There’s good news and bad news for Santa Barbara junior high students wanting more electives: a seventh period schedule is coming, but not for two years. 

After some debate, the Santa Barbara Unified School District Board of Education voted unanimously on Tuesday to implement a seventh period day at all four district junior high schools in the 2027-28 school year.

Student board member Carlos Taft-Vazquez, who has an advisory vote, abstained because student input was not considered in the discussion.

The board initially was divided over whether the district should pilot a seventh period at Santa Barbara Junior High and La Cumbre Junior High this fall or wait two years and implement it at all four schools. 

York Shingle, president of the Santa Barbara Teachers Association (SBTA), advocated for implementation at all four schools. 

“The seven-period day is doable and will benefit our students,” Shingle said. “It’s going to be a challenge for SBTA if we have some junior high teachers working longer days than their junior high counterparts across town.”

Teachers began advocating for a seventh period in November, noting that English language learner students as well as students with Individual Education Programs have to take additional classes, which fill up their schedules. 

All four district junior high schools offer a zero- and/or seventh-period elective outside of the standard six-period school day, but offerings depend on staffing.

Students’ ability to take extra classes often depends on parents or guardians being able to take them to school early or pick them up late.

Board members Gabe Escobedo, Rose Munoz, and Sunita Beall were in favor of implementing the seventh period at only two schools this fall, and include the other two schools in a later year.

District staff advised that Santa Barbara Junior High and La Cumbre Junior High were better prepared for seventh period implementation in the 2026-27 school year, as more parents at those schools were supportive of the change and there’s more facility space available. 

Additionally, fewer students at those schools rely on MTD for transportation to and from school than students at Goleta Valley Junior High and La Colina Junior High, according to district staff.

“There is a lot that needs to change, and just doing it in a rushed way may have consequences,” Beall said. “So as much as I would like to just say, ‘Let’s do it and let’s do it as fast as we can,’ I do have to pay attention to resources.”

Sonia Wilson, the district’s assistant superintendent of educational services, shared results from a survey conducted with parents about their thoughts on a seventh period schedule. 

With over a thousand responses, 53% of parents supported adding a seventh period, while 30% were opposed and 16% were neutral. 

Wilson explained that parents expressed a strong desire to have more electives, but there were concerns about increased homework burdening students and how families would deal with transportation.

To support a seventh period schedule, the district will need to hire an additional 13 full-time teachers, purchase materials, and find new space for elective classes at Goleta Valley Junior High and La Colina Junior High, Wilson explained.

Board member William Banning was in favor of implementation at all four schools in 2027-28, saying it would be like “walking into a buzz saw” to start it at even two of the schools right away.

“I’m one step away from an early desire to do it quickly or to do it with a test of change,” Banning said. “I just think we’ve got to do it together, and we have to take the time to do it, and we have to start now to figure out how to do it in ’27-28.”

Board member Celeste Kafri wanted a third option, a seventh period day for all four schools this fall. 

“It doesn’t make sense to me not to do it across the board and I feel like we just have so much momentum here, the whole board supports a seventh period day,” Kafri said. “I think the question is just how, but I would say, let’s rip off the band aid and do it.”

However, in the end it was perhaps Dan Dupont, the principal at Santa Barbara Junior High School, who helped get the board to agree on 2027-28 implementation. 

“Myself, personally, I do not want to solve one inequity by creating another,” Dupont said. “I feel like waiting until 27-28 to do this is the way we all do it right, and I’m convinced we only have one chance to do this. I want to do it right.”

The board also directed district staff to set aside funds to support adding a seventh period.

Before implementation can happen, the district will have to work with the Metropolitan Transportation District (MTD) on revising bus routes.

MTD wrote a letter to the board that there could be problems with booster bus services if junior high and high school schedules overlap, according to Ed Zuchelli, the district’s chief of communications.