The Carpinteria Unified School District board of trustees voted Tuesday night to close Carpinteria Family School, citing declining enrollment districtwide and budget challenges. 

The school — one of four elementary schools in the district — will officially close June 30. 

Board members had confirmed last year they planned to close the school. The board had already begun reducing staff, voting to cut the school’s kindergarten and first-grade combination class in 2024 and its second- and third-grade combination class last year. 

Carpinteria Family School at 1480 Linden Ave. currently has 20 students enrolled: 12 fourth-graders and eight fifth-graders. 

Family School’s remaining teacher, Lori Lee Collins — who teaches the fourth- and fifth-grade combination class — will be moved to Canalino Elementary School for the 2026-27 school year. 

Trustee Jaime Diamond said having Collins continue teaching her fourth-grade students next year at Canalino “will allow us to accept the closure on that chapter.” 

“This has been a long road,” Diamond said. “As we’ve mentioned multiple times, the magic of Family School is not lost on us, what it is, what it meant to students, to families (…) There’s just no good way of doing this.” 

Trustees Andy Sheaffer and Genette Alcaraz also spoke, agreeing with Diamond. 

“It is still sad,” Sheaffer said. 

Alcaraz said this is “probably so far the hardest vote” she has had to make while on the board. She was sworn in in October, replacing Sally Green who resigned in mid-August.

“I hope the families and students of Family School find their sense of community and safety and love and support at one of our other schools, and I believe that is possible,” Alcaraz said. “I wish you guys luck.” 

The school is unique, offering small, multilevel classrooms with a focus on family engagement. It is advertised as an “alternative to the mainstream elementary classroom experience” for any family that lives within the boundaries of the Carpinteria district. 

Founded in 2002, it originally had three teachers and three instructional assistants, with a budget of $540,000. 

Closing the school will cut $120,000 from the district’s 2026-27 school year budget. 

Though dozens of people had shown up to previous discussions about downsizing and closing the school, only a few spoke Tuesday night. 

Jessica Petrillo — who said she has two kids, one at Canalino Elementary School and the other at Carpinteria Family School — recapped previous discussions about Family School, and said it offers “deep connections between students, teachers, and families.” 

“Family School is a really special place, and I’m deeply grateful that one of my kids was able to be a part of it,” Petrillo told the board. 

High Legal Costs Hit District Budget

Beyond declining enrollment, the district is facing budget challenges; last year, the superintendent confirmed the district’s budget reserves are below 3%. 

It has been hit hard with lawsuits and other legal matters over the past few years.

The district last year settled four lawsuits related to sexual abuse at the former Main School in the 1970s.

California legislators in 2020 temporarily dropped the statute of limitations on sexual abuse, making it easier for victims to sue school districts and counties, CalMatters reported. 

The insurance the district had in the 1970s, Union Pacific, is no longer in business. Because of that, those lawsuits were settled using the proceeds from the sale of an excess school property, the Bailard property at 1101 and 1103 Bailard Avenue, to the Santa Barbara County Housing Authority. 

The district has also spent over $3 million on legal proceedings involving Jay Hotchner, a middle school teacher and president of the teachers’ union, Carpinteria Association of United School Employees (CAUSE). 

The district dismissed Hotchner from his position as a middle school teacher in 2022 after issuing him notices of unprofessional conduct and unsatisfactory performance. 

Hotchner challenged his firing with the state. A state commission found that while he had engaged in conduct that was “inappropriate, unprofessional and had no legitimate educational purpose,” he was not unfit to teach and should be reinstated.

The district challenged this ruling in court and lost. 

He returned to the classroom in August, according to Coastal View News. 

On Tuesday, Hotchner — who speaks at every Carpinteria School Board meeting — once again called the district’s decision to dismiss him and pursue legal action “unlawful,” and said the district’s money is being “squandered on unlawful legal actions.” 

Former trustee Rogelio Delgado, who lost his bid for reelection in 2020, told the board the cost of those legal fees “could have saved the Family School.” 

The board pushed back, stating the district must investigate “credible complaints against an adult.” 

“When we have students come to us, come to administrators, come to their teachers… and say that an adult, a person who is in a position of power, especially at a school site, is making them feel a certain way or is doing something that is inappropriate, I will believe them, and I will stand up for them,” Diamond said. 

“It was not unlawful or illegal to do what we did,” she added. “Just because we didn’t prevail does not make it so.”