By Raiza Giorgi

The tradition of pomp and circumstance has been postponed to July 24, after a poll to the parents asked what kind of celebration they wanted for their kids, according to Superintendent Scott Cory.

“The parents very much want an in-person ceremony to celebrate their kids, which I completely understand,” Cory said. “This is the culmination of their education thus far, and they should be celebrated.”

The original plan for June 5 just wasn’t feasible with the social distancing guidelines, he said. The football field is also being redone starting June 8 and that hopefully gives sufficient time to work out details. In the meantime, there is a graduate car parade taking shape for June 5, starting in Buellton and ending at the high school, Cory said. Those details are still being worked out.

Other ways of celebrating seniors include getting yard signs, while several slideshows and media presentations are being created. There is also a Facebook group Adopt a Senior SYV, to celebrate them with gift certificates and other unique ideas.

“To have them do the groundbreaking for the future was great and that will be their legacy of passing the torch,” said Varsity Baseball Coach Warren Dickey.
Photo by Daniel Dreifuss

The baseball team honored their five senior players by having them do the groundbreaking ceremony for the new bleachers that are being installed at the ballpark.

“To have them do the groundbreaking for the future was great and that will be their legacy of passing the torch,” said Varsity Coach Warren Dickey.

Dickey has been the varsity baseball coach since 2012 and been a coach since 2006. He loves teaching the kids his favorite sport and feels lucky to be able to impact a few kids.

“I had great teachers and coaches growing up, and hopefully I am that for a few of these kids,” Dickey said. “I can’t imagine what they’re going through, all this stress on top of schooling, but they are handling it.”

Cory said this situation has been incredibly hard on all the students and staff, but he is incredibly proud of how everyone has handled themselves thus far.

“My teachers were thrown into this situation of a hard stop and then told they had to modify their lessons to online within a week,” he said. “They have gone above and beyond and I can’t be more impressed.”

At the state level, Cory said he is frustrated as the current budget projects are cutting education funding drastically, (which could change at a moment’s notice, he added) all the while districts are being asked to possibly create double bus runs and potentially add more teachers, “but where would that funding come from,” Cory has asked.

“To be honest it changes all the time and what was put in place on Monday completely changes by Friday,” he added.

Santa Barbara County Superintendent of Schools Susan Salcido has stepped up in Cory’s opinion and rallied the counties’ superintendents together to hopefully come up with realistic solutions.

“At the moment we are still projecting a start date of August 13, because there is no way we can get a school year started in July as the governor has suggested,” Cory said.

There are more things to consider such as Education Code statues, negotiating with teacher and staff unions, instructional minutes, health and safety, and that amount of time isn’t enough to get a school year started in July, Cory added.

Even the state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond said there are still so many questions that have to get answered to make that a reality.

“Among them — how to keep everyone on campuses safe and healthy?” Thurmond said in a statement. “How will schools pay for teachers and resources to facilitate the smaller class sizes that social distancing requires.”

New principal will be announced May 19

In other school news, Cory said that search for a new SYHS principal has been narrowed down to two candidates, and one of those will be introduced at the Board of Trustees May 19 meeting.

“We had a great list of candidates and after several rounds of interview with teachers, staff, parents, students, community members and myself, we have narrowed the field to two candidates,” Cory said.

Former Principal Mark Swanitz was demoted in February without explanation after the school board decided not to renew his contract. The decision also called for Swanitz to be reassigned to a certificated assignment within the scope of his credentials at the start of the 2020-21 school year. However the board then voted on April 21, to reduce the number of certificated teachers for the English department, of which Swanitz would be teaching, and decided to keep Casey Reck who even though is only a month less seniority that Swanitz has a higher degree in teaching Advanced Placement curriculum.

Before coming to Santa Ynez as an administrator, Swanitz was the principal at Dos Pueblos High School in Goleta from 2006 to 2010.

Swanitz, who earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Cal Poly, previously worked for schools in Fair Oaks, Elk Grove, Atascadero and Coalinga.