From the Desk of the Superintendent
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Santa Barbara High’s Elevator Project Completed
ADA Upgrades Across the Santa Barbara School Districts
We just celebrated the completion of six elevators at Santa Barbara High School. Like other bond projects, funding for the elevators was provided by the people of this community. The expense of six elevators, $5.3 million, is also symbolic of the significant amount of bond funds used to provide Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) handicap accessibility at schools across the Santa Barbara School Districts. (Continued...)
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Setting the record straight...The $150,000 loan to our new Deputy Superintendent Eric D. Smith
I have been asked why we offered a homeloan down payment to the new deputy superintendent. The simple answer is that we needed his expertise in the districts and did so to convince him to take a permanent position in the districts. (Continued...)
Friday, February 22, 2008
Deputy Superintendent Position
The board of education approved a position for deputy superintendent Tuesday night based on plans to restructure district office administration. (Continued...)
February 14, 2008
City Meeting on Youth Violence
On January 31, the city convened a community stakeholders meeting to identify ways to improve communication, coordination, and collaboration on youth violence issues. Forty agencies and service providers were represented, including the Santa Barbara School Districts. (Continued...)
Wednesday, January 13, 2008
Message from the Superintendent
Just when we believed we had gained control of our budget problems and were getting accurate numbers, we were presented with a new set of challenges from the governor’s budget proposal that demand direct and immediate action. (Continued...)
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Parcel Tax
The district may be pursuing a parcel tax on a future election ballot. At the November 13, 2007 board meeting, the board directed staff to solicit quotes from respected community opinion survey consultants and to confirm the costs of a parcel tax election. (Continued...)
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Enrollment Trends
Student enrollment for non-charter schools may be changing from the pattern of decline we have seen for a number of years at the elementary level. However, enrollment declines are expected to continue at the secondary level. District enrollment history and projections are as follows: (Continued...)
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Message from the Superintendent
Questions have been raised regarding the status of the Santa Barbara School Districts’ budget, which I would like to address. Current indications are that the 2007-08 budget is significantly overstated. We planned for a large reserve this year so we could make the multiyear projections, which include meeting our required three percent reserve and negotiated salary increases over a three-year period. (Continued...)
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Balancing the Budget in the Santa Barbara School Districts
Santa Barbara School Districts has cut more than $5 million from its $125 million general fund annual operating budget for 2007-08. Making budget cuts is not new to our district. Student enrollment has been declining for a number of years and we have been paring the budget accordingly. We understand the community’s concern about the state of public school finances and are working hard to prepare a 2007-08 budget that provides safe campuses, a high quality of education for our children, fair compensation for our employees, and well-maintained facilities. (Continued...)
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Message from the Superintendent
We are deeply troubled by yesterday’s gang fight and stabbing. Nothing is more important than the safety of our students; we are saddened by the senseless death of a student in this community. It does not matter whether the students involved were in our district schools or in a county education program. These are all children in our community and their welfare is all of our responsibility. We are also concerned about the tranquility of our city and, whether gang violence occurs on State Street or in any other location, it has been increasingly prevalent over the past three years. (Continued...)
Monday, June 12, 2006
Time For Our High School Graduates to Pursue Their Dreams
Just yesterday they were children. Now they, our graduating high school seniors, are young adults with bright futures. Their success is entwined with our future. Society will depend on their skills and motivation. (Continued...)
Thursday, April 27, 2006
May 1 Day of Protest
The Santa Barbara School Districts join State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell and education leaders across California in asking students to attend school on May 1, a day of protest regarding proposed federal immigration legislation. There are 180 days of school in our state and we know the importance of every one of those days. Students need to be in school. (Continued...)
Friday, October 28, 2005
Santa Barbara School Districts Consider Options to Meet Fiscal and Staffing Needs
Our public schools play a vital role in the community. The responsibility to properly educate our children and prepare them for the future has never been more daunting. This is especially so in the Santa Barbara area, where families have been leaving in droves, caused largely by impossibly high housing costs. Declining enrollments mean declining revenue for the Santa Barbara School Districts. (Continued...)
September 1, 2005
Santa Barbara School Districts Meet the Challenge of State and National Standards
Test scores in the Santa Barbara Elementary and High School Districts improved over last year’s California Academic Performance Index (API) by eight points and four points respectively. The Santa Barbara Elementary School District’s API rose to 746, which is very close to the state’s cut off point of 800 for schools that can be removed from having to demonstrate growth as they are considered to be excelling in all standards. The Santa Barbara High School District’s API was even higher at 760. These high API scores are based on the state’s STAR tests and our teachers and students can be proud of their accomplishments. (Continued...)
Monday, April 11, 2005
Message to the Community on Elementary School Measure I-98 Construction Projects
In June 1998, voters in the Santa Barbara Elementary School District approved a $25 million bond, often referred to as Measure I-98, for school modernization and construction. The original $25 million has actually been parlayed into $43 million worth of construction completed or in progress, thanks largely to the district’s work in accessing millions more in state matching funds than had been originally anticipated. (Continued...)
December 16, 2004
Focus on Excellence
When I came to the Santa Barbara Elementary and High School Districts three and a half years ago, I was pleased to see that educational excellence is the expectation and that just doing well is not enough. Excellence in education is a primary goal of the Santa Barbara School Districts. The challenges of education are many, but I can report that we do very well by most measures and we are making significant progress in raising the academic bar for the 16,000 students that we serve. (Continued...)
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
Report on Negotiations
Our staff is among the finest in the nation. Teachers, counselors, psychologists, nurses, as well as classified support workers and administrators, deserve higher salaries and need more to live in this community. I am pleased to announce that we have reached a tentative agreement with the California School Employees Association. It is a disappointment that negotiations with the Santa Barbara Teachers Association are not resolved because the teachers association and the board both agree that association members should earn more money. The board values their work and is working hard to provide a salary increase. (Continued...)
June 14, 2004
Letter to the Santa Barbara School Districts and the Santa Barbara Community
Deborah A. Flores, Ph.D., Superintendent of the Santa Barbara School Districts
After much thought and consideration, I have accepted the position of superintendent of the Lucia Mar Unified School District in San Luis Obispo County. (Continued...)
November 14, 2003
Update on Proposition 47 Funding
The purpose of this letter is to follow up on the Proposition 47 portion of the Superintendent’s Report that I gave during the November 12, 2003 board meeting. (Continued...)
Tuesday, April 15, 2003
A Message from Superintendent Deborah Flores: Budget Reductions
On April 8, 2003, the Board of Education took action regarding budget reductions for the 2003-04 school year. The tables shown below outline the approved budget reductions. The purpose of this message is to provide information about the state budget, inform you of the status of both districts’ budgets, review the cuts themselves, and to let you know what future projections indicate. I believe it is important for staff, administrators, parents, and the community to have as much information as possible about the status of the districts’ budgets and the recent budget deliberations. (Continued...)
Friday, January 10, 2003
A Message from Superintendent Deborah Flores: Preparing for the State’s Budget
The major challenge faced by both the Santa Barbara Elementary and High School Districts continues to be the budget. The combined budgets of both Districts is approximately $100 million. Our Districts, along with (Continued...)
September 4, 2002
Dear Parent/Guardian:
The previously scheduled September 25, 2002 public hearing on the proposed calendar for school year 2003-2004 has been changed to Wednesday, October 9, 2002. The schedule change was made to give our feeder school districts additional time to share this proposal with their respective parents and staff. (Continued...)
April 15, 2002
Dear Parents/Guardians:
From April 22 through May 17, students in grades 2-11 in the Santa Barbara School Districts will be taking an important series of tests. These tests, which are part of the Standardized Testing and Reporting (STAR) Program, include two components: (Continued...)
March 24, 2002
Letter to the Community:
The budgets of the Santa Barbara Elementary and High School Districts have been the subject of extensive community dialogue. The word "budgets" is important to this discussion because while our schools are governed by one Board of Education and served by one District Office staff, from a legal and fiscal standpoint we are two separate districts with two separate operating budgets. (Continued...)
January 10, 2002
Letter to the Community:
At this time each year, District staff and the Board of Education begin reviewing and discussing the budget for the next school year. For the past few years, our Elementary District budget has been particularly challenging due to declining enrollment, a much lower revenue base than our High School District, and the special education encroachment. Each of the past two years, it has been necessary to cut between $300,000-400,000 from the Elementary District budget. (Continued...)
October 11, 2001
Letter to the Community:
The day began with unspeakable shock and horror, but on September 11th and the days thereafter, I witnessed tremendous courage and fortitude within our school community. (Continued...)
September 11, 2001
Dear Parents/Guardians:
Today, we have all been stricken by the national disaster that our country is experiencing. At each of our schools today, as always, we provided a calm and safe school environment for our children. Our teachers, administrators, and school psychologists were all available to children throughout the day. Individual support was provided as needed. (Continued...)
August 2001
Dear Parents/Guardians:
As we begin the new school year, I ask for your help in sharing with your son/daughter some very important information about school attendance. In order for your son or daughter to be as successful as possible in school, it is essential that he/she be in class every day. There is so much to accomplish in our 180-day school year that unless your son or daughter is sick or unable to attend for other valid reasons, we expect your child to be at school, on time, and ready to learn! Following are some of the changes that are taking place in the areas of attendance and absences, tardies, and truancy. (Continued...)
March 15, 2001
Dear Parents/Guardians:
Last week, the nation was again riveted by stories of school violence. Public and private schools are not immune to the problems that face society. Incidents such as we have seen most recently in California, Pennsylvania, and Oregon serve to remind us of the importance of a strong home/school/community working relationship. Every student has the right to be educated in a safe learning environment and, as your partner in education, we must work together to guarantee that right. (Continued...)
March 12, 2001
Dear Students:
On Monday, March 5, there was a shooting on a high school campus in Santee, California. A troubled student took a gun to school and killed two of his classmates and injured 13 others. There is some evidence that, prior to the attack, he talked with others about what he was going to do. In fact, in most of the school shootings that have taken place over the past few years, there is evidence that some people knew of strange and troubling behavior of the student(s) prior to the shootings. Some had even heard the student(s) discuss their plans. (Continued...)
March 16, 2000
Letter to the Community from Deborah A. Flores, Ph.D.
On behalf of the Board of Education and more than 9,500 students in the Santa Barbara High School District, I would like to thank the voters of Montecito, Santa Barbara, and Goleta for their investment in the future of today’s students and the students of tomorrow. Your support of a $67 million General Obligation Bond will be used to improve the infrastructure and modernization of seven aging junior high, middle, and high school campuses. (Continued...)
September 28, 1999
From the desk of: Dr. Michael W. Caston, Superintendent
During the 1999-2000 school year, the Santa Barbara Elementary and High School Districts will continue to set high standards of academic achievement for all students. (Continued...)
April 23, 1999
From the desk of: Dr. Michael W. Caston, Superintendent
Dear Parents:
Locally, our students, schools and community are deeply saddened at the horrific news of another act of violence in one of our nation’s schools. The violence in Littleton, Colorado has heightened awareness of our Districts’ first priority: concern for the safety and welfare of all students, staff, and visitors to our campuses. Be assured that each school in the Santa Barbara Elementary and High School Districts is taking every precautionary measure possible to ensure campus safety. (Continued...)