Emerald High School opens new expansion, welcomes 11th graders this fall

DUBLIN — The Emerald High School Aerouants will welcome students into a recently finished education tower this upcoming year after officials celebrated the completion of two-thirds of the new school.

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Dublin Unified School District officials last week cut the ribbon on the second of two classroom towers at Emerald, which is a landmark for Alameda County’s first new high school in over 50 years. The $374 million school will enroll about 1,500 students this fall term, after opening to 900 freshman and sophomores in August last year. District Superintendent Chris Funk in an interview last week likened Emerald to a college campus, noting its massive student union and gymnasium, among other amenities, as worthy of a higher education facility.

“Emerald High School is the gift that keeps on giving,” Funk told this news organization. “We are excited about it. It is a beautiful campus.”

The school will have its first 11th grade class roam the halls, inching closer to an inaugural graduation of its first ever senior class the following year. The school has the capacity for nearly 2,500 students. Funk said Emerald will likely reach capacity within the next two school years. It opened with just one tower, as officials awaited completion of the second.

Emerald High School finished construction on its second of three phases this summer in time to welcome 1,500 students to campus on Aug. 12. Courtesy of Dublin Emerald High School

The expansion adds another 39 classrooms across three floors in the new tower, with some additional resources for shop-style classes in construction, engineering and the culinary arts. Some rooms are outfitted with special garage doors to open the class to the outdoors.

The school also added a ticket booth, bleachers, concessions and restroom facilities to the stadium, alongside new broadcast, dance, dressing and makeup rooms for the school’s visual and performing arts facilities.

A third phase of construction is expected to open in April 2027, which will include a new 600 seat Catherine C. Kuo Performing Arts Center, and will bolster the school’s theater and other arts programs.

District officials cut the ribbon on a new expansion of Emerald High School in July. Emerald High School finished construction on its second of three phases this summer in time to welcome 1,500 students to campus on Aug. 12. Courtesy of Dublin Emerald High School

The Aerouants, or Aeros, will also start competing in varsity football and basketball events, after operating only junior varsity for Emerald’s first year. This comes after a raucous several months earlier this year at the district’s board meetings where droves of impassioned parents begged officials to reinstate their former head basketball coach, Jason Rockwell.

The school placed Rockwell on administrative leave in December for unexplained reasons. Parents petitioned the district, gathering hundreds of signatures asking to save “Coach Rock’s” position. Officials later announced he would not return to his job.

Another major shakeup tainted Emerald’s first year when former principal Francis Rojas resigned via text message abruptly, after just months on the job. The sudden shift in leadership catapulted current principal Lenni Velez to the head of the school.

Emerald’s first day of the new school year begins Aug. 12.

A new classroom, outfitted with a garage door, is pictured at Emerald High School. Emerald High School finished construction on its second of three phases this summer in time to welcome 1,500 students to campus on Aug. 12. Courtesy of Dublin Emerald High School