Even though students may not see activities director and counselor Scott Guttentag or his signature hat and sandals around the Dos Pueblos High School campus next year, he said he is not retiring.

He is merely graduating to something new.

At the beginning of the last school year, Guttentag — known as “Mr. DP” or “Scotty G” — announced he would end his 36-year career at the school.

Known for his infectious upbeat attitude and spirit, his main role at the school was to help students graduate and prepare for life after school.

Guttentag started working at the school in 1990 in a liaison role. He previously worked at a local runaway shelter before transitioning to Dos Pueblos, where he focused on at-risk kids.

“It’s always been my passion … to work with students who were more kind of at risk and who were struggling,” Guttentag said. “When I was in high school, I didn’t struggle. I had a good family, I was involved, and I was always kind of interested in helping the teachers who had the students that were struggling.”

As a student himself, he did peer advocacy for his classmates. He later volunteered as a counselor at UC Santa Barbara, providing information on drugs, alcohol and safe sex.

After the organization funding his liaison position at Dos Pueblos closed, Guttentag developed a new position as a youth service specialist for students. He was later hired as the school’s activities director, then full time as a counselor.

He was recommended for the director role by the former director and his mentor, Steve Meister.

For Guttentag, the dual roles allowed him to serve the students in different ways and support his goal of helping struggling kids.

By being in charge of school activities, he could link students who were struggling with others who were doing well in school.

“All of a sudden I had access to all the positive things that were going on (at the) campus, and that gave me more things to engage students in,” he said. “Whether it was clubs, organizations, just coming to games and going on field trips … just some way to get students to kind of have something positive going on in school.”

Guttentag credits the school leaders for buying into his ideas. Not only did they allow him to hold two positions, but Guttentag said they bought into his vision and goals.

He said he believes the reason for the support was that he came in and offered solutions and didn’t just point out problems. He also wanted to be the person to address them.

“I kind of embraced the whole program, and I think that’s what made them happy to have me,” Guttentag said.

The solutions meant working with teachers and students, going on home visits, and anything else needed to support the campus.

According to Principal Bill Woodard, Guttentag may be known for amping up the crowd at games, but what he will be remembered for is his work with the families.  

Woodard said Guttentag would stay until 9 p.m. or on a weekend if that’s the only time a parent could come in to talk.

During one student’s battle with leukemia, Guttentag would drive over to their parents’ home with homework so the student would not be behind.

“Obviously, everybody sees the outward ‘rah rah DP’ personality, and that is … going to be hard to replace, but I think the most important legacy he has is all that work he did with those families,” Woodard said.

Woodard has been working with Guttentag for nearly 15 years, since he first arrived at Dos Pueblos. When he started, the teachers told him that if he had any questions, “Go to Scott.”

Despite working at three different schools in his career, Woodard said he has never seen a counselor be the activities director.

“From day one, he was like this larger-than-life kind of persona around here,” Woodard said.

Even though Guttentag is leaving, Woodard said the plan is to spread some of Guttentag’s duties among more of the staff. He said the school has a great counseling team that is able to step in.

While Guttentag has enjoyed working with the students, there have been difficult times.

In May 2025, the school was rocked by the deaths of three students in a car crash on Highway 1. Their deaths deeply shook the school known for its sense of community.

Guttentag said that those in his profession must be prepared for those kinds of events, whether it is the loss of a parent, sibling or a friend.

“I just know it’s part of the job, and the best thing to do is … be available to talk about that with the kids, and kind of make sure that you’re taking care of yourself, so that you can help students take care of themselves,” he said.

As he prepares to leave the school, Guttentag said what he will miss the most are the students, the teachers and the culture.

Near the end of the year, students began to take down hundreds of photos from his office that he had collected over multiple decades. They surprised him by scanning the photos and transferring them into three digital photo frames that rotate through the pictures.

For Guttentag, he is not sure what his next step is, but he hopes to continue helping students. He said he is not going to retire for good and is already looking for his next opportunity guiding students who may need help.

His reason for leaving Dos Pueblos High School is that he wanted to leave while he still loved it, before he burned out.

Even though Guttentag will miss the campus, he said he may not be around for a little while. He said he feels like he needs a break for himself and the school.

Guttentag said he knows the school needs to figure out how to run things without him, and he wants to give it the space to do so.

While he may not be around as much in person, his legacy will remain. The track team named an award after him, and a new senior award, called the Scotty G Spirit Award, will be given out to the student with the most school spirit. The school also plans to name part of the campus for him.

As he prepares to leave, Guttentag said he is grateful for the students and faculty who have supported him. He said he knows that the school will continue to carry on the same sense of community and support.

“I know that that’s going to continue to exist, and there’s nothing better than to know that the work you did is not going to go unnoticed,” he said. “It’s going to be missed, but it’s going to continue, and it’s going to continue to thrive, and I 100% believe that.”