Santa Barbara County Community School

We love monte vista. Organized, clean, safe, loving. Mrs Prince is the best and we are so blessed to have her as a teacher. We feel that our daughter loves her school and her friends. She loves reading and that is fostered daily. Community of wonderful parents. Beautiful campus. Mrs Fatch is the best and the most organized front desk I have ever seen. Diversity and respect are constant presence here.

As a teacher and parent of three children who attended Vieja Valley K-6, I can confidently say that it is a school that you would ABSOLUTELY want your children to learn and grow in through their elementary school years. The staff loves each other as family and that permeates through to the love they have for families that attend. The school is fairly diverse and that diversity is a strength of the school. My kids felt safe and I feel valued as a staff member and stakeholder.

The thriving neighborhood school is still alive and well at Hope. My daughter will graduate this year after 7 incredible years walking to a school with experienced and dedicated teachers, small classes, Halloween parades, culture days, field trips, incredible specialists for art, music, pe, stem, and library, and an overwhelmingly positive environment overall. We will really, really miss Hope!

Amazing and welcoming school. My kids started here after a move from out of town and have had an outstanding academic and social experience! Great culture of kindness and rigorous teaching.

Parent of two students, multiple years of attendance at El Camino. The 5/10 score is misleading and is likely a hangover from about 10 years ago when test scores went into the toilet. It got put on a State Education Dept. watch list, but a new principal turned it around in a couple of years. In 2015/16 it was the only school in the County (and one of only a handful in the entire State of California) to come OFF of the probation list. For many years, my child's had a the Student to Teacher ratio of 19-1! And never more the 24-1. Additionally, some of the classes are blended grades (e.g., 4th & 5th graders in one room), which qualifies for an additional certified specialist instructor for three days a week; meaning that for some subjects there is an unbelievable S-to-T ratio of 10-1) Also, because a large number of students are working class families and English language learners, it receives a bunch of State & Federal grants. It is now thriving and growing in population; largely due the new Spanish bi-lingual program kids are coming from out of attendance zone to start Kindergarten immersion program. Some of the other schools in GUSD have great reputations and higher ratings but in talking to parents and students at these nearby 'great schools' I've come to the conclusion that they are, to use a sports analogy, "overrated".

Laguna Blanca sets the bar in Santa Barbara. The teachers are engaged. The kids are kind, in a way I’ve never seen. The academics are top notch. Special highlights: The array of interesting and unique electives. Class trips. Student-led TedX program. Down sides: It’s crazy expensive.