Santa Barbara residents soon will have a chance to weigh in on what career and technical education training should be available to the next generation of students at the former National Guard Armory.

This spring, the Santa Barbara Unified School District will hold listening sessions at each Santa Barbara junior high school during which community members can share what programs they would like to see at the armory, 700 E. Canon Perdido St. 

Steve Venz, the district’s chief operations officer, said they will also be talking to industry leaders about workforce needs. 

“We have to talk to Chamber of Commerce, engaging with them, with our industry leaders within the community, and making sure that we can see what will industry needs be 10 years, 15 years from now,” Venz said. “We don’t want to create something that’s going to be obsolete within 10 years.”

In 2018, the school district purchased the site for $11.6 million using Measure I funds, which means the site will be used as a satellite facility or for specialized programs, but not a full school location. There has not been much movement on the project since then.

“Within the bond measure and the purchasing of this site, it was specifically designed to help our students going from high school into college and career,” Venz said.

Thanks to the sale of Tatum property near San Marcos Growers last year, the district now has specific funding to turn the armory into a career and technical education hub.

As part of planning, Venz said they plan to collaborate with industry leaders as well as high school career and technical education instructors and staff, who will will help decide what programs to offer at the site.

The four listening sessions will be a chance for the cohort to hear from community members, teachers and students about potential programs. 

Venz said they also plan to send out a survey so if people can’t go to the listening sessions, they can still share feedback that way.

The district already has 17 career and technical education programs at Dos Pueblos High School, San Marcos High School, Santa Barbara High School, Goleta Valley Junior High School, La Cumbre Junior High School and Santa Barbara Junior High School.

The armory site is meant to have new programs for students throughout the district, who will have to be transported to the site. 

“We have strong CTE programs at our other schools, so it’s not about replicating that same thing here,” Venz said. “We want to look at those programs that can really benefit with creating some sort of classroom specifically for that particular pathway.”

Since purchasing the site, the district has used it for auto repair and storage. Before the district could move forward with the site, the California Department of Education had to confirm that the site was viable as a satellite school location. 

The Department of Education also will have to approve the final plans for the site, including what programs will be available and any staff housing plans, according to Venz.

For now, the main armory building and gym won’t be included in the district’s plans as it needs seismic retrofitting and has mold. Classes are planned for the four smaller buildings on site. 

Staff housing could be built on the other side of the property off East De La Guerra Street.

As of now, Venz said they don’t anticipate needing to do any fundraising for the armory site, but it will depend on the kind of programs they decide to have.

After the listening sessions, the district and architect team, 19six Architects, will develop the designs for the site, which will have to be reviewed and approved by the Santa Barbara school board. 

From there, the plans will have to be approved by the Department of Education before construction can begin. Venz said it will likely be four years before classes are held on the site. 

The dates for the listening sessions have not been finalized but are expected to be announced next week, according to district spokesman Ed Zuchelli.