Principal Dwayne Bartholomew

Bay Area native, Dwayne Bartholomew, believes in service, resiliency, and perseverance toward equity. Mr. B walks the walk he loves to talk. He understands hard work, sacrifice, and loyalty are some of the internal drives that led to his success. It wasn't easy though, his father died in his early years, he went to 6 different high schools, and struggled with homelessness with his mother. He used education as a ladder out of poverty and became the first person in his family to earn a bachelor's and a Master's degree. He took that education into a teaching career spanning 15+ years with students of various needs living below the poverty line. He has always positively impacted his student's access to programs, facilities, and opportunities to receive a higher quality of life because he sees these things as human rights, not privileges. Relationships saved his life, now he seeks those same relationships in the hopes that he can “send the elevator back down” to get the next crop of educators that we so desperately need. Feel free to contact him, Bunche is always looking for volunteers and support partners in the West Oakland community, dwayne.bartholomew@ousd.org.