Culture Wars Invade Goleta School Board Race
Five Candidates Represent a Wide Spectrum of Political and Educational Thought
In retrospect, few complaints reached our ears regarding the Goleta schools during the pandemic, and even now, Goleta parents are upbeat about their schools. It’s a stark contrast to the Santa Barbara schools, which seemed to have villagers armed with metaphoric torches and pitchforks at every school board meeting.
According to Richard Mayer, who is running for his 11th stint as a Goleta school board member, the district hired extra teachers to reduce the class sizes and also added permanent substitutes to forestall any gaps in teaching from the inevitable times when teachers would fall sick to COVID-19. Before- and after-school classes were held at each school, and summer school ran all day, all of which he believes decreased the anticipated learning loss among students.
Currently, two seats on the school board are in a competitive race: Trustee Area 1, which extends north of Highway 101 and up to Los Padres National Forest from El Capitan to a jagged line bordered by North Fairview, Cathedral Oaks, and North Patterson; and Trustee Area 3, which is south of that area and is shaped like a puzzle piece that includes the airport, university, Old Town, and More Mesa.
