Superintendent Brian Sarvis announced at Tuesday’s Santa Barbara school board meeting the selection of Shawn Carey as the new principal of Dos Pueblos High School, effective July 1.
Board Vice President Cordero said Carey’s selection had been ratified by 4-0 vote (board president Ed Heron was absent). Carey will replace Mark Swanitz, who was recently appointed principal of Santa Ynez Valley Union High School, effective July 1.
The principal position is a step up for Carey, who has been serving as an assistant principal at Dos Pueblos since 2008. Most recently, she has been responsible for curriculum, instruction and assessment. Her administrative experiences include oversight of activities, athletics and student discipline and safety, and coordination of staff development, teaching and learning.
Carey’s instructional experience includes 10 years as a Dos Pueblos teacher of advanced placement world history, modern world history, international baccalaureate theory of knowledge, EXCEL 1 and 2, and Spanish. As an assistant principal, she supervised student teachers as part of a UCSB/Santa Barbara School District partnership.
She has worked as a student teacher at San Marcos and Dos Pueblos high schools as well as Santa Barbara Junior High. During the summer of 2004, she was an instructor in the Santa Barbara Youth Research Project, charged with the task of guiding students in investigating the Latino achievement gap. She also served as a bilingual instructional aide for one year.
Carey has extensive leadership experience, including serving as chair of the English Learner Department at Dos Pueblos, where she worked closely with staff and parents; leading a team of teachers on the English Language Leadership Committee in collecting, developing and sharing instructional strategies to benefit all students; and serving as a team member in the district/UCSB Center for Educational Leadership, which focused on developing a comprehensive vision for school leadership.
Carey has a bachelor’s degree in Latin American studies from the University of Virginia and a master’s degree in education from UCSB.
“I believe my personal connections to the students, staff and families that comprise the Dos Pueblos community are invaluable at this critical juncture in the school’s history,” Carey said. “The relationships I have forged over time with various stakeholder groups have resulted in a mutual respect and trust, which will undoubtedly be necessary as Dos Pueblos rises to the challenge of increasing student achievement in the face of increasing budget constraints and accountability measures.
“My familiarity with and stewardship of the Dos Pueblos campus and community has engendered a passion for sustaining the excellence for which DP is known. I will be working closely with Mark Swanitz in the days and weeks ahead to ensure a seamless transition in leadership.”
The salary range for this position is $113,074 to $125,847. The contract period is 225 days.
— Barbara Keyani is coordinator of administrative services and communications for the Santa Barbara School District.