You can take the man out of journalism, but you can’t take the journalism out of the man.
Look no further than Bill Woodard. The principal of Dos Pueblos High School is a former journalist himself, and now supports DP’s robust and influential media program through advocacy and support.
“I can’t think of a better way to teach critical thinking and public speaking, and ask questions about the world,” Woodard said of journalism.
Woodard oversees a student body of over 2,000 students, but he still makes sure the student journalists on campus feel personally supported.
And really that support means sidelining himself and letting the students pursue journalism freely.
Under Woodard’s administration, journalism interweaves with the fabric of the school and the Goleta community.
At the start of second period each day, students in every class watch DPNews’s daily broadcast news show. Across all media classes, students tell student stories from athletics to theatre and academics. They even cover the wider community beyond Dos Pueblos.
Student journalists were right there alongside the hundreds of students that walked out of class to protest the Santa Barbara Unified School District during teacher pay rise negotiations—and again during student-led protests against ICE.
Dos Pueblos Yearbook students photograph homecoming and prom, media students broadcast sports games live for the community and journalists write feature stories in the school’s magazine-style newspaper.
A free, independent student press
Kelly Savio, who teaches the journalism class at Dos Pueblos, says she has no idea if her students’ stories have received pushback from the school district or parents, and that’s a good thing.
Savio that she and Woodard share one of the key values of journalism—protecting a free student press.
“That would become infinitely harder if admin didn’t share the same values,” Savio said.
Savio even said she wouldn’t have taken the job if they didn’t.
This year, the Dos Pueblos media program was one of 26 schools worldwide awarded with the 2026 First Amendment Press Freedom Award. A testament to the program, and also a testament to how a free student press has been protected—and encouraged—at the school.
But that’s not the only award they’ve won.
Each year, the DPNews program sends a team of students to the national Student Television Network Convention. The DPNews and Yearbook program also send students to the National Scholastic Press Association and Journalism Education Association Conventions.
And each year students return with a handful of awards.
So when Woodard was awarded with the Journalism Education Association’s Journalism Administrator of the Year award in August, he said it was really to the credit of the students and their respective teachers.
Though it’s not all about awards and recognition—the media program is helping students find a community and opening up routes to practice their passions.
If you asked students in the media program how they ended up there, many are going to say they took video production or journalism as a random elective freshman year. Then they got hooked and are now leading those teams as photo editors, daily show producers or even editors-in-chief of the Charger Account.
From journalist to teacher to principal
But maybe the surprising part is that if you told a younger Woodard he would be winning a journalism award as the high school principal, he would’ve been shocked.
For Woodard’s dream growing up was to be a journalist himself, and it was a dream he was turning into reality. With a degree in English from UCLA, an internship at the Los Angeles Times and eventually a job as a copy editor and high school sports reporter at the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, Woodard was on track to be a sports writer covering the Los Angeles Dodgers.
His reporting commitments often meant working nights and weekends, leaving his weekdays open.
It was this opening that would eventually lead him into education.
Woodard got a credential to work as a substitute teacher when he wasn’t reporting. And he quickly found himself more excited about teaching than reporting.
Teaching led him to Dos Pueblos, where he went from an English teacher to eventually becoming principal of the school.
Being the principal of the school, Woodard could choose to hold a lot of power over the journalism program. He could try to control what is being reported or try to stop stories that are critical of the district.
He doesn’t do any of that.
Instead, Woodard knows the student journalists by name. He makes himself available for interviews. He also visits the fourth period journalism class and shares student stories with the whole student body, staff and local media outlets.
The support he brings from the top of the school administration helps strengthen and encourage independent student journalism to thrive at Dos Pueblos High School—the appropriate skills for the Journalism Education Association Administrator of the Year award.
