The Anacapa School’s class in American government for 7th and 8th graders has a longstanding tradition of inviting in candidates for city and county elected offices to make individual presentations to our students. These sessions are not forums or debates. Each candidate has the opportunity to make his or her own presentation to the class. We ask the candidates to share information on their backgrounds, what they consider to be the important issues, and any endorsements they may have. It is a measure of the wonderful community we live in that candidates are willing to take the time to speak to our class.
We thank all candidates for their thoughtful discussions. All five candidates running for mayor came into the class. This year we had a special challenge with the large number of candidates running for City Council. We were not able to meet with all of the candidates, so we do not consider the results of our election for City Council to be more than an unofficial straw poll. We also want to thank Santa Barbara City Clerk, Cyndi Rodriguez, for the extraordinary field trip she organized for our class to learn first-hand how the City is processing the mail-in ballots. Here are the results from our election, held in class on Friday, October 23.
Mayor: Stephen Cushman
City Council: Grant House, Bendy White, and Michael Kathleen Self
Measure B: No
-Gordon Sichi, American Society class