The renovation added something unique for the Oakland campus. It is the new home for Tacoma's online learning program.
TACOMA, Wash. — When students walk through the doors of Oakland Secondary School this week, they're in for a surprise. The 112-year-old building may look the same from the outside, but step inside and you'll find yourself in what feels like a completely different school.
The historic Tacoma facility has just wrapped up a major renovation that keeps part of the classic 1912 charm, with big windows and brick walls, while packing in some modern learning spaces.
The renovation added something unique for the Oakland campus. It is the new home for Tacoma's online learning program. The 800 students in TOL and hundreds of others in the part-time online Tacoma Flex program now have a place to meet their teachers face-to-face and dive into hands-on lab work that you just can't get through a computer screen.
"Really, the foundation for all of this is personalization and meeting students and families where they are," Oakland principal Shaun Martin said. "It includes this combination of virtual skills and in-person skills, so we kind of bring all that together."
Special education teacher Krystall Fowler was busy setting up her classroom when KING 5 visited.
"Walking inside, you're kind of transitioned into this brand-new world of a school," she said. "Looking at the outside compared to inside, you would never guess it would look like this. We're just looking to build our community, and I think this building alone is going to help do that."
Tacoma voters are to thank for the transformation. Back in 2020, they approved a bond measure that has funded the rebuild and remodel of eight schools in the district. Oakland is the latest to receive a renovation.
Two more elementary schools, Lowell and Whittier, are set to get their own reopenings over the next couple of years.
A military judge sentenced Pvt. Deron Gordon to over six years in prison for sexually assaulting a college student.
JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Wash. — A Joint Base Lewis-McChord soldier who sexually assaulted a college student in the barracks in 2024 was sentenced to more than six years in prison Friday.
A military judge sentenced Pvt. Deron Gordon, 20, to six years and three months in prison after he pleaded guilty to one specification each of sexual assault, abusive sexual contact and as a principal to indecent recording.
Gordon was previously charged with additional crimes, but those were dismissed as part of the plea agreement.
Gordon is one of four soldiers who were charged in in connection to the sexual assault of a college student, who is now a commissioned Army officer, in October 2024.
When Gordon pleaded guilty, he said that he and another soldier followed the college student into a bedroom after she had been drinking with them. He said she was unstable walking into the room and when they went inside she was on the bed and not responsive.
Gordon said he and the other soldier each proceeded to have sex with her and they filmed each other sexually assaulting her on Snapchat.
As part of his sentencing, Gordon will be reduced in rank to E-1 and dishonorably discharged from the Army.
Gordon will serve the remainder of his sentencing at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Once he is released, Gordon must register as a sex offender.
The three other soldiers who were charged in the incident are at different points in the legal process, and their cases are being treated separately.
If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673. Additional resources are available on the Washington State Department of Health's website.
KING 5’s Conner Board contributed to this report.
