Tag archives: MUS

Montecito Union School will host a ribbon-cutting event this week, to showcase its unique 2.5-acre Nature Lab, a facility that allows its students to grow their own crops, learn outside, and even interact with a tortoise and some chickens. The students at the enviable elementary school were a big part of the process about how […]

Montecito Union School is moving forward with some much-needed – and long anticipated – improvements to campus next summer, which will take over a year to complete. “This project has been fifteen years in the making, and has gone through a huge number of changes,” said Superintendent Anthony Ranii, who sat down with us earlier […]

When I arrived at the Montecito Journal, I received some push back for writing about affairs outside of Montecito. But I felt strongly then, and still do, that many aspects of life in greater Santa Barbara are integral to the lives of Montecitans. That goes for healthcare, social impact work, the development of downtown, the […]

I entered my 20s in the pandemic. Ten years prior, you would’ve found me in Mr. D’Alfonso’s fourth-grade classroom at Montecito Union School. It was a good year. It was a big year. We started algebra and my friends taught me how to change the background image on a computer, so we could all have […]

Saturday, May 22 will be a very exciting evening for Montecito Union kids, parents, and the greater community, as Montecito Union School hosts a virtual gala featuring professionally produced musical performances from MUS students. Dubbed “Montecito Star,” the event is in lieu of the Montecito Union School Foundation’s annual gala, which raises money for various […]

I was in Ms. Balch’s first grade class when Anika Wilson was my Older. Anyone who attended MUS remembers the Olders-Youngers system. This program paired up students from different years, introducing younger students to a new upperclassman friend every year and eventually becoming a mentor to the next generation. I loved this program and remember […]

In an effort to provide a special experience to their 5th grade class, teachers at Montecito Union School brought Colonial Williamsburg to MUS. “Most years, fifth graders are able to attend the D.C./Colonial Williamsburg trip as a culmination of their studies of the early history of our country. Clearly, that wasn’t in the cards this year, but our […]

At 2:07 pm, Montecito resident Abe Powell was driving north on San Ysidro Road when he noticed a pair of paragliders swinging in the sky. “They were just too low,” Powell said. “I knew they weren’t going to make it to the beach, because they were coming low and towards the powerlines that come across […]

By working with others, we can discover our strengths and weaknesses. Teamwork leads to not just self-discovery, but also teaches us how to trust in the skills of others to produce work that is greater than the sum of the team effort. Marilyn Bachman has spent a lifetime learning the value of teamwork as a […]

Among the reasons I enjoy managing this column must be those moments when I read someone’s letter and think, “yes! I know exactly what you’re talking about.” From Walker Kemp and his desire for a change of scenery to Hope Saxon and her farm cake, I often get the feeling that our Montecito bubble affords […]

Signs that a community is in the throes of an historic transformation are rarely overt and almost never seismic. They’re small yet perceptible shifts that, in aggregate, tell a story of where a town or a city is coming from and where it’s most likely headed. In the case of Montecito those signs – at […]

US. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos recognized Montecito Union School (MUS) as one of the 367 National Blue Ribbon Schools for 2020. MUS won the coveted honor in the “Exemplary High Performing Schools” category which honors each state’s highest performing schools. Montecito Union School is a one-school district serving the community of Montecito with transitional […]

At a monthly board meeting last week, the Montecito Association Board of Directors heard from Brett Balint, CEO of Onward & Upward, who presented a very conceptual idea of modifying airspace over Santa Barbara and Montecito. Balint, who was in attendance on the Zoom meeting with Jasenka Rakas, Ph.D., from the University of California at […]

I met Jakob Hammer, son of two of my favorite MUS teachers (Jackie and Kurt Hammer), in second grade. With our diametrically opposed love of Star Wars and Star Trek, Webkinz and Club Penguin, and contradictory opinions about Crocs as footwear, Jakob and I may not have seemed like a natural pairing, but we’ve now […]

On Wednesday, April 22, hundreds of Montecito Union School students, Montecito residents, and members of the community came outside their homes and businesses to wave to dozens of MUS teachers and administrators, who drove their cars in a “parade” throughout Montecito. “Our teachers and staff miss seeing the students’ faces on a daily basis, and […]

This week, a consultant team is on the Montecito Union School campus interviewing students, staff, teachers, parents, and administrators in order to start formulating a plan for how best to utilize the 2.3-acre parcel of land located adjacent to the campus on San Ysidro Road. After acquiring the land in 2006 as part of a […]

Last week Montecito Union School, in conjunction with the MUS Foundation, hosted its first ever “Grandfriends” Day, an opportunity for MUS students to show off their school to their grandparents or other friends or family members. “We wanted the event to be completely inclusive, so we did not limit it to only grandparents, as many […]

Montecito Union School has received a Certificate of Recognition for valuable contributions towards water efficiency, conservation and stewardship from Montecito Water District. This award recognizes many steps that Montecito Union School has taken to reduce water consumption and model good water stewardship for the community. In recent years MUS has implemented several highly visible projects […]