As we sprint toward the last day of the school year, Alameda Unified School District (AUSD) has a number of updates for the community.
First, we have hired several new administrators who will join us starting in the 2025-26 school year. Rahima Abdelhamid will be the new principal of Bay Farm School. An experienced elementary school teacher and coach, she comes to Alameda from San Francisco Unified. In addition to teaching first, second, and third grade there, she served as a reading interventionist and literacy coach and also supported curriculum development and professional learning.
Ms. Abdelhamid received a BA from UCLA and an MA from UC Berkeley, and she attended the Aspiring Principal Diversity in Leadership Fellowship, sponsored by the Diversity of Leadership Institute and Loyola Marymount University.
Nicole Orlando will be a new assistant principal at Alameda High School. She has been working within AUSD as a Teacher on Special Assignment and a Special Education Teacher Induction Mentor since 2021. Prior to that she served first a resource specialist and then as a special education coordinator at a middle school in Los Angeles.
Ms. Orlando received a BA from UCLA, an MA in Special Education from CSU-Dominguez Hills, an MA in Educational Administration from CSU-Los Angeles, and a post-Master’s Certificate in Educational Therapy from CSU-Northridge.
Jorge Wahner will be our next Senior Director of Special Education. He currently coordinates our non-public and private school placements for students receiving special education services. Prior to joining AUSD, he worked as both an assistant principal and Director of Special Education in Oakland Unified School District. He also is an instructor at Berkeley City College.
Mr. Wahner received a BA in History from Florida Atlantic University and an MA in Education Administration from Sonoma State University.
Important dates
All AUSD schools and facilities will be closed on May 26 in honor of Memorial Day.
Graduation ceremonies will cause traffic impacts at Lincoln Middle School on June 4 at 2:30 p.m., Alameda High School on June 6 at 11:30 a.m. at Thompson Field, and Encinal High School on June 6 at 3 p.m. We highly recommend avoiding these areas immediately before and after the ceremonies, as they tend to attract a lot of car and foot traffic.
AUSD will launch its free summer meals program on June 9. A free breakfast and lunch will be served at Alameda Boys & Girls Club, Alameda Point Collaborative, Ruby Bridges Elementary School, Shinsei Garden Apartments, and Academy of Alameda. Exact meal times will be posted on the AUSD website home page by June 1. As a reminder: All children ages 18 and under are welcome to eat at these meal sites, and they do not need to provide any ID.
Susan Davis is the Senior Manager of Community Affairs for the Alameda Unified School District. Reach her at [email protected].
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