• EVERY STUDENT, EVERY CHANCE, EVERY DAY •
Dr. David E. Cash, Superintendent • 720 Santa Barbara Street, Santa Barbara, CA 93101 • (805) 963-4338
La Cumbre Junior High School is Santa Barbara’s oldest intermediate school. It was designed in 1926 and opened in 1928 as a junior high school serving grades seven through nine. In September 1993, La Cumbre became the Secondary District’s only middle school, serving students in grades six through eight. In September 2002, La Cumbre opened as a two-year middle school, serving students in grades seven and eight.
The Spanish-style school is housed on a 21.95-acre campus on the westside of Santa Barbara. Unique to this campus is a mural that graces the cafeteria, a gift to La Cumbre by the art students of 1986. The mural project was led by Dr. Anne Chestnut. Inspired by local artist Manuel Unzueta, the mural depicts the past, present and future of the Santa Barbara community.
La Cumbre Junior High School is a standards-driven and standards-based school with high expectations for all students and a comprehensive support program. The learning environment encourages self-disciplined, self-directed, and responsible academic and social behavior.
To meet the specialized needs of the school’s most gifted students, La Cumbre offers an interdisciplinary Honors program in language arts and social studies and a Gifted and Talented Education program in language arts, mathematics, science and social studies at all grade levels. The school offers a comprehensive program for English Language Learners, including Sheltered instruction. Special needs students receive Resource and Special Day class instruction. La Cumbre offers Adaptive Phyiscal Education and services for sight and hearing impaired students.
California Distinguished School (1992)
La Cumbre Junior High School feeds into San Marcos High School and Santa Barbara High School.
California’s testing program seeks ways to create a cohesive system that is fair to all students, provides reliable comparisons, and measures what students are expected to know. The Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) program is the centerpiece of state testing. STAR has three basic components, all of which are multiple-choice tests: California Standards Test (CST), which is an achievement test based on California's content standards, California Modified Assessment (CMA), for students with an Individualized Education Program (IEP) and designed to address the student's individual needs, California Alternate Performance Assessment (CAPA), for students with severe cognitive disabilities, and Standards-based in Spanish (STS) for newly enrolled Spanish-speaking English learners. These “on demand” assessments are administered to all students in the grade level that is being tested. In addition to the “on demand” assessments, student achievement is continuously monitored by the classroom teacher(s).
The Academic Performance Index is a system of measuring each school’s academic performance and progress in reaching established goals.
La Cumbre Junior High School maintains a closed campus during the school day. Students are required to remain on campus under the supervision of the school staff throughout the school day unless they have parental permission to leave campus.
All schools in the Santa Barbara Unified School District periodically conduct fire and earthquake drills. Each school has a disaster preparedness plan and works in coordination with local law enforcement and other public safety organizations.
School custodians address daily cleaning and maintenance needs. The District’s maintenance team visits each campus regularly, according to a defined rotation schedule, and addresses specialized needs (e.g., painting, carpentry, etc.). In the event of a facility emergency at the school site, the District maintenance team responds on an immediate basis.
Enrollment and ethnicity information is gathered from the California Longitudinal Pupil Achievement Data System (CALPADS). CALPADS information is updated each October as a California Department of Education reporting requirement. Comprehensive and comparative CALPADS data for all Santa Barbara County schools is available at: www.sbceo.org