Tag archives: schools

Santa Barbara Unified Mandates COVID Testing
By Nick Masuda   |   January 18, 2022

With COVID-19 numbers skyrocketing all over Santa Barbara County, mostly due to the Omicron variant, the Santa Barbara Unified School District installed mandatory testing for students and staff on January 10. While the county deals with an overall shortage of tests, SBUSD indicated that it had plenty on hand to test every student (roughly 13,000) […]

Our Town’s 19th Annual Schools Holiday Concerts (Part 2 of 2)
By Joanne A Calitri   |   December 28, 2021

Here is a look at four more holiday concerts that provided plenty of holiday cheer as we inch toward the new year: Crane Country Day School The school had a wonderful evening outdoor concert planned for Thursday, December 16 for families only, but as the much-needed rain continued that day, the school made the tough […]

Feting the Unsung Superheroes New Fund Focuses on Celebrating Educators During Unprecedented Times
By Nick Masuda   |   November 30, 2021

The past 20 months for educators have been ones of great angst and innovation — with the need for patience and a willingness to embrace the unknown paramount to serving thousands of students in the Santa Barbara Unified School District. It has also been thankless. Educators have not only had to teach students through computer […]

The College Calling
By Elliana Westmacott   |   November 22, 2021

Grounding oneself into the realm of Advanced Placement courses, heightened expectations, and overloaded schedules while beginning the search for one’s passions is not simple, to say the least. I’m in the middle of my junior year of high school and the looming idea of college that was always in the back of my mind has […]

A Letter of Appreciation for Our Schools
By Sigrid Toye   |   November 9, 2021

It’s autumn in Santa Barbara and the landscape is painted with a golden glow as falling sycamore leaves carpet the ground. Halloween is just around the corner. And, at long last our kids are settled back in school and ready to celebrate the season. During these uncertain times, “back in school” has become an event […]

MUS Improvements to Start Next Summer
By Kelly Mahan Herrick   |   October 26, 2021

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 […]

Riding the Rollercoaster That Is College Admissions Trends
By Mentors 4 College   |   October 26, 2021

Don’t you wish there was a cute, little dog like Toto who could just pull back a curtain and reveal the secret to how this confusing, murky college admissions process works? So you could see that the smoke and mirrors and prestidigitations involved weren’t so scary and intimidating after all. That lurking behind the collegiate […]

Laguna Blanca School Opens New Science Center
By Joanne A Calitri   |   October 5, 2021

It’s open – and it’s beautiful. On Monday, September 27, there was a ribbon cutting and VIP guest reception for the new 5,500-square-foot Center for Science and Innovation at Laguna Blanca School’s Hope Ranch campus, which houses the Nakamura STEM Research and Innovation Lab, the updated Jackson Physics Labs, the Mosher Foundation Outdoor classroom, Gainey […]

Are we doing all that we can to keep our students in school and safe from Delta variant?
By Laura Capps and Kate Ford   |   September 22, 2021

By Laura Capps and Kate Ford, Santa Barbara Unified School District Board of Education Our world is not the same, and we’ve learned so much since COVID-19 struck nearly 20 months ago. Above all, we must do everything possible to keep students and staff in school, safely.  We are 150% committed to doing so, as […]

Santa Barbara’s New Schools Superintendent Makes Her Way From Fire to the Frying Pan(demic)
By Gwyn Lurie   |   August 31, 2021

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 […]

Talented New Students Welcomed in Person
By Scott Craig   |   August 31, 2021

About 410 new students, who include 58 new transfers, begin their journey at Westmont Thursday, August 26, moving into residence halls and enjoying several days of welcoming activities during Orientation.  “This class has persisted through the pandemic and arrives with high energy and optimism to live and learn in person in real community,” says Irene […]

Stellar Young Life Students Earn Full Scholarships
By Scott Craig   |   August 24, 2021

Westmont College and Young Life Southwestern Division have awarded full scholarships to Arath Gomez of Santa Barbara, Destiny Mitchell of Victorville, and Serena Nohmeh of Reseda. Young Life Urban Leadership Scholarships provide funding for each student to attend Westmont for four years. This joint effort encourages students who have benefited from Young Life to remain […]

Applying for College? Yeah, We Feel Your Pain — But Help is Here
By Mentors 4 College   |   August 24, 2021

Years ago, after graduating from college, I went through a six-month period where I suffered from blood-curdling, ghastly nightmares — where I dreamed that I hadn’t really gotten my diploma after all. I’d wake up in a cold sweat, covers tangled on the floor, breathing heavy at 2 am, convinced I’d forgotten to do something […]

Proceed with Caution: Back in Schools, but Will it Stay that Way?
By Nick Masuda   |   August 24, 2021

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 […]

It’s Time to Require Vaccines: Our Students, Teachers, and Staff Deserve Healthy and Safe Schools
By Kate Ford and Laura Capps   |   August 12, 2021

As members of the Santa Barbara Unified School District (SBUSD) board, we understand that our paramount responsibility is to ensure the health and well-being of our students. Incorporating all we’ve learned about COVID-19, we are determined to open schools safely for all staff and students on August 17. Sadly, our community is still in a […]

Santa Barbara Unified Mulls Mandated Vaccines for Staff, Teachers
By Nick Masuda   |   August 5, 2021

With the school year less than two weeks from starting, a pair of Santa Barbara Unified School District board members are calling for all district staff and teachers to be vaccinated or be tested for COVID at least once per week. The proposal from Board President Kate Ford and Board Member Laura Capps will be […]

Well-Meaning Handouts Not Aiding Homelessness Efforts
By Montecito Journal   |   August 5, 2021

The following is an open letter to the Coast Village Association and the property owners of the Country Mart and Starbucks strip:  We need you to step up now and help your businesses and customers stop enabling homelessness. Help us solve it instead.   We are writing to you as Montecito residents and founding members of […]

The Culture of Cate? How Multiple Investigations into School are Revealing Decades of Potential Abuses
By Nick Masuda   |   July 29, 2021

Wendy Ward Hoffer kept her secret for nearly 35 years, recently revealing she was sexually abused by a faculty member during her sophomore and junior years at Carpinteria’s Cate School (1984-86), describing herself as a 15-year-old torn between trying to win the support of her teacher and the ongoing fear of what would happen if […]

Pay It Forward
By Richard Mineards   |   July 23, 2021

It was a case of kids helping kids when youngsters from Mountain View Elementary School donated $1,600 – 20 percent of their tickets sales from their annual school fundraiser – to Cold Spring School, which lost two pupils in the January mudslides and is currently trying to raise $485,000 after property tax revenues were impacted […]

The 19th Annual Graduation Issue: Part I
By Joanne A Calitri   |   June 17, 2021

Our community of schools held their 2021 graduation ceremonies through a mix of family-only, in-person bubbles at the school’s open-field areas and via live virtual for all attendees. The total number of local student graduates for this week was 126 students, including 24 at Our Lady of Mount Carmel School, 13 at Montecito YMCA Preschool, […]