|
Public educational facilities in the
Goleta Valley include nine elementary schools, one Junior
High, two High Schools and the University of California at
Santa Barbara. A Community College is located in Santa
Barbara. Private schools include St. Raphael's Catholic
Elementary School, Bishop Garcia Diego Catholic High
School, and Santa Barbara Christian School. There are also several nursery schools and child
care centers in the area.
One of the reasons so many families
seek to make Goleta their home is unquestionably the
quality of the local schools. This community has two
school districts the Goleta Union School District which
serves children from Preschool through sixth grade and
the Santa Barbara School District which serves seventh
through twelfth graders. The seventh and eighth graders
attend the Goleta Valley Junior High while ninth through
twelfth graders attend either San Marcos or Dos Pueblos
High Schools.
K-12
 Elementary
Schools
The Goleta Union School District serves
approximately 3,550 students, kindergarten through sixth
grade, on nine attractive campuses throughout the Goleta
area. In November, 1996, the Goleta community passed a
$26 million school construction bond measure with
support from more than 74% of the voters. These funds
are being used to repair and modernize all district
schools, build new classrooms and libraries and replace
the district's oldest school, Isla Vista, with a new
"state-of-the-art" facility for the 700 students.
District personnel provide a firm
foundation in reading, writing and mathematics, help
students use these skills to solve problems and develop
individual student potential in the arts and sciences.
For students identified as gifted and talented, special
programs are offered in grades 4, 5 and 6.
Goleta Union School District's
reputation as a high-achieving school is substantiated
by the results of current standardized achievement tests
which indicate that Goleta students continue to score
above state and national norms on tests of reading,
language and mathematics.
The central office of the Goleta
Union School District is located at 401 N. Fairview
Avenue. The district superintendent, Dr. Kathleen Boomer, can be reached at (805) 681-1200, extension
201.
Brandon Elementary School
http://www.brandon.goleta.k12.ca.us
Ellwood Elementary School
http://www.ellwood.goleta.k12.ca.us
El Camino School
http://www.elcamino.goleta.k12.ca.us
Foothill Elementary School
http://www.foothill.goleta.k12.ca.us
Hollister Elementary School
http://www.hollister.goleta.k12.ca.us
Isla Vista Elementary School
http://www.islavista.goleta.k12.ca.us
Kellogg Elementary School
http://www.kellogg.goleta.k12.ca.us
La Patera Elementary School
http://www.lapatera.goleta.k12.ca.us
Mountain View Elementary School
http://www.mtnview.goleta.k12.ca.us
Junior High Schools
 Goleta
Valley Junior High School, home of the Mariners, opened
its doors in 1964, making it the first secondary school
in the burgeoning Goleta Valley. GVJHS presently offers
instruction for seventh and eighth graders. Its student
body primarily originates from six of the Goleta Union
School District's elementary schools. GVJHS students
excel in academics. In mathematics, students placed
highest in the county on both the Golden State and
American Junior High School Mathematics Examinations. In
science, students participate in a comprehensive two
year program that includes partnerships with local
science and technology firms as well as the School
Partnership for Science Innovation (a project involving
the National Science Foundation and UCSB). In performing
arts, students in music and theater have received
numerous awards for productions and performances.
Goleta Valley has made a tremendous
commitment to technology as an important instructional
tool. Having been awarded several grants, the school is
networked with access to the Internet. In addition, a
comprehensive program is in place for instruction in
software, programming and video production. GVJHS has
made these changes without sacrificing time and energy
in the important areas of mathematics, science, language
arts, social studies, physical education, health and
industrial technology.
Business participation in the
educational programs at GVJHS is through the
Adopt-A-School program. Our business partners are: Santa
Barbara Association of Realtors, McDonald's of Santa
Barbara, Fairview Merchant's Association, Inline Sports
Center and the LaBelle Outreach Foundation.
Anyone with a question or wishing to
visit Goleta Valley Junior High School, located at 6100
Stow Canyon Road, may Veronica Rogers, Principal, at
967-3486.
6100 Stow Canyon Road
Goleta, CA 93117
805-967-3486
High Schools
 Dos
Pueblos High School
Dos Pueblos High School, the home of the "Chargers",
is located at 7266 Alameda Avenue and Cathedral Oaks in
Goleta. Dos Pueblos is an excellent public high school
and was designated as a "Distinguished School" in 1989.
It has the reputation of a traditional, academic,
comprehensive high school which is student-oriented and
where students achieve and experience success. The
dropout rate is 2% compared with the state average of
around 18%. The school received full six year
accreditation by the Western Association of Schools and
Colleges.
Academically, Dos Pueblos ranks as
the highest achieving public school in Santa Barbara
County. It has maintained the highest combination SAT
scores in the county for the last five years, the
highest percentage of students taking SAT tests which
means students considering four year colleges, an 63%
passage rate on Advanced Placement (AP) tests, high
scores on the Iowa Achievement Test, eighth place out of
171 Southern California high schools on the American
High School Math Exam and a large number of National
Merit finalists. Dos Pueblos has also won the
county-wide Mock Trial competition fourteen times,
placing second state-wide three times and winning the
state championship twice. As recently as reported in the
Santa Barbara News Press, Dos Pueblos is sending the
greatest percentage of students to college in the county
and sends more students to college than 97% of the
schools in the state.
Built in 1966, the campus covers over
40 acres. Dos Pueblos is a neighborhood school with a
population of 1500 students of which 58% are White, 10%
Asian, 28% Hispanic and 3% African American. The
students are taught by a faculty of 64 highly
experienced and talented teachers, most of whom have MA
degrees. The curriculum meets all state and district
requirement and includes GATE, honors and Advanced
Placement programs. The curriculum is supplemented by
the ROP vocational program which provides students with
classes in computer applications, printing, restaurant
training and auto mechanics.
Parental involvement is actively
encouraged through an active PTSA, the SITE Council, the
Charger Associates, the Band Boosters, the Theatre Arts
Boosters and the Beautify Dos Pueblos Committee.
Dos Pueblos works with the business community in many
ways including its Adopt-A-School partners which are
Santa Barbara Research Center, Santa Barbara Remote
Sensing, ABC-Clio/Intellimation and the International
Association of Financial Planning. Anyone with a
question or wishing to visit Dos Pueblos should call
Principal Mark Swanitz at 805-968-2541.
7266 Alameda Avenue
Goleta, CA 93117
805-968-2541
http://www.sbceo.k12.ca.us/~neala1
San Marcos High School
San Marcos High School, the home of the "Royals," is
located at 4750 Hollister Ave. Established in 1958, San
Marcos is midway between Santa Barbara and Goleta at the
corner of Hollister and Turnpike. The excellent academic
and athletic reputation earned by the school is a direct
reflection of an outstanding student body that is
supported and served by a professional staff working in
partnership with parents and community members. San
Marcos High School received a full six-year
accreditation by the Western Association of Schools and
Colleges in 1997. It was selected as a "Distinguished
High School" in 1994. Redook Magazine named San Marcos
as one of the top 65 high schools in the nation (April
1996). Eighty-five percent of San Marcos graduates go on
to higher education. Over the past sixteen years, San
Marcos High School has continually maintained the first
or second highest SAT/AP test scores in the county.
Through utilization of an SB1274
California Restructuring/Demonstration Grant, San Marcos
High School has distinguished itself by moving from a
traditional six-period day to a block schedule. In the
block schedule classes are ninety minutes in length and
each class in completed in a nine-week term. There are
two terms in a semester and four terms in a school year.
In the block schedule, all freshmen are enrolled in four
ninety-minute classes each term and, when scheduling
permits, sophomores, juniors and seniors may enroll in a
fourth class. This allows students to complete up to 16
courses in a school year where a student in a
traditional six-period day may complete 12 courses in
the school year. This allows for more electives and
interdisciplinary seminars such as 10th grade
Humanities, teaming Social Studies and English classes,
the 11th grade American Experience, an emphasis on
literature, history, ethics, and cultural diversity.
San Marcos has invested $600,000 in
technology over the past four years. It is a model
technology school with both IBM and MAC labs. San Marcos
is one of the few schools in the state to be completely
networked with all classrooms having access to the
Internet and CD-Roms. The school has a Wellness-Resource
Center where wellness education and community health
programs are coordinated.
The curriculum meets all state and
district requirements and includes GATE, Honors and
Advanced Placement courses and is supplemented by the
ROP vocational programs. Parental involvement is
actively encouraged through PTSA, the SITE Council,
various school committees and booster organizations. For
more information or to schedule a visit to San Marcos
High School, please call Principal Craig Morgan at (805)
967-4581.
4750 Hollister Avenue
Santa Barbara, CA 93013
805-967-4581
http://www.sbceo.k12.ca.us/~gillsmhs
 Both
High Schools provide their students with excellent
educational programs. The schools offer a comprehensive
curriculum which meets all state and district standards.
Gifted and Advanced Placement (AP) classes are readily
available. Besides their fine academic programs, a full
range of athletic and extra-curricular activities are
available to students as part of a well-balanced
education.
University of California, Santa
Barbara
Reaching Out UCSB: A Vibrant source for community
spirit, partnership and pride
By Leslie Dinaberg
Goleta's proximity to UCSB helps
enrich the community in a myriad of ways.
 As
Santa Barbara County's largest employer, with almost
10,000 people on staff, UCSB obviously brings tremendous
financial resources to the area. The university provides
at least 5 percent of the county's economy and more than
8 percent of the South Coast's economy, according to
Bill Watkins, executive director of the UCSB Economic
Forecast Project.
A critical point about UCSB's
economic impact, Watkins says, is that “it's not a
volatile source of economic activity ... Agriculture can
be volatile, certainly manufacturing can, lots of
industries can be very cyclical, and for the most part
this is not particularly cyclical and it also has a fair
number of pretty well-paying jobs.”
But the dollars UCSB brings in are
just a small part of its contributions to Goleta.
“In addition to being a leading
research university recognized around the world, UC
Santa Barbara is an integral part of our community,”
said Chancellor Henry Yang. “Our public service mission
includes working with our local partners to develop
programs and projects to enhance the quality of life in
this region. Our reach extends into many areas of
activity, from educational outreach and economic
forecasting to community health and technology transfer.
“We feel fortunate to be located in
such a special, beautiful place, and our community is
very supportive of our mission,” he continued. “In
return we offer community members a rich variety of
activities to sample and enjoy, from lectures and
performances to athletic events, recreational programs
and facilities, extension courses, and personal
development classes.”
Vice Chancellor John M. Wiemann
sounds a similar theme. “We are part of this community.
We're here, we're your neighbors, just like you're our
neighbors,” he said. “We breathe the same air, drive on
the same roads, our kids go to the same schools. So
we're really part of the community. We're people who
coach Little League teams, participate in PTAs, do all
the things that everybody else does who have other jobs,
we just happen to work at the university.” The student
body is another source of strength.
“Probably the best thing we do is we
bring 20,000 really smart, interesting kids here every
year that contribute in a variety of ways to the local
area, just by being who they are,” Wiemann said. “They
volunteer here. … Students also provide a work force for
local businesses, especially local merchants and
hotels.”
UCSB also offers diverse cultural
resources. Itzhak Perlman, Jon Stewart, Garry Trudeau,
Bobby McFerrin, Amy Tan and Yo Yo Ma are just a few of
the talented head-liners who will appear this year as
part of the popular UCSB Arts & Lectures series.
“It is just a stunning list of people
that otherwise wouldn't be in Santa Barbara,” Wiemann
said. “No matter what your intellectual interest is, you
can find somebody at UCSB talking about it every month.”
In addition, the university and the
UCSB Affiliates share a wealth of enrichment with the
community. Recent programs include “Health Care,
Mortality and Obesity” “Nuclear Nations,”
“Sustainability,” and visits to the Los Angeles Opera.
Sports are also a big draw. In
December, thousands of fans cheered on the men's soccer
team to the national championship. The school also
fields teams in women's soccer and softball; men's and
women's basketball, cross country, golf, swimming,
tennis, track and field, volleyball and water polo; and
men's baseball and golf.
Along with the full spectrum of
spectator sports, the UCSB Recreation Center is the
workout site of choice for many Goleta Valley residents
who use its swimming pools, gymnasiums, weight rooms,
squash courts, racquetball courts and climbing wall. The
university also runs several after-school and summer
recreation programs for children, including community
athletic coaching, aquatics classes, gymnastics school,
junior lifeguards and a surf and kayak camp.
With all of the vibrancy, energy and
resources that UCSB brings to Goleta, the university
also shares in one of the community's biggest
challenges, the high cost of housing. “The most pressing
issue for the campus is the issue of faculty and staff
housing,” said Marc Fisher, associate vice chancellor
for campus design and facilities. “We are anticipating
about 400 retirements over the next 10 years. Of course,
we'll have some new hires as well. But that's a big
number.
“If you think about the housing
situation in Santa Barbara and Goleta, when those
faculty members retire or go on to another position, the
house that they purchased when they purchased it would
be unaffordable to incoming faculty. We need to have a
supply of housing that's available for faculty and staff
that is affordable so we can make sure that we can
continue to retain high quality faculty and staff,” he
said.
Wiemann agreed that it is an issue of
recruiting. “Just like any other company in town will
tell you, it's tough to recruit people into a community
where the median house price is over a million dollars,”
he said. With the goal of affordable housing for
employees in mind, Fisher and his team of architects,
designers and planners have developed an extensive
long-term plan for potential housing sites on campus.
The primary goal is “to use campus
properties effectively to assist in resolving some of
the university's most pressing problems: the need for
affordable work-force housing for faculty and staff, and
for expansion of the stock of housing for students,”
explains the document, which acknowledges that booming
regional real estate prices have made it “extremely
difficult for the university to recruit and retain high
quality faculty and staff” so long as employees alone
bear the housing burden.
The principles that will guide future
housing decisions include: building affordable housing;
building diverse housing types (including for-sale
single-family houses, condominiums and townhouses, and
for-rent apartments) for faculty, staff and students;
incorporating principles of sustainability so new
buildings will meet or exceed LEED (Leadership in Energy
and Environmental Design) Silver Standards; building
neighborhoods, not projects; preserving and celebrating
the environment; and minimizing car dependency.
“I think the thing that this study
showed is that we have quite a bit of additional
capacity on site and that before we really went out and
purchased property we would try to use what we have
already,” Fisher said. “We think it's the most
sustainable model.”
“There's a wonderful term,
self-mitigating … that lets the campus be here and work
very closely with the community but lets the campus keep
a lot of its impacts very close to the community,” he
added. “We think that actually has the potential to turn
into a very rich academic community in and around the
campus.”
The Coastal Commission, which must
approve all construction projects on the UCSB campus,
recently approved one such housing proposal. The North
Campus faculty and Sierra Madre family housing
developments eventually will supply a total of 323
units. The two projects are north and east of Ocean
Meadows Golf Course.
Currently under construction is an
additional student housing project, San Clemente
Housing. Graduate students will be the first ones
eligible to live in the 327 apartments along El Colegio
Road.
“We'll be occupying that in summer
2008,” Fisher said. While Goleta has had its share of
arguments about growth, Fisher says the community has
been generally supportive of UCSB's need to create more
housing.
“We're not building on open space or
building on areas that aren't already developed, we're
not taking the agricultural lands,” he said. “Plus, the
housing is really close to work, so it's kind of an
ideal model in terms of development.
“I think it's going to be a very
strong community, frankly. There has been generally a
pretty good reaction to it.”
An added benefit is the blending of
faculty and staff with the student population. “It's
going to make it a richer environment, a more
traditional college town,” he said.
Also popping up soon - in March - is
the new Mosher Alumni House. “I think it's going to be a
fantastic building,” Fisher said.
Designed by local architect Barry
Berkus — a former UCSB student who was named by
Residential Architect Magazine as one of the 10 top
residential architects of the 20th century — the project
takes full advantage of its spectacular location at the
formal entrance to the campus on Mesa Road.
Expansive, 180-degree views can be
seen from the roof of the building, from Hope Ranch to
the Channel Islands to the Santa Ynez Mountains all the
way to the Gaviota coastline. “It's pushed out so far
from the north edge of campus that it really has
sweeping views,” Fisher said. “It's quite striking.”
Expected to break ground in February
is the first fully donor-funded complex at UCSB, the new
Carsey-Wolf Center for Film, Television & New Media. The
facility will be connected with two other new academic
buildings, a social science building and the Gevirtz
Graduate School of Education. Located across from Robb
Gym in parking lots 20 and 21, the three buildings
constitute about $100 million worth of work, according
to Fisher.
There are also several projects
nearing completion on Pardall Road, including a parking
structure on the west side of campus, a student resource
building and a new theater and dance building, said
Fisher.
“The master plan really tries to build buildings in a
very logical fashion,” he explained. “It tries to build
better social breezes between the buildings and a much
richer landscape, and I think we've done that. There's a
nice open plaza we just put in, and it's a much
different entry sequence from Isla Vista into the campus
now. Now you come in it's not just a parking lot, it's
actually a very pleasant walkway into campus.
“Starting next fall we're going to
make an addition to the Engineering Two building,” he
added. “We have about $870 million worth of work on the
campus. It's quite a package of construction.”
It is indeed a lot of construction.
There are also some renovations of existing buildings
taking place, with UCSB's commitment to environmentalism
behind its recent agreement with the U.S. Green Building
Council to use LEED for Existing Building standards in
25 of its existing buildings over the next five years.
LEED is the national benchmark for high performance
green buildings.
UCSB already has completed one
successful LEED project in Girvetz Hall, and plans to
eventually make all of its existing buildings LEED-certified.
Bren Hall, home of the Donald Bren School of
Environmental Science and Management, is a leading
example of sustainable architecture and is the only
laboratory building in the country to receive the U.S.
Green Building Council's Platinum Leadership in Energy &
Environmental Design accreditation. The program sets the
highest standard for sustainable buildings for the
future and is being used as a model for facilities and
operations throughout California.
The Marine Sciences Building is
UCSB's second LEED for New Construction-certified
building. Featuring ultra-low water-use fixtures,
preserves natural landscapes and habitat, and the
building is 25 percent more energy-efficient than
mandated by California's strict codes. The Student
Resource Building, which is nearing completion, also
will be LEED-certified.
Within those buildings, UCSB's
connection to its environment is even more evident. “The
local environment presents … interesting teaching and
research opportunities and we try to take advantage of
that,” Wiemann said. “We have a very strong marine
science program, strong ecology in various places all
over the campus. The students, like the rest of our
community, are very concerned about the environment.”
A highlight of UCSB's strong environmental studies
program, Wiemann said, is the Bren School, “one of the
three best in the country.”
“The Bren School was started by a group of scientists
and biologists in different departments who were
interested in environmental issues,” he said. “They
wanted to create a professional school that was training
people at the graduate level to … work in environmental
areas, giving them the training and credentials to work
either for government or nonprofits or industry.”
Many of UCSB's professors also are
involved in Goleta's local industries, particularly the
high-tech sector.
“We have a very entrepreneurial
faculty,” Wiemann said, “especially in science and
engineering. Many of them have started companies or
developed technologies that have gone out and been
commercialized.”
In fact, UCSB faculty, staff, students and alumni have
been fundamental in the development of the Central Coast
Region's high-tech nology economy. According to the
Technology Management Program, a business program within
the College of Engineering, more than $650 million in
venture capital funding for UCSB spin-offs has been
generated in the past 36 months and, during that same
period, more than $7 billion in mergers and acquisitions
has come from UCSB spin-offs. More than 30 percent of
the UCSB engineering faculty are entrepreneurs and more
than 175 UCSB alumni or faculty have founded high-tech
companies, primarily in Goleta and adjacent areas.
Thanks to its academic,
environmental, athletic and entrepreneurial
accomplishments, UCSB is becoming more prestigious and
renowned all over the world.
“People are recognizing the quality
of this place,” Wiemann said. “It's always been very
good, but our reputation is catching up with our
reality.”
As UCSB's top official, Chancellor
Henry Yang is justifiably proud. “I think it's fair to
say that UC Santa Barbara's presence is a vital part of
this region's well-deserved reputation as one of the
most desirable living and working environments in the
country.”
For more information about UCSB and
resources available to the Goleta Valley community,
visit
www.ia.ucsb.edu/ps/index.aspx |
