Santa Barbara County Grand Jury
• 2025-2026
• Agency Response
Response to:
Bullying in Santa Barbara County Schools
Cusd*
⚠️ Translation Notice: This content has been automatically translated. The original English text is the official version. Translation may contain errors.
⚠️ Este contenido ha sido traducido automáticamente. El texto original en inglés es la versión oficial. La traducción puede contener errores.
Findings 3 findings
F1
Page 1
Bullying in County schools will be reduced by implementing additional safety measures. Agree for Carpinteria Unified. We have already implemented the Grand Jury's
F2
Page 1
Administrators do not consistently inform school counselors when students under their guidance engage in bullying. Disagree for Carpinteria Unified. At each school site, all staff members are trained to intervene in and report serious student misbehavior, including bullying, to the site administration. Site administrators immediately notify mental health team members when students on their caseloads engage in unsafe behaviors. Additionally, site administrators facilitate weekly mental health team meetings with school psychologists, school counselors, and mental health therapists to address students exhibiting unsafe or unhealthy behaviors.
F3
Page 1
Parent participation in outreach programs for bullying has been poor. Agree for Carpinteria Unified. CUSD staff work tirelessly to bring parents and guardians in as partners in preventing and addressing bullying. We have partnered with AHA!(Attitude, Harmony, Achievement) and the Family Resource Center at the Carpinteria Children's Project for the past 10 years to provide annual parent education including student mental wellness, social-emotional learning, and bullying prevention. Although parent participation in parent education is limited, CUSD does experience strong parent participation in school events, performances, and monthly parent meetings.
Recommendations 7
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R1aPage 1The Grand Jury recommends that school boards increase staff presence in areas where students congregate before, during breaks, and after school. Has been implemented. At our three elementary schools, we maintain a small student to staff ratio to ensure robust supervision at all times including before/after school and during breaks. Administrators, Teachers, Instructional Assistants, Before/After School Program Specialists and Counselors closely monitor students outside the classrooms, including all student play areas, lunch areas, and dropoff/pick up zones. At the middle and high schools, we have additional security personnel working with the administrators and school staff to closely supervise students during non classroom time. Parent volunteers also supervise middle school students during the lunch break. 1400 Linden Avenue • Carpinteria, California 93013 • Tel: (805) 684-4511 • Fax: (805) 684-0218 • www.cusd.net Committed to quality education for all. Aliso School • Canalino School • Summerland School • Carpinteria Middle School • Carpinteria High School
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R1bPage 1The Grand Jury recommends that school boards have sufficient cameras in order to monitor where students congregate before, during, and after school. Has been implemented. CUSD confirms that there are cameras in and throughout all school campuses except private spaces such as the bathrooms. We conduct an annual security review which includes the assessment of the number and placement of video cameras at each school site. For 26-27, we are installing additional cameras at each school site.
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R1cPage 1The Grand Jury recommends that school boards add more counselors to achieve a ratio no greater than 250:1. Has been implemented. At the elementary schools, the ratio of counselors/mental health therapists to students is 188:1, at the middle school 142:1, and at the high school, 117:1.
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R2Page 1The Grand Jury recommends that school boards inform school counselors whenever any students under their guidance engage in bullying. This will not be implemented because school boards do not directly notify counselors. Instead, CUSD site administrators and staff handle these communications. Currently, school counselors receive updates on all student misconduct, including bullying. Furthermore, CUSD's student information system, Aeries, maintains a comprehensive record of all student disciplinary actions.
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R3aPage 1The Grand Jury recommends that school boards direct school administrators to schedule parent outreach programs regarding bullying on evenings, weekends, online and with archived recordings to accommodate working parents. Has been implemented. We annually partner with AHA and Carpinteria Children's Project Family Resource Center to provide parent outreach programs regarding bullying. We will archive the recordings and post the programs on our website in the Fall 2026. Parents of students who are expelled for dangerous behaviors including bullying are required to attend parent programs at the Carpinteria Children's Project Family Resource Center.
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R3bPage 1The Grand Jury recommends that school boards implement non-monetary incentives to encourage parents to attend outreach programs. Has been implemented. At each school site the Principal schedules monthly meetings with parents to discuss topics of interest including bullying prevention, student well-being, and social emotional learning. Parents of students who are expelled for dangerous behaviors including bullying are required by the School Board to attend parent programs at the Carpinteria Children's Project Family Resource Center.
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R3cPage 1The Grand Jury recommends that school boards strongly encourage parents of students who have engaged in repeated acts of bullying to attend outreach programs. Has been implemented. Parents of students who are expelled for dangerous behaviors including bullying are required by the School Board to attend parent programs at the Carpinteria Children's Project Family Resource Center.
* This report's PDF did not contain easily extractable text and required Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for analysis. There may be minor errors in the extracted findings and recommendations due to OCR limitations with scanned documents.