To the east of the mud pit that is starting to resemble Highway 101 again, Carpinteria schools were able to reopen today — for essentially the first time since December 5 — after a convoy of school buses, led by California Highway Patrol officers, moved teachers and staffers from Santa Barbara and Goleta back to the classroom. The four yellow buses were joined by 13 more full of public safety, medical, and other key personnel who worked in Carpinteria or beyond. They all wound their slow way from the Sears parking lot to Carpinteria with a police escort, and will do the same in reverse this afternoon.
"They are thrilled," said Carpinteria schools superintendent Diana Rigby of her students. "The decibel level on the playground is very loud." The transportation had been organized by the county's Office of Emergency Management, she said, along with all the school districts, the bus districts in Santa Barbara and Ventura counties, Caltrans, La Cumbre Plaza, and more. "Parents sacrificed, too," she said. "They've forgone the home-to-school transport so we can have these four buses."
"We had to stay out of the way of the dump trucks," said school employee Robbie White of the journey, "and the highway was strange without any traffic"