Tag archives: Amy Alzina

The Montecito Association (MA) Board of Directors held its annual meeting this week, appointing new board members and saying goodbye to several retiring board members, as well as reviewing the Association’s activities in 2021.  Association president Megan Orloff and executive director Sharon Byrne reported on Association activities for the past year, which included extensive pandemic […]

At this month’s Montecito Association Board of Directors meeting, Santa Barbara County Sheriff Lieutenant Butch Arnoldi reported that Pierre Lafond Market in the Upper Village was broken into earlier this week, in a similar fashion as a burglary that occurred in July. Both glass doors were broken, and suspects removed cash registers and quickly fled […]

Nearly a year after the marginal failure of Measure L2020, the $7.8 million Cold Spring School bond measure that was on the ballot last November, school staff, admin, and parents have dusted themselves off to launch a capital campaign to fund a much-needed expansion of the school. “We still have a need. That did not […]

On Tuesday, the bulk of Santa Barbara County snapped “first day” photos for Facebook and returned to the gnarly drop-off lines at area schools — but the cloud of uncertainty surrounding the longevity of in-person instruction remains. With the COVID-19 Delta variant creating disruption at hospitals around the state, local school districts are having to […]

The most recent meeting of the Cold Spring School District’s Governing Board took place at the school campus at 6 pm on May 10 and, despite lingering COVID-19 concerns, drew a standing-room only crowd. Participants included all five board members, school officials including Superintendent and Principal Amy Alzina, Chief Operating Officer Yuri Calderon, and about […]

Earlier this week, the Montecito Association Board of Directors was shown preliminary renderings of the design of the widening of the 101 Freeway, which will eventually widen the freeway to three lanes in each direction between Sycamore Creek in the city of Santa Barbara up to Romero Creek in Montecito.  Design engineer Zach Siviglia showed […]

Previous articles in the Montecito Journal have described what by now has become a no-holds-barred legal conflict between the Cold Spring School and Amanda Rowan, a parent of a child who was suspended from the classroom last year, and who was subsequently named in a restraining order filed on behalf of three employees of the […]

Last week, the Montecito Journal reported on the latest involving the ongoing conflict between the Cold Spring School District and Amanda Rowan, the parent of a child who was subjected to a one-hour school suspension for posing during a Zoom session as the school’s principal, Dr. Amy Alzina, while using a photograph of Rowan’s dog. […]

At this month’s Montecito Association Board of Directors meeting on Tuesday, April 13, executive director Sharon Byrne gave an update on several housing bills at the State level which the Association is watching; Byrne wrote about the issue in last week’s Montecito Journal.  The MA has hired former state senator Hannah-Beth Jackson as a legislative […]

Montecito school superintendents Dr. Amy Alzina, Superintendent of Cold Spring School District, and Dr. Anthony Ranii, Superintendent of Montecito Union School District, recognize the leadership of three outstanding women leaders in the local community in honor of Women’s History Month, including Montecito Association Executive Director Sharon Byrne. In addition to her work with Montecito Association, […]

Saturday night, many of us gathered electronically to commemorate the third anniversary of the Debris Flow that claimed 23 of our community members, destroyed hundreds of homes, and shook us to our core.  It’s a day we’ll never forget.  As with all major disasters, the entire community experienced a collective trauma: shock, loss, grief, and […]

Last week, the Montecito Association Board of Directors held its monthly board meeting via Zoom.  During Community Reports, Montecito Union School and Cold Spring School superintendents Anthony Ranii and Amy Alzina reported that in-person learning continues to go well, despite increased COVID-19 cases in Santa Barbara County and beyond. Both schools have increased staff testing, […]

Put Our Children First Our family moved into the Cold Spring School District on the eve of the Thomas Fire. We chose the district because we had first-hand experience with Dr. Amy Alzina’s leadership at Adams Elementary School in the Santa Barbara Unified School District. Her student-centered focus and educational vision is the perfect recipe […]

My friend’s mother used to say: “Just because you’re the loudest, doesn’t mean you’re right.” From time to time I invoke this during vociferous dinner table debates amongst members of my family. But in a world where facts go unchecked on social media platforms, where vocal minorities can represent anything as truth, it can be […]

For those of you who don’t know me, I am the Superintendent and Principal of the Cold Spring School District. I am a resident and member of the Cold Spring School Community. As of last year, I was also a parent at Cold Spring School. In all of these capacities, I have dedicated myself to […]

There’s a long history in Montecito of well-intentioned yet pricey local school bond measures that have failed to win at the ballot box. In 2012, Montecito Union School unsuccessfully sought to raise $27 million for various campus improvements, an effort that collapsed under the weight of criticism by property tax paying opponents who viewed it […]

Full STEAM Ahead There has been much discussion about how the upcoming Cold Spring School bond measure will impact the members of the school community, but it is worth pausing to consider how this measure will impact the current and future students. Cold Spring School has a strong culture of providing students with an enriching […]