Chambers Thanks Teachers and The Community

On March 1, our community experienced a significant milestone that deserves to be celebrated against the long, dark legacy of COVID-19. The Chamber’s Roadmap to Recovery called for all schools to be able to reopen in some capacity by March 1, and they did.

We want to extend a huge thank you and congratulations to the schools’ leadership, teachers, staff, businesses and the entire community for pulling together, taking proper precautions, and helping advance our recovery. We especially want to recognize the families who made incredible sacrifices on behalf of their children to help keep them moving forward with their education over the last 12 chaotic months.

While Carpinteria Unified, and most of the smaller elementary districts and private schools on the South Coast, reopened in October, our largest district, Santa Barbara Unified, was working toward a Jan. 19 return. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s early December Stay at Home Order thwarted those plans, and set off several more months of uncertainty.

Both the Santa Barbara Unified and Goleta Union school districts — led by Superintendents Hilda Maldonado and Donna Lewis, respectively — crafted plans to keep our students and professional teachers and staff safe, while reopening schools to in-person instruction to advance student success and our community’s recovery and economic health.

The Chamber thanks the education community for their hard work, dedication and leadership to get to this point and we are committed to building on this progress and working with our schools to get all of our grades fully open safely.  We also are grateful for the teachers and staff who have worked diligently over the last year to present a positive front and support our students.

Congratulations are due our community for its resilience, energy and solidarity during this difficult public health and economic crisis. We applaud you for taking necessary precautions, supporting local business nonprofit organizations, and our schools.

Thank you again for helping us achieve a critical milestone in our Roadmap to Recovery.