The Santa Barbara Unified School District is envisioning a career technical education facility equipped to prepare students for industry leading jobs at the site of the Armory, 700 E. Canon Perdido St.
“This project represents an incredible opportunity to fill a gap between our classrooms and the workforce,” Superintendent Dr. Hilda Maldonado said at the kickoff event for the “Designing the Armory Together” campaign.
The Santa Barbara armory has long been a vacant site, but in 2018 the District bought the property with funds from the Measure I 2016 bond and money from the Tatum property sale.
Steve Venz, the District’s chief operations officer, is taking lead on the project, which is being developed in collaboration with 19six architects. The firm has prior experience with educational architecture throughout the central coast with major projects at Santa Ynez Union Valley High School, Arroyo Grande High School, and in the Hope School district.
Rosa Alvarado, a principal at 19six architects said during the event “we don’t design structures, we design spaces where students can thrive.”
The project will provide a vital educational bridge between Santa Barbara Junior High and Santa Barbara high school as it is situated between the two campuses, while also being an asset for the whole district.
Maldonado told the News-Press that the plan is to use electric buses to shuttle students from campuses located further away such as San Marcos and Dos Pueblos over to the Armory and back for classes.
The district is also aiming to have minimal impacts on current CTE classes around the district. However, Maldonado further told the News-Press that there is a potential for a CTE class, along with its teacher, to be moved from a specific campus to the new facility.
The District is seeking to collaborate with industry leaders and make sure that the facility is meeting the modern demands of the workforce and prepares students for the jobs of 2030 and beyond. The project is scheduled for completion in 2030.
For now, the school district is seeking community input to hear how the space can best fit student and staff needs including CTE labs and potentially workforce housing for district staff.
“We need to hear from our community to ensure this facility complements our existing successful programs while meeting the future needs of our local economy,” Maldonado said.
The district will conduct a four-stop listening tour throughout the next month at the local junior high schools starting at 6 p.m., April 16, at La Colina Junior High.
