Santa Barbara Unified Starts School Year with New Focus on ‘Tech with Intent,’ ‘Culture of Care’

Students shuffle through hallways with packed backpacks, teachers get to know new pupils, and school administrators navigate new policies. It’s Wednesday, August 19, the first day of school for the Santa Barbara Unified School District, and some big changes are still being ironed out at the junior highs and high schools.

In Santa Barbara Junior High’s historic hallways, new principal Valarie Labrentz is focusing on behavior systems, emphasizing self-awareness among students. During a tour of the school on Wednesday, she used the words “Culture of Care,” referring to the district’s mental health initiatives and its “whole child” approach to education. 

Part of that is reconciling and repairing past harm in the district — including racial incidents reported at both the junior highs and high schools over the past few years — and pivoting to a “tech with intent” approach to device use in the classroom. 

“We want them to be others-centered, focusing on accountability and being resilient,” Labrentz said. That means encouraging students to be mindful and caring towards others. “So that is language that we are really infusing in everything across our campus.”

Labrentz, who stepped into the role on July 1 after moving to the district from Bakersfield with her family, said SBJH is solidifying the “Off and Away All Day” policy for students’ personal devices this year. Parents and teachers in the district have repeatedly called out the harm from over-reliance on technology in learning and the seemingly ubiquitous presence of school-issued devices in their students’ lives. 

Many point to the negative effects of social media on a child’s mental health and data showing that when tech use in schools goes up, test scores go down. 

The district has been working with school communities to curb this. Tech can create a lot of “noise,” Labrentz said, distracting students and taking away from the social aspects of learning. Students have also proven tech-savvy enough to circumvent device security at school and access prohibited platforms, and the district is working on this as well. 

So, no personal devices. No free iPad time for students. Devices will not be used as rewards. Access to YouTube has been downgraded to only teacher-approved and provided videos. And they are increasingly moving back to pencil and paper, monitoring and regulating AI usage, and being intentional about digital learning overall, Labrentz said. 

“So whenever they’re working in the classroom, all that noise goes away,” she said.

In Marilyn Garza’s 8th-grade science class, she is working to “bring kids back to the curiosity of the world around them” she said. Tech with intent plays an important role. Now in her 32nd year of teaching, Garza recognized that she wanted her classroom to be less tech-centered and started moving toward a less tech-heavy curriculum on her own, before the new policies. 

She said she’s noticed that tech with intent policies have benefitted students’ attention spans and interpersonal skills, as in “actually listening, being able to respond to peers and articulate what you’re thinking.” 

In Kareem Battle’s AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) classroom, where he has taught for 27 years, he hopes students feel comfortable and treat the space like a second home. He acknowledges the balance between growth and struggle and seeks to highlight students’ greatness, even if they do not realize it yet. “Nothing’s easy,” he said. “Every day, you’re gonna have to do something to try to improve and try to be better than you were the day before.”

College flags and t-shirts cover his walls, inspiring students to think about their futures. Nearby are portraits of historic Black figures who have advanced movements for racial equity, including activists such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and victims of racial violence such as George Floyd. He said that educators have a responsibility to implement cultures of care at school. 

“Too often we blame kids, but they don’t know — there’s so much ignorance,” he said. “We need to take the time to go, ‘Okay, look, here’s how we care. Here’s how it’s supposed to be. Here’s how you engage with people.’ We can’t get mad at them for not knowing.”

He said he tries to lead by example, especially as one of the few Black educators in Santa Barbara. He said he wants to counteract any students’ assumptions that they may have to look a certain way to be great.  

“I try to dress and talk in a way so they can see a professional person, especially a professional Black person, so they know,” he added. “And then when they leave, they go, ‘This is how I’m supposed to be. This is how I carry myself.’” 

During the school’s tour, Battle greeted 8th-grader Bryson Tannis with warmth and familiarity. Tannis, the school’s ASB president and a student in Battle’s AVID classroom, said he is looking forward to the school year — but he slightly disagrees with the district’s new tech policies.

“I think it’s an okay idea,” he said, “but I feel like I’ve been hearing a lot of concern for if there’s an emergency,” specifically about how parents may not be able to immediately get a hold of their child in case of an emergency.

At Santa Barbara High School, students feel the same way. The district just banned YouTube at all high schools, and juniors Jacqueline Durling and Beya Flagiello do not like the change. 

YouTube has helpful educational videos that provide extra support, especially if a student does not have access to a tutor, Durling said. She herself used YouTube videos to help her study for AP exams. “But I get it,” she added. 

Flagiello said that being able to bring their own laptops to school helped many students. 

“Some kids obviously will use technology the way they shouldn’t, but kids can use whatever they want in the way they shouldn’t, no matter what it is,” she said. “A lot of kids last year were able to contact their own college counselors in the middle of their work and figure everything out, which you cannot do on your iPad.” 

But from the teachers’ and administrators’ perspectives, the new tech policies are welcome.  

“The YouTube ban is new for everybody, but anything that can reduce distractions for kids, I’m in favor of,” said SBHS Principal Ed Gomez. 

For English and AVID teacher Miranda Jue, trading a keyboard for paper and pencil helps students refine their motor skills, forces them to slow down and process their thoughts while writing, and combats AI use — making learning more intentional, she said. Students seem excited to have tactile paper to write on, she said. 

“For the writing process specifically, it’s really helpful to have them move away from screens,” she said. There is also a college-preparation aspect, as universities begin to scale back on digital assignments, she noted. 

Because her English classes incorporate ethnic studies credit, students must think with a pen in hand. They are studying systems of power and talking about societal change. Slowing down to absorb the content is paramount to their understanding. 

Mental health is one of the main reasons for the district’s new tech restrictions, going hand in hand with other initiatives aimed at students’ overall wellbeing. 

That focus continues down the hallway from Jue’s room to the school’s reimagined Wellness Center — which was relocated and expanded — where students can stop, recharge, destress, and speak to someone about what may be troubling them. 

For students like Durling, who take advanced classes on top of sports and college prep, it can be difficult to juggle everything. The Wellness Center exists to take some of the weight off students’ shoulders and remind them that they are not alone. 

“I think it’s important because kids can’t perform to their highest capability if they have other things going on in their mind,” said Wellness Coordinator Natalia Valadares. “This gives them the outlet to come in, pause, take a break, recharge, and then head back to class.”

Elsewhere on campus, other spaces foster belonging. Principal Gomez, for whom Wednesday was his 54th first day of school and his second year as principal, said student connection on campus is vital. The school’s various academies, athletics, and other programs help make that happen. Together, these programs are like schools within the school, he said.  

“We’re building a community with our students, trying to offer as many supports as they need and helping them find their niche,” Gomez said. 

Diversity is also being celebrated: The school recently began giving students a “seal of biliteracy” on their diplomas if they demonstrate proficiency in two or more languages, and the new Translation and Interpretation career pathway — the only one of its kind in the state — produced its first graduating class last year. 

Meanwhile, Gomez said campus safety protocols have been in place for potential campus disruptions as Immigration and Customs Enforcement tactics have caused fear and discomfort for families across the city.   

It all comes back to that Culture of Care. As SBUSD schools work to raise students’ test scores and improve academic performance, the kids themselves do not take a backseat. 

Gomez touched on how many schools across the district are focusing on students’ academics. Math and literacy scores are rising for the second consecutive year, he said, narrowing the gap between the highest- and lowest-achieving students. 

“We’re seeing growth — we’re not where we want to be, but we’re focused on progress and not perfection, and we have steady progress,” he said. “We just keep building on the progress we’ve made.”