Questions rise as enrollment falls

South Coast freeways are more crowded than ever, but there are fewer bikes in the cul-de-sacs and not as many strollers being pushed toward neighborhood parks.

What’s more, skyrocketing home prices are squeezing out middle-class families and bringing in seniors and upper-income families who tend to have fewer children.

In the 1998-99 school year, the Santa Barbara Elementary School District had 6,201 students. This year there are 5,876 students enrolled, with the numbers projected to fall to 5,770 this autumn. Declining enrollment is expected to hit the junior high schools this fall for the first time since 1996 and spiral into the high schools just two years later.

Why is this a problem? While research backs the common-sense notion that smaller learning environments help boost student achievement, fewer students mean fewer dollars for schools that are already strapped for cash. Fewer students also mean fewer parents who are available and willing to pony up the volunteer hours and fund-raising dollars to help fill in that gap.

In an effort to deal with some of these challenges and make optimal use of the facilities and resources available to the schools, the Santa Barbara School Districts has hired local consultant Pat Saley to assist with updating the Facilities Master Plan, which was last completed in 2003. As part of the initiative, the district will request input from the community about the “big-picture” issues that affect the schools.

In addition to changing demographics and enrollment trends, this includes the possibility of designating additional space for pre-school programs, as well as permanent facility needs for the K-8 Open Alternative School, currently housed at La Colina Junior High; the K-8 Santa Barbara Charter School, currently housed at Goleta Valley Junior High; and the K-6 Santa Barbara Community Academy, currently housed at the downtown district office and at Santa Barbara Junior High, and soon to have some students housed at La Cumbre Junior High.

Also under discussion are what to do with excess space in schools, plans for the two properties the districts own — in Hidden Valley and near San Marcos High — that were once designated for new schools, how new projects should be funded, whether the districts should continue to allow student transfers, and if, hypothetically, an elementary school were to be closed or relocated, how that should be handled.

“We’re asking for input on how to best use our facilities and properties,” Superintendent Brian Sarvis said last week. “None of these decisions have been made … this is the beginning of that process.”

“The idea is to figure out our priorities,” said Saley, who emphasized that the meetings weren’t focusing on individual schools needs yet.

Saley said about 50 people attended the first three community meetings and that she will present a summary of their input to the school board June 14 or June 28.

Santa Barbara School Districts consultant Pat Saley can be contacted at 969.4605 or psaley@silcom.com with any comments or questions.

Originally published in South Coast Beacon on June 2, 2005.

La Cumbre principal goes recruiting

La Cumbre Junior High, courtesy SBUnified.

Touting a closer-knit junior high community, one school aims to turn tide of enrollment

The vibe is different at La Cumbre Junior High these days. While the enrollment numbers are still down, new principal Jo Ann Caines’ dynamic energy seems to be resonating, at least with the people who know the native Santa Barbaran.

Students at Adams School (where she was principal until a few months ago), once a symbol for white flight, are now flocking to La Cumbre.

While only about 450 of the approximately 600 eligible students will attend La Cumbre in the fall, “the composition of our student body is going to be drastically different,” said Caines, “with more of the middle-income and middle- and high-achieving students that didn’t come here before.

“We’ve turned a huge corner thanks to Adams School,” she said, with all but 11 of the more than 100 sixth-graders planning to attend La Cumbre. “So while we’ll be very similar in size, we’ll be hugely different.”

This fall, Caines and assistant principal Jorge Fulco will concentrate on Monroe and Washington schools. Caines has even recruited an Adams fourth-grade parent, Katie Parker, to help her with the outreach.

“Jorge and I have been on the road since Feb. 1 doing outreach,” Caines said. “We gave more tours here … than they have in the prior five years combined.”

Of course, pitching the school is one thing, but telling a compelling story is another — and Caines certainly has one with her reorganization plan.

It might seem to be by design that, when Santa Barbara Community Academy upper-grade students move to La Cumbre’s campus in the fall, the junior high will begin to implement a core knowledge learning community that builds on the same concepts the academy has used successfully. But Caines said she did her research on the core knowledge curriculum (a sequenced, coherent program that uses a grade-by-grade core of common learning) prior to the school board’s decision to move the academy there.

Caines also has a Gifted and Talented Education (GATE)/pre-advanced placement learning community planned, a liberal arts/college preparatory group, and an intensive English development/newcomers community similar to the successful program she implemented at Adams.

Caines emphasized that the communities — which will be separated geographically to make it easier on students — are not tracks.

“Students can participate in any one that they choose or they qualify for,” she said.

Each student will also have a homeroom class where she hopes the smallness of the school will work to its advantage.

“Teachers will not only know their students but the students in that community,” she said.

The staff is coming on board after what Caines characterized as lots of “not easy” discussions.

“Change is hard,” she said. “They’ve been through four principals in two years, so it’s hard to say, ‘Is this really a change or is it going to be different next month kind of thing?’ So what I said to teachers is if it’s not a match for you then you should put in for a transfer because part of what I’m doing is building a new team, and more than anything I want people to be here because they want to be here.”

Three teachers have put in for transfers, but Caines said others are anxious to come to the school because of the new programs.

“Let’s be real. If you asked 100 adults about junior high, 97 of them will say they hated junior high,” she said. “It’s all about friends … Even though we’ll do outreach to the parents, … we’re going to put a lot of energy into the kids, because kids really do decide …They want to go where their friends are.”

Blurred boundaries

Transfers are one of the hot topics of discussion where school needs are concerned. When students transfer in from other districts, the district gets additional money, but intra-district transfers don’t change the funding and campuses like La Colina Junior High (which had only 591 students in 1993-94 and was up to 1,027 students in 2004-05) are getting overcrowded while campuses like La Cumbre Junior High (which had 1,030 students in 1993-94 and now has 433 students) have empty rooms..

Here’s a snapshot look at where secondary students are going (all figures are from the 2004-05 school year):

Junior High

Goleta Valley Junior High School

Incoming: +21 students from other districts; +48 students from within the district (total +69)

Outgoing: -1 student to other districts; -79 students to another school in the district (total -80)

La Colina Junior High School

Incoming: +29 students from other districts; +250 students from within the district (total +279)

Outgoing: -0 students to other districts; -50 students to another school in the district (total –50)

La Cumbre Junior High School

Incoming: +14 students from other districts; +41 students from within the district (total +55)

Outgoing: -2 students to other districts; -257 students to another school in the district (total –259)

Santa Barbara Junior High School

Incoming: +43 students from other districts; +154 students from within the district (total +197)

Outgoing: -2 students to other districts; -107 students to another school in the district (total –109)

High School

Dos Pueblos High School

Incoming: +74 students from other districts; +218 students from within the district (total +292)

Outgoing: -0 students to other districts; -101 students to another school in the district (total –101)

San Marcos High School

Incoming: +61 students from other districts; +325 students from within the district (total +386)

Outgoing: -7 students to other districts; -382 students to another school in the district (total –389)

Santa Barbara High School

Incoming: +151 students from other districts; +268 students from within the district (total +319)

Outgoing: -7 students to other districts; -328 students to another school in the district (total –335)

— Source: PAT SALEY

Originally published in South Coast Beacon on June 2, 2005.

Giving it his all—COMMUNITY BEACON: Larry Crandell

Santa Barbara’s favorite emcee has helped raised millions of dollars for local causes. But he can’t be outbid when it comes to community service.

His stationery (created by a 7-year-old admirer) reads, “From the desk of Mr. Santa Barbara, Mr. Montecito & the Godfather of Goleta, the one and only Larry Crandell.” But to most of us, he needs no introduction.

Even if you haven’t had the pleasure of his company one on one, you’ve no doubt seen him on stage, tirelessly raising money for causes ranging from the YMCA, the Boys & Girls Clubs, Hospice, the PARC Foundation, Transition House, the Santa Barbara Athletic Round Table and just about every other nonprofit organization in town.

Crandell estimates he is the master of ceremonies or auctioneer for about 100 charity events a year.

“I have a test. If I’m asked, I do it,” said the decorated World War II bombardier.

If people don’t know Crandell from his carrying of the philanthropic torch, they could certainly recognize him from when he carried the Olympic Torch in 2002, or be acquainted with him through his wife of 54 years, Marcy, or his five children — Larry Jr., Michael, Ashley (now deceased), Steven and Leslie — all of whom were raised in Santa Barbara.

Showing off pictures from his days playing basketball at Syracuse University, where the twinkle in his eye is immediately recognizable even 60 years later, Crandell proudly jokes that his five children, who went to Stanford University and UCSB, weren’t smart enough to follow in his academic footsteps.

Having already launched a successful software company with son Michael, Crandell is developing a new venture with Steven. There could be no better ambassador into the Santa Barbara business community than Larry Crandell, who has hobnobbed with just about everyone.

“When you’ve worked with a common cause there’s a camaraderie that you can’t do just by socializing, so I have access that I think I have the confidence to follow,” he said.

A degree of separation away from Crandell are the many celebrities with whom he’s done events, including Michael Douglas and Dennis Miller.

Humoring local philanthropists like Paul Ridley-Tree, who Crandell jokes is a special man, “he’s bid over $3 million, but he’s never bought anything,” is also a part of his repartee.

“My routine doesn’t change very much,” he admitted. “My secret is to keep changing audiences.

“I feel as though I’m on a victory tour, like a retiring athlete, only I don’t go anywhere and people treat me kindly.

“… At 82, life is sweet, I guess is the best way to put it.”

Originally published in South Coast Beacon on June 2, 2005

Disneyland never gets old

Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland Resort, Anaheim CA, courtesy Wikipedia Commons.

Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland Resort, Anaheim CA, courtesy Wikipedia Commons.

Magic Kingdom brings out the kid within

Outrageous prices, long lines, and theme park feet aside, taking a child to Disneyland for the first time is still an E-ticket ride. While my 5-year-old son Koss is a seasoned Disney veteran, his cousin Jordan recently celebrated her fourth birthday with Mickey and friends at what was, for her, truly the happiest place on earth.

Of course my brother-in-law, Brian, would have rather had a root canal — but some people don’t recognize fun even when it’s screaming in their ear.

I, on the other hand, love Disneyland with an almost geek-like passion. My fervor would be more than “almost geek-like” if I were talking about vanilla lattes or Chuck’s Mai Tais, but with mouse-maniacs rivaled only by trekkies in their fanaticism, my enthusiasm is relatively tame.

Sure, I make my family wear the same color shirts when we go there, but it’s not like we have “Dinaberg Family Disneyland Trip” t-shirts printed up like the Densmore family did, and it’s not like we’ve fashioned our old curtains into Butterick Pattern Nos. 1187-1199 like the Von Trapp family. No, that would be ridiculous. At least, not until after I finish my sewing class.

My obsession certainly doesn’t reach the heights of the Krock’s, who created a website about “the happiest potties on earth” (www.mouseplanet.com/potties/). While it’s a truly brilliant site, and would have been useful when Koss was a baby and I gracefully managed to spill an entire strawberry slushie on his tushie and then used the very last diaper in all of Disneyland to clean him off, I’m not that obsessive.

Still, my heart starts thumping a little faster as we pull into the lot, and it’s not just because of the $37 parking fee — I love Disneyland.

I’m probably the only person to have enjoyed visiting Walt Disney World and Epcot Center solo, on more than one occasion. (OK, so I was there on business, but I still bought — and wore — the mouse ears.)

I couldn’t help reflect on how well my son and his cousin Lauren would have fit in at Tokyo Disneyland where all sense of personal space is eclipsed by a strange need to fit as many people in as small a space as possible. I know that Disneyland can sometimes feel like the most peopled place on earth, but trust me, anywhere in the U.S. would feel spacious in comparison to Tokyo Disneyland.

I bet Brian’s head would explode if we made him go there.

Jordan’s eyes turned to saucers as she watched the teacups spin. New things come and go in the real world with alarming frequency, but everything in Fantasyland is just where I left it when I was 4. I can almost see my lip print on Dumbo’s ear and my Grandpa Alex’s belly jiggling as he danced along with the birds in the “Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Tiki Room,” and just about hear my dad singing “It’s a Small World After All.” Oh — never mind. That really is my dad singing “It’s a Small World After All.” Some things you don’t have to remember, you can just relive them over and over again. Like, “It’s a small world after all, it’s a small world….” I must stop now.

One of the greatest things about being a parent is getting to re-experience magic through the eyes of a child. Watching their responses was often more entertaining than whatever it was they were watching. Lauren wanted to dance with the prince in the “Snow White” stage show, Jordan tried to pick a fight with some of the pirates in the Caribbean, and Koss believed that Buzz Lightyear remembered him from their last hug and photo op.

I guess it is a small world after all. It’s a small world after all. It’s a small, small…No! Stop it!

It certainly feels like a small world when a woman I don’t recognize spots me in line and asks me, “Are we going to read about this in the Beacon?” I’m not sure whether to feel flattered to get recognized or guilty because she busted me for taking my son out of school.

“It’s my sister’s fault,” I want to say. “She didn’t want to fight crowds on a weekend.” And really what I mean, if you’re reading this and you happen to be the principal at Vieja Valley, is that he was very sick that day with a fever of 112. Or, at least a massive stomachache from all the $12 boxes of popcorn that grandma bought him.

Jordan’s chubby little legs bounce along to the Lion King’s “Hakuna Matata,” landing her on her rump every so often. She laughs out loud just because she’s 4 and in her world this is nothing short of nirvana. Even Brian cracks a smile, and I feel grateful to have a glimpse back to feeling that way.

Though my theme park feet are asleep after the long drive home, and I’m too tired to wash the theme park film (saturated fat, sunscreen, sweat and spilled sugar) off my body, laying in my own somewhat lumpy bed next to my own somewhat grumpy husband is actually the happiest place on earth.

Originally published in South Coast Beacon on June 2, 2005.