Shamrock Hills TK-8 School opens in Dublin, district's second new school since 2024
Erin Magill is soaking up the last days of summer. This time next week, she'll be the principal of the more than 800 students attending Shamrock Hills TK-8 School, Dublin's newest school campus.
Shamrock Hills is the second new school opened in Dublin in the past two years, following the opening of Emerald High School in 2024. While other Bay Area districts including San Jose Unified and Santa Rosa City Schools have had to close campuses due to low enrollment. Dublin Unified School District Superintendent Matt Campbell said the city is facing the opposite problem - growth.
"There's a lot of homes that are here in this particular area, it's next to a BART transportation hub, and so that we knew that the housing density in this particular area would would warrant a community school," Campbell told CBS News Bay Area.
The school is funded through voter-approved Measure J, which gave the district a $290 million bond to build. The construction of new schools while the district was cutting staff to balance a multi-million-dollar budget deficit was one point of contention between DUSD and the city's teachers' association, which went on strike in March.
"The money that we use to pay for buildings out of bonds can only be used on infrastructure and/or buildings," Campbell said.
"The money that we use to pay for our educational programming comes from a completely different source, and those two you cannot commingle those two."
The district and teachers union reached a settlement that included a raise, and commitment to smaller class sizes. CBS News Bay Area has reached out to the teachers' association for comment on the new school.
Despite last year's strike, staff are looking forward to a new year on a new campus. Both Campbell and Magill say the 12-acre campus is state-of-the-art, designed with the children in mind. Each floor is painted different colors to reflect the change in grades - a small detail Magill says the kids will appreciate.
"That's our main goal, is to really be able to build a place where all students from all backgrounds learn and thrive in a joyful environment," Magill said.
