Santa Barbara Unified Board of Trustees Appoints New Member to Replace Capps
By the Santa Barbara Unified School District
Santa Barbara Unified’s Board of Trustees appointed William Banning to fill a vacant seat during a Special Meeting Thursday.
Mr. Banning was sworn in after the board unanimously voted to appoint him.
The newly appointed Trustee will take a seat on the board at the January 24 meeting.
Two special hearings were held over the last week to interview 12 applicants for the vacancy.
Mr. Banning will replace Supervisor Laura Capps, who stepped down from her At-Large Trustee Area 2 position in November 2022.
Mr. Banning will complete the remaining At-Large elected term and, at this time, is not required to live in Trustee Area 2.
In February 2022, the District changed elections from At-Large to by Trustee Area to comply with the California Voting Rights Act. By November 2024, the seat must be filled by a candidate that resides in Trustee Area 2 Map.
8 Comments
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Jan 15, 2023 02:16 PMA great choice. Congratulations Bill.
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Jan 15, 2023 08:17 PMChristy Lozano is still a loser and will never come near our children again in an official capacity. Just a friendly reminder of her recent losses. Disgusting, self-serving, people don't deserve to be around our children.
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Jan 15, 2023 08:37 PMGT, you sound like a psycho.
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Jan 15, 2023 11:18 PMNo, he's describing the psycho.
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Jan 16, 2023 12:52 PMBasic--LOL. Wait, didn't you just write a big rant about how all of "you" just want to engage in rational discussion?
How long did that last for you? A day?
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Jan 16, 2023 08:42 AMI don't know anything about Mr. Banning, but he seems like a rational choice.
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Jan 16, 2023 10:15 AMCongratulations to Mr. Banning. As board member Alvarez said he has a strong background in education having been a superintendent of Goleta , and an educator. In his interview he expressed glowing compliments to the board and its decisions. I hope when he is on the board he will focus on the unmet needs of our most vulnerable students who in the past have not done well because the board has continued to invest in an approach to reading that does not work for 60% of the students. When you consider that the current third grade started kindergarten during pandemic we know their reading and math learning loss is significant to a generation of kids. A united board is good but would love to know what their top priorities are and if they will implement a pro active approach to reading to include automatic testing, teacher training, and using the science of reading approach. It is unfortunate that he is not from district 2 and so they are left out. I hope the board reflects on the concerns of candidates from district 2 to compensate for no representation. Best of luck Mr Banning, our vulnerable students are counting on a leader who will use evidenced based approach to reading. If you can't read proficiently by end of third ( which over half can't) you also won't take the classes needed for college readiness and are 4x likely to drop out. I personally would love to hear board conversations and commitment to turning this around.
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Jan 16, 2023 11:11 AMHe is getting on the board at the beginning of what is looking like a difficult couple of years. Thanks to both a strong CA economy and Covid stimulus money the district has been flush with cash for the past several years. Now we are entering a time of both declining funding and declining enrollment, which will necessitate some tough decisions by the board, something this board has never done. They're really going to have to examine where the money is going and what benefit students are getting, something else they seem inexperienced at.