Tensions High over Santa Barbara Unified’s Decision to End PTA-Run After-School Programs over Equity Concerns
District Says It Is Partnering with Other Organizations to Offer More ‘Inclusive’ After-School Programs
Tensions have risen in Santa Barbara Unified after the district canceled all PTA-run after-school programs at elementary schools this year, leaving many families in limbo.
District spokesperson Ed Zuchelli explained that these programs were historically limited to select schools through PTAs, and primarily accessible to students whose families could afford them.
In an effort to promote equity and access, Zuchelli said, the district is partnering with other organizations to offer more “inclusive” after-school programs that “meet the needs and interests of all students.”
The board was slated to approve the $428,000 contract bundle for these programs in October, but voted 3-2 to pull the item from the agenda for “further clarification” and discussion. Board members said they wanted to better understand and discuss these programs before approval, which will most likely happen in December.
However, due to the board’s delay and the upcoming winter break, the new programs will not begin until January, leaving parents high and dry in the meantime.
A parent at Roosevelt, Carolynn Johnson, tipped off the Independent after the school’s PTA, called REEF, had its after-school programs pulled “last minute,” a few days before school started.
She noted the U.S. Surgeon General’s advisory in August about supporting the mental health of parents, which emphasizes a need for improving early childhood education and childcare — something that the County Board of Supervisors is working to provide relief for as well.
“It wasn’t a perfect setup last year (it was expensive), but to take water away [at the] last minute in a desert is not helping,” Johnson said about REEF’s programs, noting that she and her partner relied on these programs for after-school childcare.
Despite the costs of many PTA programs, parents at the October 22 board meeting called equity a cover-up.
Washington Elementary parent Caitlin Jennings said she was “deeply disturbed” by the administration’s “lack of transparency” around another decision, again in the name of equity, to “effectively end” PTA and PTO fundraising by January 2025 unless the fundraisers had prior written approval.
“What happened to our partnership?” she asked the board. “Where are the agreed-upon protocols and respect for parental input?”
“Trying to cram us all into the same-shaped box is not equity,” parent Jory Zusmer said. “It’s nothing more than a dictatorship…. Where does the equity line get drawn?”
Other parents called on the board and the district to find other ways to address equity concerns, without taking away PTA programs and fundraising.
Before the board voted to continue the discussion, Board President Wendy Sims-Moten thanked parents for sharing their concerns that night.
“We’re working through this,” she said. “I do think we can continue to work toward where we want to be so that every child has an opportunity.… Everybody in here wants the best for our students.”
In the same vein, PTAs were able to resuscitate a 5th-grade field trip after the district made the decision not to allow overnight field trips for those students in support of more “age-appropriate” and “unified” trips.
“After receiving feedback from principals, PTA/Os, and parents, this was reversed,” Zuchelli said. “Principals will be able to determine field trips based on site needs and priorities.”
