations at Oakland. Lowell students are attending classes at a temporary location at what was once Skyline Elementary School, and Whittier students continue to attend classes on campus as construction continues on another part of the site. McCarthy said the updated Lowell and Whittier campuses are on track to open in fall of 2026 and fall of 2027, respectively.

“We are super thankful for the voters who approve this, because our students are proud of the space and they deserve it,” Martin added. “We just continue to be impressed with how Tacoma voters show up for kids.”

A total of 1,060 students were enrolled across all three programs at Oakland as of Aug. 25, and that number is likely to increase as the school year progresses, McCarthy said.

“Through these programs, we are meeting the needs of students who might have work or family obligations during the day, or who prefer a smaller student/teacher ratio,” she wrote in an email.