In March of 2024, the Santa Barbara Unified School District announced widespread staff layoffs. Many staff members were hired after the district received $60 million in aid from the COVID-19 pandemic, and the funding is going to run out for them. Among the positions scheduled for termination is the College and Career Counselor.
“The College and Career Counselor position at all four high schools including La Cuesta is a position that is funded by a grant that is expiring,” said Dos Pueblos Principal Bill Woodard.
If the layoffs are put into place, they would go into effect next year. The impact on students and counselors would be significant, as the responsibilities of the College and Career Counselor would be transferred to the remaining counselors.
“It was pretty confirmed at our all counselor meeting, back in January, that a good chunk of counselors were going to get a pink slip, meaning that they were going to be not asked back the next year,” said Dos Pueblos College and Career Counselor Natalie Douglas.
Woodard thinks that the College and Career Counselor fills an essential role in ensuring the success of students, and is concerned about the impact that this decision will have on students.
”The College and Career Counselor has really filled a niche working with students that are needing additional extra one on one support,” Woodard said. “So the college career counselor really helps, for example, first generation college bound students or others that can’t afford to go hire a personal college counselor.”
“All of the above, we need more counselors. We don’t need less.”
— Natalie Douglas, College and Career Counselor
“It just feels irresponsible to, as opposed to cutting high paying roles at the top, they’re instead choosing to cut direct Student Services,” Douglas said. “We all know the current climate of the world and the students, and the people and cutting counselors is just, again, irresponsible, and it’s just wrong … All of the above, we need more counselors. We don’t need less.”
