A steady progression of setbacks to normal operating procedures culminated on December 10 as Santa Barbara Unified School District Superintendent Cary Matsuoka closed classes districtwide until January.
The district’s first concern was deteriorating air quality, he explained, followed closely by nearby evacuation notices, a drop in the number of district employees able to show up for work, and finally, the fire’s arrival to Santa Barbara County. Now, there’s a fairly extensive cleanup project on the horizon before campuses reopen, planned for January 2, 2018.
“We’d been making this decision as a region,” he added. “The superintendents had been talking to each other every day.” South Coast districts that are closed until January include Santa Barbara Unified, Carpinteria Unified, Cold Spring, Montecito Union, Goleta Union, Hope Elementary, and Vista del Mar. Matsuoka said that under these circumstances, schools do not need to make up lost days.
