Dr. Zarina Ahmad, Principal

Welcome to Piedmont Avenue Elementary! Thank you for your interest in our school community. It is an honor and a privilege to serve as the school principal for the past 15 years. We have a wonderful team of talented teachers and staff that work hard to ensure academic and social success for every student. Our goal is for every student to thrive as we celebrate diversity, practice mutual respect, and build a community of excellent learners.

At Piedmont Avenue, we want every child to know they are seen and valued as active participants in our school community. We want our students to enjoy learning as they work to get smarter and smarter in preparation to graduate from high school and college and/or start a career. Our students are held to high academic standards, and our teachers use the standards-aligned Math, Science, Social Studies and Language Arts curriculums adopted by the Oakland Unified School District. We offer enrichment classes such as music, art, gardening in addition to advancing our skills in technology. We offer a before and after school program. We have support from our wonderful community members who provide tutoring and parent training. We have an active and fun PTA that I hope all of you will join. Let’s have an amazing school year.

I was born and raised in Oakland and attended OUSD schools through K-12. I am a graduate of Skyline High School. I received my B.S. degree in Political Science from Santa Clara University, my Teaching Credentials from Cal State East Bay, UC Berkeley and University of San Diego, and my administrative credential with New Leaders for New Schools through Cal State East Bay and Boston University.

My pride outside of teaching is my husband and our six children. Our children all attended public schools and are making us proud. Our children are now college students and graduates and are starting to feel good about the contributions they are making to society and becoming successful young adults. 

For all of my students at Piedmont Ave I want the same. I want them to gain the knowledge and skills to one day become independent young adults that make positive contributions to society and be able to reflect back on their lives with joy.

Peace and Blessings,
Dr. Zarina Ahmad, Principal 
[email protected]